Argyle Casual

Lesson day!  I love Fridays.  I love that its lesson day and that I can cruise the wonderful consignment shop across the street from the studio.  My Friday treats.  So much better than chocolate.

Today has been very overcast and chilly.  I struggled to get dressed this morning.  I wear a dress on most days...especially on dance day because it is more comfortable and Marcel can actually see what my feet are doing.  

*I should mention right now that the foot action is probably the LEAST important element of dance; we dance with out whole bodies and dance movement is generally not initiated by our feet! But he still needs to see what they are doing. *

I just wasn't feeling the dress today.  I wasn't feeling anything I put on today.  I was trying way too hard.  I do have to choose carefully...I need to be able to move while I dance and not get too hot or too cold.  Pants can't be too long or I'll trip on them.  Nothing can be restrictive.

I tried on several combinations of fussy clothing and everything felt restrictive and awkward. I finally decided to just go simple.  I felt better immediately.

The black pants have spandex so they have some 'give' and were easy to dance in. The Izod argyle pullover was thrifted for $2.00 last summer at a church operated thrift shop.  It was pristine and perfect.  It felt so comfy..and put me at ease.  Comfort clothing is like comfort food to me.

I paired it with my orange scarf for some cheerful color.  I felt cute enough and perfectly comfortable.  This scarf makes me smile!

Peyton's photography command today..."throw your hat up in the air and catch it"!  I'm not good at catching anything due to a visual depth perception impairment..so I caught it with my face.  Too bad Peyton didn't capture that.  He did get a big belly laugh, though!

This is the only thing I picked up at the consignment shop today.  I'm trying to rein in the spending, but I had an in-store credit and I fell in love with this little hat. 

On the way home....I snapped this far away pic of the county tactical team (similar to SWAT) practicing maneuvers.....it was pretty cool to watch. They were walking in formation in time with the armored vehicle..shields up.   I wish I could have gotten a bit closer!

My sweet little hat...I love the color.

Today, I'm recommitting to better eating; I've got to get into better shape.  I want to look my best in my competition dresses.  I want to be stronger and even more powerful on the dance floor.

I mentioned in my last post that my next event will be a showcase in December.  Well...thats not going to happen.  I was so looking forward to dancing a flirty foxtrot to the Lyle Lovett song all of you enjoyed.  Until I realized that the showcase is 40 days away.  Definitely not enough time to get that kind of tricky choreography perfected.  Unlike DWTS....we only get 1 or 2 hours a week together.  

Marcel and I had a heart to heart talk about my dance goals and we both agree that I can be my best on the comp floor if I focus my lesson time on comp dancing. I needed to choose between showcase or competition.  He  didn't give me an ultimatum...he allowed me to elaborate on my dance goals and it became clear to me.  I'm so much more passionate about competing.  There is so little time between comps and showcases that there its difficult and impractical to try and squeeze it all in.  He tells me that I am a 'very good' dancer and that I can be 'incredible' if I focus on the elements of movement that I haven't perfected yet.  It takes hard work...lots of hard work and perfection is still elusive, even to the pros at times.  But I'm going to work hard to achieve higher levels of accomplishment in my dance.

I'm going to forgo the showcase.  Indiana Challenge competition is in February.  If I begin now and work hard...I can be in top dance form by then.  We are also going to slowly create a high level showcase routine that we will present at some future point, but we're going to do this over the course of the year...to allow it to fully develop.  In the meantime; my focus and energy will be directed at competition practice.  

I'm going to pout for a moment about not showcasing; and then I'm going to get over it and work my butt off....literally and figuratively.

I'm going to enjoy the journey.  And then I'm going to kick dance butt.