finding my balance part 2

The Social Dancer

Another part of my life that needs balance is my social life, which for the last few years has revolved around dancing.  Before I started dancing 7 years ago, and even up until about a few years ago my social life was pretty varied; I attended church, participated in young adult groups, hiked, hosted an occasional dinner party, and  when I lived in Colorado I used to bike.  However, this last year my only social avenue has revolved around dance events and exchanges;  Lindy Hop, Blue's Balboa, West Coast Swing and Fusion.  There is nothing wrong with it per say as I really enjoy the connection time off the dance floor that I've had these past few months traveling to the Baltimore, and D.C. scenes.  I've really felt apart of the scene especially in D.C. and I am making more of an effort to make the 2-hour trip down.

However, it would be nice to have some friends locally that I connect with in that same manner, but with my social focus being around dancing it's hard to meet anyone locally and even the closest scene would be York or Lancaster, and they are still 30 minute to an hour drive.  My main thing really is to have the quality time and there are a few friends from my old church or even old hobbies that who I miss hanging out with and some one-on-one time to catch up would really be nice. 

That's me in the pink shirt under the spell of Bitter Dose Combo, a favorite band, as they perform at DCLX 2013 on Sunday afternoon. photo credit: Jerry Almonte.

------------------------ becoming a fit dancer ------------------------

It's amazing what you learn about yourself just by watching other dancers who are in their realm and it didn't take me very long to realize just how mediocre my so called "creative dance style" is and that I've got some work to do if I'm going to spice things up, so I've decided to dedicate an hour a week to practice different moves that will expand my dance move library so I can more flavor on the dance floor.

check out my vanilla moves

Here are a few of the moves I plan to work on:
* lock turn w kick ball chain
* eggbeater (in link above)
* heal stands
* helicopter
* falling off the log (6:05)
* the mess around
* hip thrust
* susy q. 

------------------------ dancing is exercise ------------------------

Lindy Hop (LH) is not only a social avenue for me, but it's also a way to keep fit since you can burn 1,000 calories in only a few hours depending on the advancement and intensity of the dancers in your scene.   My local scene is primarily East Coast Swing / Jitterbug, which doesn't compare to the original intensity from the 1920s and 1930s.   There are exceptions like on our Monthly dance in Colombia when most of my Happy Lindy dancers are present and I leave dripping sweat, which is a sanctifying feeling.  I also get a chance to catch up with some of my favorite people in my scene. 

Hooked On Swing Dancing
by BadZKarma99

I plan to start attending a weekly dance in Baltimore that gives me the intensity I desire and will be counting it in my weekly routine as an alternative cardio day.   The drive can sometimes be rough at 1-1/2 hours, but I also plan to treat myself to my favorite Starbucks coffee - soy latte and 2x shot of raspberry.  This also keeps me traveling outside of my scene where there are more advanced dancers to remind me how vanilla my moves really are.

Keep in mind that any Arial moves {seen in the video above} are reserved for the competitions and are not appropriate / respectful to be done on the social dance floor.  

part 1: Fit Life
part 3: Home Care