Dance

It doesn't take long before people learn that I love to dance. Dancing is a type of freedom with a feeling that should be almost unexplainable because it's just that ethereal. However, if I were to honestly describe the feeling of freedom when I dance, I'd say it's a freedom from anything people really think or what they have to say in critique or praise. It's a form of expression for me and it's really awkward to have people judge it to say it was good or bad simply because it comes from my heart. It's genuine and honest so there really is no good or bad to it, in my opinion.

I love to dance because it make me feel good. That freedom is a great feeling but I also feel like when I dance, I get to share another part of who I am. I love the sweat equity and the feeling that hard work brings after such a creative process. I really enjoy seeing a final product after hours and hours of long, intense practice. I also really enjoy seeing how my body adjusts and I improve on certain moves that at one point, I would never have been able to do without falling. I also love it because aside from the hard work to learn new moves, many moves just come naturally to me. I dance when I'm really happy about something especially really awesome food (greedy, I know) or a really good deal! ;-) I will literally do a jig in my seat in front of some really good food or over the stove, if I'm cooking it.

My first memories of developing a strong passion for dance started as a little girl in the living room of my parents' house. Billy and Sarah Gaines were a Christian duo that I danced to A LOT. Think a more edgier version of Bebe and Cece Winans or if Michael and Janet Jackson if they sang about Christ. I used to wait for everyone to clear out of the living room and I would LITERALLY dance my heart out. I'm not kidding. I would dance so hard that if someone walked in the room, I'd be embarrassed because I was SUPER into it and there was no way to play it off like, "Oh! I was just jogging in place!" No, ma'am. I was definitely doing the Running Man. This is too funny to even write about it because it was such a bizarre habit and shame on me! I still do it. Not as often as I used to but I still enjoy my solo dance parties.

So right now, I'll practice three times a week. I also practice with the group I am teaching praise dancing to. We meet once a week on a Sunday and it feels awesome. At the beginning of the year, I decided that I really wanted to grow as a dancer so I decided to enroll in dance lessons. The goal is to take both modern and tap dance lessons this year. I really want to get good at modern dance and I really want to at least BEGIN tap dance. I chose modern dance because the dancers are so incredibly graceful and it looks like something I could really be great at. While in undergrad, one modern dance gym class showed me that I would love really master it. I also chose tap dance because as a kid, once I was ready for church, I used to go downstairs by the door and pretend I was a tap dancer on the tile floor. I used to love the little Sesame Street tap dance "commercials" with Savion Glover and was hooked. I never took lessons though. Well, now is the time and I look forward to the experiences. Modern dance class starts next week! ;-)