Dance
Towards a More Authentic Self: Part One
I chose the tag-line for this blog “lessons learned on and off the dance floor” because I hoped that what I write here would not only resonate with people who care about dancing, but that non-dancers would appreciate my process and find some value as well. But more importantly, the lessons you learn in one setting … Continue reading
Fear Of Missing In
This post is for the dance junkies and the traveling dance instructors. But anyone who has caught the dance bug can probably relate. Backstory There was a time when I took nine dance classes a week. There was a time when I went dancing four or five nights a week. I went to an all-night … Continue reading
On Giving It Away For Free
Years ago when I lived in San Francisco and times were tight, I was practicing massage therapy on a regular basis. Occasionally, I would question whether or not my rates were too high. I’d bring it up with my best friend, who founded his own online business printing high quality business cards (they were expensive… … Continue reading
Pure Following vs. Being Conversational: My Order of Operations on the Social Dance Floor
The Joy of Conversation Sara VanVreede asked Lucas Weismann and I this question after she watched us have a discussion about following during a practice session: From Sara: I don’t know if it’s a class thought, a “help me sort this out for myself by talking about it” thought or something Continue reading
The Difference Between Winners and Losers
For Danielle “You have no idea how it is in the first Round,” Floyd [Patterson] would tell his confidant, Gay Talese. “You’re out there with all those people around you, and those cameras, and the whole world looking in, and all that movement, that excitement, and ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ and the whole nation hoping … Continue reading
You Think of Yourself as a Dancer…
Well, you’re not. Just like how a dude on OkCupid holding a guitar in his profile picture is not a Musician. A Musician is someone who gets paid to play music for other people and who has a record contract. A Dancer is someone who gets paid to dance. We’re talking Baryschnikov, Bruhn, Pavlova, Hines, Hijikata, Nijinksky, Morris, Tharp, Sparks, Robson. You don’t know who those people are? That’s because you’re not a dancer. Continue reading
What I’m Doing for the next 125 Days
Finally home, from traveling the world. I’m home finally. For the first time today, I crossed the threshold of my apartment after nearly five months. Between January 2nd and today I’ve been to Las Vegas, Portland, Eugene, Oakland, 3 of the Hawaiian Islands, San Francisco, back to Chicago (but not to my house) to… Continue reading
The Glorious Life of a Traveling Dance Instructor
I’m sitting in a house on the outskirts of Paris, in a ville called Alfortville, which reminds me of Hackney, London. The black people here are very black, like they just came out of the sun in the sunniest part of Africa, not like the creamy blacks of America, who all have some white blood … Continue reading
On Dance Culture: Separate and Unequal
Bourbon Street, New Orleans We approached Bourbon Street in a circumspect manner, like pioneers skirting the edge of an overflowing river. The “drunken-steins” as my companion called them, spilled down the adjoining streets like bubbling tributaries, sometimes gurgling straight into us. We side-stepped and dodged, re-directing our own flow, forging across the stream… Continue reading
How to Dance Every Day
Every so often I reach a point where I feel it’s time to make a new agreement with myself, a commitment to change something in my daily life in hopes that it will somehow positively impact my life. One of the agreements I find myself trying to keep often (and failing) is to dance every day. … Continue reading
