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Making active mistakes on the dancefloor

Making Active Mistakes

How comfortable are you with your dancing? I’m not speaking in terms of reviewing your competition footage and feeling good about yourself; I’m asking about your experience within your own body as you dance. Are you complacent? In ballroom, and in life more generally, there are two types of mistakes: passive and active. We want …

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take a break

Take a Break

After two and a half months in Kenya, I’m back! That also means I’ve had a two-and-a-half-month break from dancing. Uh-oh. That’s bad, right? Nope! 5 Reasons to Take a Break: 5. Passion for Partnership The work is long, bent over the 1.5-million-year-old soils all day in the equatorial heat. Sometimes, as today, I like …

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life as a bad loser

Life as a Bad Loser

I just lost. Like they tell you to do all through middle school, I’m going to try to get something positive out of the experience. I’m going to write about it, and if you read it, fine. I’m going to think away all the negative emotions, right? I’m going to come out the other side …

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ballroom carbon footprint

The Carbon Footprint of Ballroom

After my recent trip to Thailand, where I studied tiger conservation and related issues, I became interested in conservation as it relates to ballroom. Global overcrowding and demand for resources increasingly push people into marginal land areas, while poachers and poor hunters continue to over-exploit the few resources tigers have left. Though seemingly far removed …

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burning to win

Burning to Win

I couldn’t be more proud of my team. Sure, we did a fabulous job at the USA Dance National Collegiate DanceSport Championship, despite the facts that: Over a third of our team are new to the team Over a quarter have never danced competitively Exactly half of our leads are new But that’s not what …

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