Dance Dance!

This is me flying across the world. Pretty much I love performing and dancing, and I've always had a secret dream to be a performer on stage for ... well however I long I could be there. It's absolutely wonderful to me that I've been able to get so much stage time, especially now when most people I know are starting to slide off into the grind of real life.

I am a member of Foot Poetry, a local tap dance company made of people who just love to get together and tap! We make beautiful noise with our feet and have a blast at our Saturday morning rehearsals, breakin' it down to some Funky Town grooves. (PS I am looking for a shiny disco costume, if anyone has connections.) Right now we are preparing for a show in January-- still waiting to hear back about our November possibility-- where we will be in the spotlight at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo! Save January 17th in your calendars, friends, because this array of footwork will blow your socks off! I am hoping to stage a choreography two friends and I came up with in our tap class for this performance. It's a classy little number to Frank Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel So Young," and it leans towards the old, smooth tap style. You also won't want to miss a great a capella number I'm in with some other incredible rhythmists. More or less, we tap out a train. Really, we use different tap rhythms and combinations to make it sound like a train is leaving the station and heading down the tracks. Talk about some talented feet (and choreographers!).

Another group that I'm hoping to be a part of this year is Clog America. It's a Utah company that performs American folk dances, primarily representing the US at international festivals. Last Saturday they held auditions for this year's tour team, and the jury is still out for now on who is going and who is not. For what it's worth, I think the audition went tremendously well! You always leave an audition knowing you could have done better at this thing or that, but even so I know I did a good job... the best job I could do.

It was pretty nerve-wracking the night before the audition. My last audition before that was almost a year ago and while it was a good experience, it didn't turn out the way I had hoped. But I realized, it doesn't matter how every other audition turned out, for good or not. Every time I go out there and try for something new, I truly grow within myself. Somethings are meant to be, and others are not. Before I let my pre-audition nerves get the best of me, I reminded myself that no panel of judges can deny 18 years of practice, work, and patience-- the ingredients that make me the dance (and person) I am right now.

Dance is always inside of me, begging to come out. It will always be like that. I'm not sure if this chance to dance and see the world is going to open for me, but for that Saturday, those precious 5 hours of sweat, pain, and adrenaline, were a precious gift. I am a dancer. My greatest joy is found between the audience and the spotlights in that moment where spirits connect and performance becomes mutual sharing. It's an amazing feeling that I find difficult to describe. Perhaps this picture does it more justice. There's just something different about me when I dance.