Flash Steps Aren't for Flashing: An AW Blog Chain Post

Today's post is part of the AW April Blog Chain, and our theme this time is new beginnings.

Over at The Unfocused Life, Unfocused Me wrote about new beginnings with eating better. He said, “Eventually, we notice it when we have fallen off the wagon. It might only be a couple of days, or it might be a couple of months, but when the realization comes, we gather up whatever shreds of willpower and mental discipline we have left, press CTRL-ALT-DEL, and reboot.”

As usual, everything in my life relates back to one of three things: dance, theatre, or writing (and animals, but that would have been four so technically they aren't on the list). And this is no exception, because I’m about to relate this to dance (Oh yeah, you knew it was coming…).

My dance partner went to Europe for a week last week, so we went a week without practice. Now, I know a lot of you are thinking that this is no big deal, that a week isn’t a long time. Let me assure you…it is. When usually practicing twelve hours a week for competitive ballroom, a week is an eternity. When we came back together after that week, it was in a lot of ways like starting all over again. It was time for a major reboot. Movements and hand placements that had come as naturally as breathing just a week before now seemed to take the utmost concentration. So, we did what any normal, average ballroom pair would do: we started doing lifts.

Yes, I realize it sounds ridiculous, but for us, it was just what we needed. Most people think of ballroom dance as just remembering the steps, but it’s so much more than that; it’s maintaining that level of connection with your partner to the point where you know each other’s rhythm so well that you don’t have to consciously think about it. Hands clasp, spins turn, and lifts go up without hesitation, just because you’re on the same page. So lifts seemed to be in order; we are either very brave or very stupid (probably stupid). But we needed to regain that connection, and what better way to regain a connection with someone than to give him or her the opportunity to break every bone in your face (or entire body, for that matter)?

It’s like that for me with writing, too. If I’m in the middle of a work in progress and take a break for any period of time, when I come back to it, it seems like starting all over again. I have to regain my momentum and grapple for footing, trying to figure out where I left off. This is why once I start a new project, I don’t stop until I finish it: because usually if I put it to the side I lose the flow. I mean, you saw how easily I forgot that I’d ever even written about beach ball boobs (Side note: Crap! Now it’s going to come up on the Google search AGAIN!). Just think how I am with plot!

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is a video of us doing a snippet of dance once we got our groove back (Side note: 1.) No How Stella Got Her Groove Back jokes or you’re out of the blog club and 2.)This really was taken JUST for you, seeing as how the video I was going to use got erased, and we took a special “we only have five minutes so we better do it right the first time” video just for you!). We call the flash step in it (Side note: It's called a flash step because it's flashy, not because we flash people...I just figured I'd let you all down easily before you got your hopes up too high) the neck brace, either because he holds me by the neck or because if I fall backwards and miss, it would put me in a neck brace (Side note: You remember that trust thing I blogged about once? Yeah, this would be where it comes in handy.). After the flash step, we go into the Back Charleston, also known as the most exhausting east coast swing form ever (and the sole reason that whole box of Girl Scout cookies didn’t make me blow up like a balloon.).


Once you're finished marvelling at our glorious, last minute dance video, go check out the other bloggers in this smokin’April blog chain (Side note: No The Mask jokes, either) :

Auria Cortes
Polenth's Quill
Unfocused Me
Spittin' (out words) Like a Llama
Food History
Fantastical Imagination
Life In Scribbletown
For The First Time
Polyamory From the Inside Out
Livininsanity
Spynotes
A Wayward Journey
Virtual Wordsmith