Two guys were chatting after Zumba class about the blues dancing scene at a local bar. One was an experienced social dancer and the other unsure about where to even put his hands on a potential dance partner. The experienced one asked if I would help him demonstrate the basics…

I belong to a fitness accountability group and earlier this week, I posed a question. I wanted to know how the others in the group managed their workouts when Life got really crazy, like it has been for me this month. They seemed to be so much better at doing…

I had a birthday a week and a half ago. Birthdays are a time to reflect on my life over the past year, and this particular birthday, I found myself reflecting on the past decade. The last couple weeks, I have been reminded of some important lessons I’ve learned over…

We plan, God laughs. -Yiddish proverb It’s March already, and while I’m not surprised that there is still a foot of snow on the ground here in Maine, I am surprised and disappointed that I’m not back to taking ballroom dance lessons. I shouldn’t be surprised because I was there…

The conclusion of the women’s figure skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing once again highlights the utter lack of care given to athletes’ physical and mental health for the sake of the win. Two out of three Russian skaters broke down sobbing as the results were…

Second, fourth, plié, turn. Second, fourth, plié, turn. I repeated this sequence over and over while my ballet teacher chanted it over the music. Each time, I pointed my foot out to the side (second), moved it about a foot behind my other foot while maintaining turnout (fourth), bent both…

I originally wrote Choose Your Own Adventure for my blog, The Girl with the Tree Tattoo, which primarily caters to ballroom dancers who got their start as adults. Topics focus on the mental and emotional aspects of the adult ballroom dancer journey. …

Water drips from the snowy roofline as the sun slowly warms the air to above freezing. Never did I ever think I’d look at a high temperature of 34 degrees Fahrenheit and think “not bad!” There are a lot of things I never thought would happen that did happen in…

I’ve been thinking about how many different paths our dance journeys can take, even when the final destination is the same, such as a competition. We often look for a blueprint or a map to show us the way to our goals. A champion title in ballroom, for example…