Catching up... Lessons

Boy! I need to stop dancing so much so I have time to write! The last two weeks found me in the dance studio every weeknight! So lets just hit the highlights, because I've got bigger studio news to write about.

Lessons with RT, well there have been four of them... Three absolutely fantastic Rhythm and Salsa filled lessons where I picked up some new elements (some easier than others) and started to feel really good about my dancing again. At one point I do believe there was something I did that was referred to by RT as "sexy". (something about my hip popping out just right when my feet were correctly aligned for a Cha Cha element.) I think he was momentarily confused about who he was working with... aside from the occasional "Rumba eyes" nothing in this life I do is sexy. Then there was the whole swivel discussion where I was asked why I don't like them, and I replied "Because there's like jiggling and stuff and it's SO not attractive!" Hey, he asked... I was going to answer.

His response was a very factual "Yes it is."

"Ha! I know where you're coming from on that...and trust me the right bits aren't jiggling!" Hey..that is better than turning bright red and becoming a silly giggling girl in the corner... which would have been me like a year ago... RT just rolled his eyes and left it at that...

Last lesson of the last two weeks involved some smooth... where I was informed that instead of closing my feet... I should think of it as closing my thighs for Waltz. Well that is absolutely nothing I ever thought of before... (go ahead try and think of bringing your feet to close, and think of closing your thighs instead... weird thought isn't it??) Then as we're Waltzing around the floor it went something like "One, Two, Three, Thigh." from RT the whole way around the floor...

I was good ya'll... I didn't crack up I swear... well for the first time around.. then he realized what he was saying...and started laughing a little...I held it together for a minute longer... and then announced. "Ok, I'm going to have to let that be funny now!" I broke frame and just started laughing! I made some remark about a chicken and then took up frame and let the funny pass...we had some serious Waltz to work on... my basic basic Waltz is so weak because we never do it... (My choice not RT's) I'll forever feel like a big clod hopping elephant trying to Waltz... it's not a comfortable place to be.

Made some GREAT progress on Salsa over the four lessons... Someday I'll be able to put that to some good use... in the meantime I'll just have fun with it.

That's the high points... All good stuff... new elements learned in at least 5 dances... which of course I'll write about in the future.

RT's Technique Class

I completely forgot to tell ya’ll about RT’s Technique Class! It’s good! I call it the “Rip it down to the studs technique class”. I call it that for good reason, just like when you want to completely re-do a room in your home, you take everything down to the studs and build it back up right? That’s what this class is…taking everything down to the very foundation of what dancing is and working it back up to be better than what it was. We work on a lot of balance, foot position, and weight shifting. I personally need a lot of help in this area, I can manage to hold my balance for the length of a beat or two…but any longer than that and I’m usually fighting to keep it or lose it all together. One of the reasons I really like the fast dances is because I don’t have to hold a position for long and lose my balance. I have a million and one excuses for why this happens…but the reality of it is that I need to practice it.

Nearly every dancer, no matter how new or advanced could stand to work on this type of technique. I remember working on some of it in my private lessons way back at the beginning, but as you advance it’s very easy to forget to consistently keep the weight on the inside edges of your feet and push from left to right instead of taking a step. I also don’t particularly enjoy working on technique because it’s hard. So having a class like this where I am purposely setting aside time to actually do this stuff is very beneficial. Now I just have to apply it in all the rest of my dancing.

Class is Wednesday 8:45pm, I look forward to seeing new and accomplished students alike!

Saturday Workout Class - Disaster!

Saturday 11:15am the Workout class begins. This class is well loved throughout the studio...and is very well attended. It's one heck of a workout too... I was very excited when I completed the entire thing last week after having been out for so long.

The pattern is that we warm up with some Rumba basic, then move into Cha Cha, Swing/Jive, then Salsa, Samba, and stretch for a minute at the end. It's fast paced, fun, and the only thing I can't quite do is the Jive, so there is a less stressful way of doing it so I do that. It's also all done from the follow's perspective, starting on the right foot...so it's actually quite a work out for the right side.

This week, I was going ok... we were working on Swing, and I felt the first twinge... my right knee... but it wasn't much so I kept on... then my right quad muscle started pulling...but still minor... I changed the way I was doing the step slightly and it stopped. I was good for a bit, but I could feel the fear rising...the fear that makes me instinctively alter the way I do anything on that side... well that backfired... I felt a twinge in my ankle! I was instantly enraged and broke from the class and kind of stomped thinking No! No! No! This does not get to happen today! No!

The Swing portion ended and I was thankful because next up was Cha Cha, which keps my feet on the floor, is still fast, and can keep the heart rate up... I was good with the Cha Cha... didn't feel much of anything in my right leg, my left leg was solid... Then we got to the syncopation steps, I'm just starting to get a handle on these. We're working and I'm noticing that I'm having a hard time keeping up...so I stop for a second and re-group... I started again...and then it happened. My hip muscle pulled, my quad felt like it was on fire, my knee popped out and back in AND hyperextended a little. All the muscles in the front of my ankle felt like they were going on strike.

I instantly stopped... oh I was angry! I punched the air on my way to the back room (I was closer to the back, than I was to the door) I did a quick snap with my leg to make sure my knee cap was ok, then paced like a caged tiger for a second trying to assess the damage in my leg and keep from putting a hole in the wall somewhere... I was absolutely seeing red! Then, as the reality of what could be happening struck...that I may have just done something terribly wrong, that I may have to sit out from dancing again... as all that came over me in a wave... I just collapsed on the floor and sobbed...

Well I'm not the type of girl to let myself fall that far and stay down that low for long... within a few minutes. I started to think of what to do next, there were about 20 people I'd have to cross on the dance floor before I could make it to the exit... so I stayed put, in the back, out of view... I ran a systems check on everything... the pain had subsided to aches, but my whole leg has never screamed out like that before... it was more than just my ankle... it was the whole damn thing!

Once class was over I reappeared and rather than go over the whole sequence of events I just told those that asked that it was my knee, and that I wasn't sure what was going on. I then made it to my car...slowly...and started to drive home... the driving was very uncomfortable... it was almost a pain to switch from gas to break... which totally freaked me out...so I made a stop for bags of ice on my way home. As soon as I entered my place the bags of ice went into the bathtub followed by the coldest water the tap could provide. I had no other way of icing my entire leg... once full, I sunk in.... if my cats hadn't been so funny about seeing the ice in the tub I probably wouldn't have made it the full 20 minutes, their antics gave me something besides the ice to focus on.

Long story short... I feel better, but not completely, and I don't know what this week's dancing will bring... but I'm on another round of strong anti-inflamitories and the cycles of icing before and after dance will continue. I know everything that happened is not my tendons, but rather muscle strain... My ankle because I was a fool and wore a small heeled shoe a few days prior for a long period of time. The quad lock up is likely due to vitamin deficiancy, which has been corrected. The knee, well that's just my knee...it will be fine, and my hip was strained because I was over compensating. The whole leg gave out becuase I have been overtired for two weeks and tried to do too much instead of sleeping... (says the girl at 1am when she has to be at work in the morning)

Off to bed with me!
And YES... I will see you on the dance floor!

Friday White-Out Party... Be Careful What You Ask For

Friday's party was nice, and man was it CROWDED! The theme was 'white out' and they had circled the dance floor with black lights so everyone glowed...it was pretty cool! I spent most of the night helping the newer dancers, which I love to do. I met a lovely lady who was there after only one lesson! I taught her some basic Hustle and East Coast. I danced with all my "regulars" and did some sideline dancing too. It was nice...

The studio was down three of it's guy instructors due to competitions and such, so getting a dance in with a pro was tough. RT picked me up for one of my worst Cha Cha's EVER. I blame the fact that I had spent the previous dozen dances back-leading and basic stepping so I couldn't bring my dancing up to par... (That by the way is only a complaint in my lack of skill, and not in my dance partners for the night... I love you guys!) Jesse DeSoto was out dancing with students to try and even out the lead to follow ratio... I know a lot of us were hoping to get a dance in with him.

I have to be careful what I wish for... Jesse did ask me to dance... a TANGO... ummm... lets see.. the last time I danced Tango was...what 4-5 months ago? The goal when dancing with Jesse for any of us is to try and do our best... well... as the Tango music started he reached for me... and said "Come on...it's tradition." Well it is actually tradition that when Jesse asks me to dance it's Smooth... Usually Fox Trot...but we've also gotten the odd Waltz and Tango in over the last year or so... Somehow he knows I don't work on or favor Smooth... I'm at the point now where I'll be lucky if I can maintain my frame when dancing with him. He's the original lead that Makes Stuff Up.... Jesse dances with students so infrequently that you dance the dance you're asked for and be tankful you were asked.

Tango... so we're dancing and he leads me into the fan step... which I just barely remember... and he says it too. "Ok, that felt like you were making it up as you went."
"Yeah, pretty much... I don't Tango." I respond matter-of-factly.
Then it happened... the one thing I actually get a kick out of, but they haven't done it since Christmas... the host called for "Ladies lead!" Everyone switches position... my brain is screaming You mean I now have to lead Jesse DeSoto in a Tango! What the hell am I going to do now??? Take advantage of the situation is what... I am quick enough in my dancing that I can flip a basic step around from lead to follow, I'm not super graceful about it... but we managed. Then, since I certainly didn't have any other steps I could possibly lead, said to Jesse... "Is there anything you'd care to back-lead yourself into?" And we were off like a shot! He kept it pretty basic, but we went from just kind of plodding along to really cruising! Then, the host said "Everybody Corte!" So Jesse did that.... seriously I was just there...just kinda there... but it was definately good for laughs! That's a memory I'll definitely take with me!

I figured I got my dance with Jesse in, I got my dance from RT, there weren't any other pros there that typically ask me to dance. So I settled into picking out my usual fellow students, and sideline dancing. Then RT picked me up for a Rumba... cool... two dances with RT...now maybe I can redeem myself from that Cha Cha! The Rumba was good... well it felt good, I don't know how it looked... there were a few parts I messed up... but it felt more like dancing with RT than anything we'd done in a while so I was pleased.

Then they called a Fox Trot... now I typically don't dance any smooth unless one of the students asks me... the pros all know I don't work on smooth so they don't usually ask, which is fine by me... then Jesse comes around... "We're going to Fox Trot, and it's going to be Silver." he states as he picks me up for the dance. Let me just tell you that on my best of days I am an intermediate BRONZE dancer... (there are 4 levels- social, bronze, silver, and gold) So yet again I'm kinda just along for the ride with Jesse, hoping it's a good following day. We did Fox Trot, and I did end up tripping over myself a few times. Then he did the steps a second time...stuff that was similar to what I've done before, and yet...very different. I followed! I even received a comment from Jesse on it that it "felt right"! Woo Hoo!! I made it! I didn't make a fool of myself! YEA!!!

Ok...so maybe I should work on some smooth?? I don't HATE Fox Trot... I'll have to check with teacher on that.

Good Party!

Lesson Cha Cha, Rumba, East Coast Swing

This week's lesson started absolutely opposite of last week's. We warmed up with Hustle, but my brain wasn't there... I was trying to take control and back lead some of the worst stuff imaginable. I think it was that I was trying to take advantage of my movements but also had an image in my head of what the dance was going to look like.... so I pushed myself into a free spin that was a disaster, then a regular spin that RT wasn't intending! I was surprising myself with my disastrous following. Normally we call that anticipating the next step, which as a follow I'm not supposed to do. I wouldn't even call it that, because I wasn't attempting to anticipate where RT wanted to send me next, no... I was back-leading in the worst way possible. We quickly put an end to that Hustle, I know I was hoping the next dance would go better, I'm pretty sure RT was too.

I did everything short of demanding that we work on Cha Cha. Thankfully RT didn't seem to have my lesson already planned in his head and allowed for it. I love to work on this dance! Cha Cha is fun, flirty, and to get it right takes a level of difficulty I'm not sure I'll ever master. You'll also notice that I seem to get asked to dance Cha Cha a lot... (MSU, and several other instructors I don't dance with regularly always seem to pick me for Cha Cha) so I like to work on it as much as possible. My intent in asking for Cha Cha was to get to DANCE Cha Cha with RT and then go into whatever he wanted to teach me. Again, I didn't actually say I wanted to dance, I just said I wanted Cha Cha... so RT brought me front and center to work on a new pattern. Actually, I remembered that MSU has tried to get me through this step a couple of times, and I told RT as much. He just laughed that I like dancing with MSU a LOT (It's very rare that a student visits other studios within the FADS family, so it's funny that I know most of the instructors dance styles and reference them in my lesson) Then focused on the step more (Which I don't know the name of, but we call "The one [MSU] does"). Wow to actually try and know the pattern is a lot harder than just being pushed through it! I don't know what it is... but it reminds me of a cross between the grapevine for Fox Trot, and the Salsa Box...but it's for Cha Cha so it's just different enough to cause me problems :). We worked on that, I seemed to pick up on it pretty quick, so we moved on.

Next Cha Cha step up was the double open break into a pivot turn... that step ends odd for me... I have trouble getting it right. I got the hips into the double open break, and I'm pretty sure I can pull off a passable pivot turn in my sleep, but I can't seem to get the footing right to finish with the Cha Cha at the end. Which I guess is my new practice quest. Once I felt my frustration rising I started joking with RT. "You know this doesn't count as an actual Cha Cha, I want to dance a Cha Cha before we're through. I mean, the teaching bit is nice...that is what I'm here for... but I want to dance a Cha Cha!" So we danced a Cha Cha, but only for the purpose of practicing the new patterns. I told him that didn't count either.

So RT put on a Cha Cha, and we danced... all the steps I know...plus the new ones I'm fighting with. Remember how I said I wanted to control my spins? That was completely forgotten for this dance, and possibly the entire lesson. I just wanted to do what I always do, wind up and let it rip. Most of the time I can control the ending so that it doesn't look so bad. RT said "Slow down your spins." when I finished the Manhattan Roll out too soon.

"I don't want to, I usually just like to let my spins rip and see where I end up."
RT found that amusing, I don't think I told him that before. "Don't... you have to control them they are too fast."
(This is all while we're dancing, of course, we don't get to have converations any other time, we must be a sight on the dance floor when we do this)

So RT then leads me into the chase step..where I chase him for Cha cha, pivot, he cases me, usually happens about 3 times... it ends when I turn and I'm facing him instead of his back...
Mid Chase we're talking about my spins I hear behind me "Slow your turns down, they're too fast."
I pivot, and say to his back "No, they're not, you're just going to have to find a faster song!"
He ends the chase turns with that classic look that tells me that I know I said something completely un-helpful, but mildly amusing.

Then to prove his point... I hate that he's always right... we pick up a quick Salsa, where true to form of the lesson I was completely out of control on the Coca-cola turn, which is one I know I get if I decide to control it. Someday I'll be right... just you wait... I'll get the speed AND the control that I want.

Next dance up... Rumba, we really only worked on it for a minute...because it's tradition. I'm pleased to say that I remembered the bit I got coached on from the last lesson, but completely forgot to snap my movements and make it look better. Not a bad little test to see where I was at. I do still have to work on those spirals though.

Last dance of the evening was East Coast Swing. Where I learned a style of turning I'm pretty sure I'll never remember. Instead of the spin happening for the length of the triple step and ending with a rock step, this one actually takes place during the rock step counts and ends with a triple step. It's very odd to me. I seemed to follow the lead into it alright, but the direction of my triple step on the way out is all off... we'll add that to the list of what I need to practice.

Good Lesson, but I need to remember to control my speed... the funny part is in my LIFE I've never been told I'm fast at anything... until now, and I have to learn to control it! HA!

I Want IT!!!

No... not the kind of "I want it!!!" temper tantrum that a three year old child would have. Now that I'm back to dancing I had a bit of an epiphany in the Social Latin Class last Monday... As I was working my way through Bachata... I suddenly remembered to engage my core muscles... something I have a habit of not doing...(and the reason I haven't lost as many inches around my middle as I could have). As I was realizing how by simply engaging the muscles around my core made the dance so much MORE. The voice in my head said I WANT IT.

(Here's where I let ya'll into my head officially... where...yes... I have conversations, debates and arguments with myself...please just follow along with my thoughts)

What do you mean "IT"?
IT....I want it... all of IT!
All of what?
IT!!!! You know what IT is, stop lying to yourself!
Ok...what I think of when I say I WANT IT is that I want it all. I want to become better than average, I want to actually engage every muscle in EVERY movement, I want to not let dancing become commonplace and routine, I want to be the best that is humanly possible for me to be at EVERYTHING I do dancing or otherwise. - How's that??
Yep that's IT... I WANT IT!
Ok... lets see what I can do about that...

All of this while trying to maintain the "side together side...hip!" of Bachata...and feeling that great muscle engaging feeling... I don't know... does anyone else debate with themselves like this? Sometimes the debates will rage on so hard I actually think I've had a conversation with another person... ANYWAY... (Oh, come on... you all know I'm crazy anyway...stop acting surprised) the phrase I want it! has been running it's way through my brain at least a few times a day and it catches me from being lazy, taking the easy way out...

Here's the thing... What I realized was that I needed to be forced to take a break from dancing. It WAS becoming routine and commonplace. The moment I got my core engaged and started working that simple Bachata basic, the full realization of what I was missing, what I had taken advantage of, what I NEEDED came rushing back and struck with a ferocity I haven't felt in a long time. The switch flipped... and my whole body screamed "Yep this is IT!!!"

I want IT

Is a perfect mantra for me, because there are SO many things that can fit into the "IT." I'm not talking going to my favorite clothing store, looking at an item I can't possibly afford and saying "I want IT" and then buying it. No, no, no! "IT" is intangible in most cases... it's an iprovement of skills, of lifestyle, of persona... I write about, love, and live as much dancing as I can...but that's not all I'm about....

IT is that I will write that novel...(or novels).
IT is that I will to learn how to better manage my time.
IT is that I will take advantage of every situation to improve my knowledge base.
IT is that I will become a better friend.
IT is that I will be someone the younger generations can look up to.
IT is all that and so much more...

This is going to be hard... let the internal battle begin! I can see it already... but hey... I WANT IT... so keep an eye out while I go and make strides to get IT... we'll start with improving the way I use my body with dance... that seems like the happiest and hardest place to start... I'll fight it the whole way I know it... but I want all those ITs and more pretty bad... I'm not about to be denied.

"The Internal Battle"

Jesse DeSoto Helps a Girl's Poor Rumba.. I'm BACK!!!

I’m back… oh I’m SO BACK!!! Yesterday I had my first lesson in FIVE WHOLE WEEKS (to the day actually). Before it started I had mentioned to RT that everything hurt so I didn’t know how it was going to go. Everything did ache…except my ankle…from my shoulders on down I was just one big ache. I arrived at the studio early because I wanted to have enough time to ice my ankle right before my lesson. So I did that. RT picked me up and we went to the music machine to pick a song, he decided we’d work on Rumba because I said I was hurting… I said no, I wanted to get my butt kicked… so we compromised and warmed up with a couple hustles.

The hustles were pretty good… I was following really well… RT even gave me a surprised look a couple of times. I think we were both expecting my following to be pretty terrible. I did have some balance issues with some of the free spins…I even followed a lead I’d never followed before. RT gave a quiet “wow”, I thought about it a second, and mid dance said…”Wait, I’m not supposed to know that one am I?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, cool!”

My only disappointment was that I was out of breath a lot faster than I would have wanted to be. Into the second hustle…I was released for a free spin, lost my balance and just stopped. RT asked me if my ankle hurt, I said no, that I was just SO out of shape! It was at that point we stopped our “warm up” and moved on to Rumba. While taking up frame RT asked me if I was back on a healthy track yet. (We had a discussion at the last dance event that I wasn’t doing well with the scale)

“So are you back on track yet?”

“No, oh NO I’m so not back on track yet!”

"Oh, well that's ok you'll get back on track, you can do it...just one pound at a time."

I'm floored...there he is ... super supportive dance instructor RT, not only that but he's being sensible about the weight loss numbers!

"What happened to two, three, four pounds in a week? Now that I've totally gone off track I could probably get a high number like that to start again!"

"All you need is one pound at a time."

"Ok, well we'll see how it goes." I state, wondering where all this came from, I'm so used to being combative about everything... I'm always ready for a fight, or a smart remark... RT and I are usually pretty good at tossing arguments around- all in jest of course...but this was like preparing to get shoved off a ledge and getting a big hug instead... I suppose I could get used to this! We get back to dancing...

Here is where my 5 weeks off the floor showed. We reviewed all the basics…and really worked on my hips. We were working on Cuban Motion and my body was like Cuban what? We know nothing of this Cuban motion. I said something, I don’t even remember what, I think it was one of those things I always end up saying, RT said “Oh good the old Kat is back, I missed this.” I was surprised actually…but I didn’t let it show…I really didn’t expect to be missed. Sure I missed dancing, especially with RT, but I never even thought he’d miss dancing with me. I don’t know… he sounded awfully sarcastic to me!! (kidding! But see what I mean about my always waiting for a fight?)

So we worked on Rumba… particularly the combo where I put my hand on his chest (no, I didn’t pull on his tie… I was tempted though). A few times he even mentioned a good connection… great! Maybe I’m not as terrible as I thought I was going to be. After feeling like I improved we moved on.

There we were, middle of the crowded dance floor working on another combination that has open breaks and a swivel pivot kind of step at the end and RT is doing his technical thing telling me all about putting the inside edge of my foot towards the floor, and I became frustrated. Since my ankle has been hurt, for whatever reason my foot wants to turn in ALL the time it’s takes serious effort for me to turn it out and get the inside edge of my foot towards the floor right now. Instead of telling RT this… I shout “IT’S NOT THAT EASY!”… just as his boss, Jesse DeSoto, is walking the floor helping lessons out. Whoops! RT kind of tenses up, I look over his shoulder and I see Jesse… I look back at RT and say “Oh, right, sorry, I’ll behave now.” We go back to working out the step.

Not two minutes after my outburst, Jesse comes over and RT asks if Jesse can look at what we’re working on… I say no, it’s awful, I do not want to do this! Of course it falls on deaf ears, I knew it would…and to be honest I’m stupid for wanting to turn down help from Jesse. So we go through the step again and I completely screw up on one part… I’m so horribly embarrassed I let out a shriek! Which is actually unlike me… I’m loud…but I don’t generally scream. Not only that but both RT and Jesse are surprised by it! I immediately apologize to both professionals and we do the step again. Jesse then did that thing that all good coaches do… he noticed and corrected the slightest thing that just made a world of difference! Totally crazy! Instead of going all the way out on one side of, we’ll call it a cross open break, I should only go out on a smaller step, but REALLY use full Cuban motion so it still looks good. That made it so much better, before it felt like I was getting too far away…but of course I didn’t know any better, and I think RT was focusing on something else instead of fixing that part. Good stuff! I Thanked Jesse, and apologized again for being vocal… it’s not good practice to yell and shriek in the middle of a crowded ballroom. We worked on it some more, and I kept going back and forth from the way I had always done it to the improved way. I’ll get it by the next lesson I’m sure.

Last few minutes of the lesson RT puts a Salsa on… he knows how to make this girl happy! So we breeze through what would have been a simple Salsa, but I was having trouble keeping control of my timing during my spins. Whoops… something else for me to get back to. I think the upside of my constantly being cautious of my ankle is that it is forcing me to think about my spins. Where as I used to just try and let go, spin as fast as possible, and figure out the timing when I get back to my partner (as was happening with this Salsa). I actually am thinking about what is going on more. This ankle thing could end up helping me out!

After my lesson I grabbed my ice out of the studio freezer and placed myself on the bench to watch lessons while I did a post lesson icing. One of my favorite female pros sat down and joined me. We had some good conversation, she tried to talk me out of dancing right now because of my ankle, and into a competition, neither of which she was successful at. We also got to watch Jesse practice some with Jackie Josephs. There is just something cool about watching pros practice in the same space you take lessons. Somehow it makes it all very real, and very cool.

I walked out of the studio on top of the WORLD!!! I felt like everything was right again. Like I could do anything I set my mind to... Dancing is MAGIC!

Problems While Not Dancing.... Keeping the Balance

Well, I'm slowly, painfully (not physically) working my way back to dancing the way I want to. Last week I attended the Social Latin class on Monday, and the Studio Party on Friday. Both went really well. The ankle is still swelling, but it's returning to it's normal size after some icing and some sleep. I'm really pleased with that. This week I attended the Social Latin class again, I also plan on the new Technique class (mentioned below) a private lesson (my first in five weeks) and hopefully some weekend dancing. I'm very excited to see what this will all do to my ankle... one thing is for certain, I HAVE to come back!

The last 5 weeks have been hard, while yes I have danced a bit and loved every second of it... I haven't been able to do ANYTHING else to work out or promote my healthy lifestyle... the ankle is still healing after all and I don't want to re-injure it. All this means is that all the little stupid internal battles over a healthy lifestyle and fighting my inner laziness has been going full blast. My life resembles much more of my pre-dance characteristics than I imagined it ever would, and to be quite honest it's put my mental state at risk. I know that sounds drastic... but with the exception of the dancing events I've been able to do... I'm positively miserable! I've fallen behind in SO many of my good habits. Eating? Forget about it... I have no energy... the scale has moved in such a terrible fashion.... I just stopped getting on it... Talk about upsetting. I simply can't wait to get back on the dance floor in a regular pattern again! I need it!

I've run into a few other problems too.... Those in my non-dancing life are not super supportive of my returning do dance while my ankle is still swelling... but they simply don't understand.


To the outside it appears my life is off kilter...that I rely way too much on dancing and it takes up too much in my life. Some have even said that I should stop all together so that I can re-balance my life to what it "should" be. I can't be angry with them, well I can and I am...but I know where they are coming from and how it all appears to the non-dancer.

<--- How others think my life is balanced.

Here's what they don't understand....

Dancing doesn't put my life off balance... Dancing is in fact what allows me to balance everything! No matter how stressed, or tired, or frustrated I am with life... being on the dance floor with ANY dance partner allows me to have a few moments away from the stress, and feel good about myself... and it makes me want to be better. How are those bad things? Everyone that knows me always seems to forget... I'm not your average person... I naturally do things a little differently than everyone else... if there really isn't a negative to my dancing... but seems to be several just plain bad things that come up when I'm not dancing... then clearly the answer for me is to get my butt back on the dance floor!

Yes, you could argue that if I got working out and got the endorphins going I'd be happy again... However, if you know my story... you know I'm genetically predisposed to HATE working out. The only reason I was working out between lessons was so I could be better at dancing through losing weight... if I'm not dancing...then I have absolutely no motivation to work out... I've tried to talk myself into working out regularly a million times since I've been out and I can get the odd work out in out of guilt, but I can't get a pattern going without my dancing!

Ballroom and Latin dancing is the FOUNDATION of what allows me to balance my life and be happy. ----->

RT has a TECHNIQUE CLASS!!!

Oh everyone I've got a good one... RT is adding a class to the studio roster!

NEW GROUP CLASS at FADS BG!

RT'S TECHNIQUE CLASS
WEDNESDAY @ 8:45pm!

This is all very new and hasn't hit the calendar on the Studio Website yet... but it's bound to be good! RT has this nickname, if you remember, because he is REALLY TECHNICAL in his teaching practices. He works so hard to stay up to date on everything with movement, style, and technique! We're all bound to get a LOT from this class!

That's all I have at the moment...but as I learn more I'll be sure to let you know all about it. Better still come out to his class! If you're a student of his it will give you a chance to polish what he's probably told you in a lesson...and if you're not... come on out and learn from a new perspective! I personally always pick up a ton when I'm learning from a different point of view... and you know I'll be there! CHECK IT OUT!!

As with all group classes at FADS BG if you have a private lesson scheduled that week all the group classes are FREE! That's in everybody's budget!

See you on the dance floor!