stretch.

It's not how many flips or spins you can do, it's how far you can stretch your soul.

TO PEOPLE WHO LOVE TO DANCE.

Also, I'm hoping...


Want do you want from this month?

Iced coffee. Circus arts classes. Wine. Rompers. Outdoor yoga. Patios. Walks at dusk. Sunglasses. Live music. Spontaneity. BBQ. Crafts. Long dresses. Short shorts. Beach reads. Braids. Day trips. Olympics. Old movies. A whole day of doing things we have never done before.

jason.

This may very well be one of the most beautiful combo's I've seen. Jason Parsons is one of my favourite choreographers, and I'm thrilled to see him teaching at one of the biggest dance conventions, NYCDA.

Check out his choreography below:


For those of you not familiar with dance conventions, basically it's a weekend of eight-plus hours of dance classes in various cities all over the country, with a plethora of teachers. There's roughly 400-500 dancers there, split up into beginner, junior and senior rooms.

It's crowded, hot, and a ton of fun...I won't lie. I loved every moment of it, because I got to just dance my feet off.

I was very lucky growing up in California to have the opportunity to attend so many that came to the Bay Area and Southern California, and take classes from choreographers like Gil Storming, Mandy Moore, Mia Michaels, Blake McGrath, NappyTabs and even more before they became stars on So You Think You Can Dance.

The only downfall of these conventions is they can feel like a giant competition the entire weekend. I remember always feeling the need to hit the choreography so hard to make myself stand out to the teacher, and attack, attack, attack each movement.

That's me, when I really know the choreography. I'm also older and can pick it up in class that much faster and make something of it for me, no one else.

Contemporary and modern dance that really expresses what dance is about - the movement of the body - is a new technique in the last few years. Gone are those sappy pieces. Jason Parsons and other choreographers even just introducing it in this setting to a mass amount of people.

This is a whole concept (that is so simple, really) that I didn't find out about until I was a little older. I was introduced to "artistic movement processing" (will explain later...that's a whole other story) when I was an apprentice to Moving Arts Dance.

I hope on a smaller scale, that's what my dancers feel with the pieces I made for them in Kelowna.

Time will tell. I can't wait to see and hear about their performances.

Just a (dance) thought of the day.

eve.

'Twas the night before the first day of my internship,
all the house was asleep.
Not a creature was stirring,
not even my miniature poodle.

I'm packed, ready, prepared and hopefully ready to go,
however, I have a blasted broken toe.

What to wear? What to wear?

Sleep will not pass over my eyelids.

C'est la vie. The injury was worth it - teaching and learning from fellow dancers and professionals in whatever field you're in is invaluable.

When they're doing your choreography and taking it to another level, that's magic.

I can now see why Sonya Tayeh and Mia Michaels get so excited. I hope to one day be the Canadian version.

If you don't dream big, who else will for you?

Fin.