It Has Begun!

You didn’t think I’d let the new season of Dancing with the Stars begin without some commentary, did you?? 

This season started at just the right time – I feel more motivated this week than I have in a while. I’ve still been going to class about three times a week, but Tuesday morning when I got up to go to class, I realized just how much in the last couple of weeks I’ve had to really make myself go versus really wanting to go and being at least a little excited to go.

I know that there are going to be those days that are harder than others to get up and get moving, but the last week or so has been difficult. Dealing with some health issues, unrelated to dancing, have increased some stress and anxiety levels, which led to my natural response of curling up in bed and hiding. I didn’t do too much of it, but, like I said, I’ve had to do a lot of talking to myself and telling myself “Get your behind up and go!”

So, the Dancing with the Stars premiere… There are some celebs on this season that I think are going to be amazing dancers. I’m very excited! As I watched I found myself paying much closer attention to the moves they were actually doing, rather than simply whether or not I liked the dance. Doing Zumba for a few months, which includes some dance moves (not that we do them very technically correct!) has made me really REALLY appreciate just how difficult some of…no MOST of what they’re doing truly is. Watch, especially in fast dances like the Cha Cha or the Jive, how fast they move their feet or when they are dancing on one foot swinging or kicking the other. And when they jump or hop in time or in rhythm… let me tell you, if you are even a little out of shape, if you are even a little overweight – moving your entire body weight at one time – not so easy!

One of my Zumba instructors likes to do routines with lots of hops and jumps. The low impact version of that is walking or marching, doing knee lifts instead, something like that. I have steered away from things like jumping jacks because I’ve had knee problems in the past and until I loose some more weight, I’m very conscious of not injuring myself. But in class this week I tried to do a few of the jumping/hopping sequences – oh. my. god. I’m not going to say “I can’t do them”. I can hop a little, but my toes don’t come far off the ground and I can only do like two! So something new to work toward!

Here is my two cents on the first week of Dancing with the Stars Season 19. You will notice that Derek did not make my list. I know… He is always amazing, so that goes without saying. His partner, Bethany Mota, did well but she had a few issues. However…kudos to her for keeping up with Derek!!

I’m excited to see where they go…
Lea Thompson & Artem – I have always liked Lea. I was excited about her being on this season anyway, but wow!!
Randy Couture & Karina – He was worried about feeling clumsy, but he was anything but! I didn’t know who he was before the show, but can’t wait to see what happens. I’m looking forward to when they start doing lift because I think he’s just going to be throwing Karina around the floor!

Surprises of the night:
Tommy Chong & Peta – Like Bruno said, I was expecting “Bad grandpa”. It wasn’t the greatest but it was entertaining. Loved the cameo by Cheech Marin, too!
Sadie Robertson & Mark – The thing I appreciate most about Mark Ballas is that he is so good with the younger girls. He worked with Shawn Johnson when she was 17, Aly Raisman (18), and Bristol Palin (20). He is such a good guy and he can make them feel grown-up and even a little sexy when the dance calls for it without it being weird, creepy or uncomfortable for them. And oh my god, has the girl got legs! Excited to see her break out of her shell and little and have some fun!

Favorite of the Night:
Alfonso Ribeiro & Witney Carson Not sure what I can say other than I smiled the whole time! So in honor of him and the hopes of seeing “The Carlton” at some point in the season, here is a fun little clip…
Will Smith, Jaden Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribeiro on Graham Norton The whole thing is good but especially if you jump to 1:22

I’m now waiting for Will Smith to show up to cheer on Alfonso!

Tune in and dance

Dance is the hidden language of the soul.
Martha Graham

Flame Dance by Leonid Afremov

I did not intend to post two days in a row, but when inspiration hits, it must be shared! As per yesterdays post, this evening I sat down to watch Derek & Jennifer Week 2 – The Jive. Go go go go GO!!!! Fast hips, fast feet, fast heartbeat. I almost got out of breath just watching them.

I had forgotten until I watched the pre-performance package, that Jennifer has had some serious health and injury issues that make dancing even more of a challenge. Never fear, though, she takes them head on and conquers.

Of course, like Amazon with their “customers who bought this item also bought” and “you may also like”…YouTube does a great job of saying “click on this one too!” So a short maze of videos later, I found this: Jennifer Grey 25 years after Dirty Dancing

I won’t give any commentary on it because I’m not sure I could do it justice right now. So much of what she shares simply resonates with my soul.

So here I am venturing out to discover myself, tuning into the music in my soul…and dancing.

Unexpected Inspiration

Sometimes a movie encapsulates a period or a moment in all of our lives in such a way that it never dies.
Patrick Swayze

There are times that I am amazed at the way things fall into place…the timing of the universe…the way that we end up in the right place at the right time. I never know what is going to inspire me and motivate me to keep moving. Then something happens – it could be a song on the radio, a note from a friend, a quote or sign, a brief conversation with a stranger – something clicks into place and I’m reminded that this journey is the right place for me to be right now.

Last night was a quiet night at home. Well…as quiet as our house can be watching Virginia Tech football! Thanks to the technological wonder of social media, I can “watch” the game with friends and fellow alums who are spread all over the country. While “watching” together on Facebook, a friend posed this question:

I am compiling the best list of dance movies EVER! My personal favorites are The Turning Point and American in Paris. Yours? Go!

Her comment thread exploded! White Knights, Strictly Ballroom, Save the Last Dance, Footloose, Flashdance, Singin’ in the Rain, West Side Story, Shall We Dance, Take the Lead, Center Stage…the list goes on.
And of course, Dirty Dancing.

One of the most moving moments for me on Dancing with the Stars was the beginning of Season 11 when Derek was partnered with Jennifer Grey. For their first performance they danced the Viennese Waltz to Otis Redding’s “These Arms of Mine” – yes…fromthe Dirty Dancing soundtrack. When Jennifer was first told what song they would be dancing to, she was excited, elated! Then in a moment she was overcome by her emotions as she remembered dancing with Patrick Swayze. She talks about how alive and dynamic Patrick was and how he was one of the most fearless people she had ever met. She said that was how she was going to dance, fearlessly. And she nails it.

In just a few weeks, my best friend and I are having a girls weekend complete with a gorgeous mountain resort and tickets to a Virginia Tech football game! The place we are staying – Mountain Lake Lodge – is actually where Dirty Dancing was filmed. You can even make reservations to stay in “Baby’s Cabin”.

The connections all just clicked in my brain last night. I’m going to be where one of my favorite movies ever was filmed. A movie not just about dancing, but about becoming, about coming out of our imposed shells, about being given the chance and the confidence to shine…about being fearless.

 

So my inspiration for the next two weeks, as I count down the days, is going to come from Derek, Jennifer, Patrick, Johnny & Baby. Derek and Jennifer danced for 10 weeks during Season 11, something like 17 dances – that’s about one a day. I’m going to take an extra day at the resort by myself for a little personal retreat to begin reading Derek’s book, Taking the Lead, that was released on August 5th. It came in the mail the day I was leaving for the wedding weekend and then with the craziness of the last few weeks I have not been able to give it my full attention.

I’m also “borrowing” my friend’s movie list as a source of inspiration for down the road. Got any other recommendations? Maybe I’ll create a page just for that list!

 Dancing on…keeping my eyes, ears and heart open for inspiration from unexpected places.

 

Roaring Colors!

Today’s post is brought to you by the colors turquoise and magenta.

I wear a lot of black. There are lots of reasons that a good majority of the clothing I own is black.
~ It’s easy and it’s classic.
~ For my job we must wear black or khaki pants. Not a huge fan of khaki.
~ I actually look good in black. Some people do not have the coloring, it makes them look washed out. I, however, can!
~ Black is slimming. All young ladies are taught this as a basic rule of life, shopping and fashion. It’s true! What it actually does is absorb light so that curves, bulges, lumps and bumps are hidden. Whereas white and lighter colors do the opposite.

We are also taught that wearing one color top to bottom makes you look slimmer because it gives the eye a straight vertical line to look at and doesn’t emphasize any particular areas. When you wear different colors top and bottom, the eye is instantly attracted to where the break occurs – usually around the waist or hips – not usually the area we want emphasized!

I looked in the mirror during class one day a few weeks ago and realized I was a bit of a cliche. I was wearing black pants, a black top, even my sports bra and ponytail holder were back. I had on white and silver shoes, but even my socks were black! The only color was the lime green soles of my shoes – but that was mostly because they are my good supportive cross trainers and that’s the color they came in. If I have my preference on shoes, it’s not black or white, but grey. Not much difference, really.

I went home that day and pulled out all my gym clothes and was actually a bit shocked at how little color there was. I had a little bit of navy blue and my favorite yoga pants are a dark charcoal grey. I had one shirt that was a turquoise color – but even it was pretty dark.

One of the fun things about Zumba is the crazy colors and outfits (Check out Zumba.com) Not every instructor wears official Zumba gear, but they all have at least a few fun and funky things they’ll wear – even if it’s just their shoes.

So there I was, in my head-to-toe black, disguising my curves and bumps and lumps, hiding in the back row.

Something clicked that day and I decided NO MORE!!

My next trip to Goodwill I mentally prepared myself for clothes shopping. I was specifically looking for exercise/dancing clothes and intentionally SKIPPED the section of black clothes. I came away with a pair of royal blue yoga pants and three tops – magenta, turquoise and white with blue geometric designs. A couple of days later at a non-thrift store I found myself some neon hair ties and headbands – you know, because the 80’s are coming back!

Then, on the way out of the store a shirt practically jumped out and yelled “Here I am!! I’m the one!” I’m not one for clothing with a lot of …shall we call it bling – sparkle, gems, glitter, studs, etc. You know, the things that might draw attention. Well…it’s kind of hard to see, but this one has it ALL AND the image of a tiger. As soon as I saw it I thought “Hear me ROAR!”
Yes…I was channeling Katy Perry.

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar

Here is to being my own hero!

Now I’m not getting rid of perfectly good workout clothes just because they are black, but they will always be paired with something that says I AM HERE!

I spent this past holiday weekend with my sister and her family. My five year old niece is my mini-me. Yeah…it’s good to be the cool aunt. She heard me talking about dancing and Zumba to my mom and sis and she wanted to know what it was. I told her it was kind of like exercise, but it was dancing to really cool music, so it was lots of fun. Did I mention that she is in love with dancing? She decided I needed to show her and dance with her! I already had on my royal blue pants and my tiger shirt, so I pulled up some Enrique Iglesias on my laptop and taught my first Zumba class! The really fun part was that my mom and sister were just going to watch, but then they couldn’t sit still either. We got through about three songs before they’d had enough.

My niece and I then went for about a twenty minute walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I cleaned up, put on clean clothes and went back downstairs wearing the only extra top I’d brought with me – black and grey stripes. My niece immediately climbed in my lap and asked what had happened to my other shirt. I explained that I’d gotten hot and sweaty and now it needed washing before I could wear it again. She then said, “Well we can put it in the washing machine so you can wear it. I like it better than this one.”

That answers that question.

It’s really easy to get colors right.
It’s really hard to get black – and neutrals – right.
Black is certainly a color but it’s also an illusion.
Donna Karan