All She Wants To Do Is Dance

Dancing has always been a passion of mine.  I've been doing it in some form since I was a little girl.  I was not blessed with an athletic physique or great hand-eye coordination, or even rhythm for that matter.  Regardless, I had to find some type of 'extracurricular' activity to get me out of the house and to keep me active.  Dancing ended up being that for me.  It never came naturally to me, but I loved it.  I would spend hours in my bedroom practicing the steps we learned that night so that the following week it would look like it was effortless for me.  The most thrilled part of it came when it was time for our live performances.  I got such a rush as I waited behind the curtain for our turn to take the stage and be a star for the next 3 minutes.  The heat from the spot lights, the dark sea of people, and my heart racing created a high that I looked for year after year. 

When I graduated high school and went to college, dance took a much different form.  My sorority sisters and I used the clubs in Ybor as our weekly gym sessions because I know the way we got down was just as good as doing 100 squats.  We would dance until the early morning on a weekly basis, which is what I give credit to preventing the dreaded 'freshman 15.'  Now, dance doesn't take any form in my life.  I still needed a way to keep the weight off since this girl loves to eat, so what was once hours on the dance floor turned into hours in the gym or outside running.  While there is a rush that I get from running a few miles outdoors and getting a new best time or leaving the gym dripping in sweat, I can't say it is nearly as fun.  So I became determined to change that, leading to this 30 before 30 challenge.

One thing that I LOVE about my husband is that he is willing to do activities with me that he has ZERO interest in.  Dance lessons were one of them.  My sweet cousin Jena has been very supportive of my personal challenge and has even participated in crossing some off the list.  For Christmas she gave me a gift card for the Fred Astaire Dance Studio.  So Logan joined me for a few Tuesday night lessons where we got an overview of salsa, swing, tango, cha cha, rumba, and waltz.  We did about six weeks of lessons which gave us a good overview and the basic steps for each.  We are not going to be entering any competitions in the near future, but I think we can hold our own on the dance floor at the next wedding.  What this did show me was how much I miss dancing.  I think the folks at Fred Astaire will be excited to learn that I want to continue taking dance lessons on a regular basis.  I've always been a hug fan of swing so I think I am going to continue learning the steps to not only keep me in shape but to also bring back this area that was once a big passion for me.  (Don't worry, Logan... I'm not going to be dragging you to this every week!)  Thank you again to Jena and Logan for helping me cross another item off my list.