Back for More

After a few days of thought, it seems I’m back. Decision came down to two things. The first is that there are times when I do enjoy this so why stop doing something I like to do. The second is just my feeling that I need multiple creative outlets in my life and this certainly qualifies.

But I also need to be aware that when this starts to feel like a chore or an obligation, then it is no fun and why do something that isn’t fun. So it means only doing something when I feel somewhat inspired. Can’t make something sound interesting if I’m not interested now can I. Probably mean fewer posts but that’s not a bad thing.

First lesson of 2023 last night. The studio has hired several new people. Saw one of them watching us during our Bolero. When it came time to do the Viennese Waltz, the other two were getting some training in a corner of the floor – trying their best to not be in the way. Only problem is our V Waltz uses all of the corners. So we kind of had to shoo them out of the way and that left them nothing to do but watch.

We have a spot in the pattern where we do some open naturals on the long side and then an explosion to set up some shadow open naturals. The open natural turns are one of my strongest steps (IMO). Lots of drive and it moves and I think it looks good. Anyway, the new instructors were effusive with praise and I can’t deny it is nice to hear.

It is easy to let your ego run away with you when people are saying good things. The continuing goal and challenge is to gracefully accept comments while still mentally acknowledging there is always room for improvement. But they can also be a useful gauge. There are times on lessons where to goal is to practice like it is for real and getting that kind of feedback helps. If they like what they see on a lesson, then it likely only gets better at something like a Showcase.