Ballroom Dancing

The Medal Ball took place at the Arthur Murray Studio in Santa Rosa on February 7, 2014. It's intended to be a low-key event at the studio to allow students to participate in heats and receive critiques from visiting pros without being a full-blown competition. It's less about the complexity of the patterns and more about getting comfortable with heats and spectators. Think of it like a warm-up before the upcoming regional showcase. :) (These photos and vidoes were taken with an iPhone, so some are a bit pixelated or blurry due to the lighting and motion.)

The Spring Showcase took place in Foster City, CA, on March 30, 2014. It's an all-day event with students throughout the region participating in two types of heats - one set in which you get critiques from the judges and one set in which you compete and get rankings within your heat. It's a not a full multi-day competition in which you get overall rankings, but the rankings within the heats indicate whether you'd progress if there were overall rankings.

This year's show took place at the Carlsbad Village Theatre on October 7, 2015.
This time Peter and I decided to try something different than the softer, prettier routines that we've done in the past. We did a Paso Doble to "Unstoppable" by E.S. Posthumus - stylized, of course, to match our theme and characters. :)
Please excuse the fact that the action photos are a bit blurry and the fact that the blacks of our costume pieces clearly don't all look black under the lights through the camera. (They looked much closer to matching in the green room. :) )

This year's regional spring showcase took place at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel on on February 20, 2016. The theme was "Puttin' on the Glitz!" It was a great day with my dance family, filled with memorable moments and growth. The highlights included Peter and I winning the smooth scholarship event for my division, AJ and I debuting our new open jive routine (as a solo) during the show dance event, and our team winning the ladies' team match event. The best part was that my #1 fan was there cheering me on. :)

The "Boot Scootin' and Boogie Bonanza" event was held on April 1, 2016. The event was intended to be the first performance of a preliminary version of our routines that will be performed at the "Little Bit Country, Little Bit Rock 'n Roll" event at UDOR in July. AJ and I went the rock direction instead of country (a rumba to "Every Breath You Take" by the Police).

As of July 18, 2016, my second Unique Dance-O-Rama was in the books. It was a great event with lots of dancing and relationship building.
The most memorable moments of the weekend included:
With Peter - We placed 2nd in the Pro-Am International Latin Scholarship event! Considering this was our first Latin Scholarship and haven’t been focused on Latin that long, we were definitely proud of that outcome. As an added bonus, Donovan was able to be in the audience Friday night.
With AJ - We had multiple dances that were organically about the emotion, the connection, and the music instead of about the steps. We were immersed in the moment, and those dances even had moments of spontaneity. It was the most amazing feeling and one that I have never felt on the dance floor before.

This year's show took place at the Carlsbad Village Theatre on October 12, 2016.
This year, I participated in the ladies' formation routine, which is the first time I've done a group number since college. We did a Cha Cha to Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)". The stage was a bit small for it, but we had fun.
In addition, Peter and I performed a routine that was unlike any other that we've done. Instead of focusing on a specific style, we put together a narrative piece to focus on a moment in the human condition. We danced to "Remember" by Josh Groban. The entire process from concept to performance was something special and brought out creativity and vulnerability that I haven't experienced since my acting days in college.

This year's regional spring showcase took place at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel on on February 19, 2017. The theme was "Candyland". It was a great day with my dance family, filled with memorable moments and growth. The highlights included experiencing dance in a "high-def" way that I never have before, Peter and I winning the smooth scholarship event for my division, Peter and I performing our open Latin routines during the show dance event, and Oceanside winning the studio formation event.

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at Hotel Irvine on July 13-16, 2017. It was a wonderful weekend and definitely the best ballroom event to-date!

This year's show took place at the Oceanside studio on October 13, 2017.
Peter and I decided to up the difficulty this year by adding Jesse to the mix. Like last year, instead of focusing on a specific style, we put together a narrative, thought-provoking piece. We danced to "Winter - Lux Aeterna (From "Requiem For a Dream")" by The London Ensemble. The quote we used to introduce the piece was: "What consumes your mind, controls your life.”
The entire process from concept to performance was something special and brought out that same creativity and vulnerability that I so cherish as part an artist.

This year's regional spring showcase took place at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel on February 15, 2018. The theme was "Par-Tee".

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at Hotel Irvine on July 19-22, 2018. It was a wonderful weekend full of dancing, friends, and special moments. :)

This year's show took place at the Solana Beach studio on October 5, 2018.
Peter and I decided to take a risk this year and do a piece in a contemporary dance style, choreographed by Damion (the new instructor at the studio with a ballet and contemporary background). As we like to do, we put together a character-driven, thought-provoking piece. We danced to "Breathe Me" by Sia. Unlike last year, we didn't have a quote to introduce the piece to provide any context. We wanted each viewer to take from it whatever resonated with him/her.
The entire process from concept to performance was something that we have not attempted before - it was fulfilling, insightful, and filled with growth.

This was my first year attending the annual Winter Star Ball. It was held on December 16, 2018, at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar. What a beautiful location!
Peter and I took the opportunity to try out a few new things. :)

This year's regional spring showcase took place at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel on February 24, 2019. The theme was "Victorian Ball".

This was my first time attending the World Dance-o-Rama, since it's usually held a long way from home. This year, it was held on March 15, 2019, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. It was a great milestone, and a day I'll never forget! :)

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at Hotel Irvine on July 18-19, 2019. It was a wonderful event full of friends, family, and memorable moments. :)

This album contains a variety of in-studio performances.

This year's show took place at the Solana Beach studio on October 11, 2019.
Peter was critiquing this year instead of dancing, so Damion and I partnered for this year's routine. To continue to push my boundaries, he took the opportunity to choregraph a contemporary routine that was leveled up quite a bit beyond the piece that Peter and I danced last year. We danced to "Take Me to Church" by Hozier.
The process and experience were different from past experiences with Peter, but it was fulfilling and filled with growth in its own ways. I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned in my other dance styles.

Thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2020, the dance studio was closed for in-person lessons and events, starting mid-March. But when there is a will to dance, there is a way! :) Fortunately, I was able to do virtual lessons and coachings, as well as some virtual events!

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at the Orange County Hilton Hotel on July 16-18, 2021. It was a wonderful event full of friends, dancing, and memorable moments. :) This year was extra special because it was our first post-pandemic in-person competition. Also, it was the first time that we've been able to dance together without masks on since March of 2020. We've only been back in the studio for a few months (after a year of virtual training at home), so, overall, we considered it a successful event!

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at the Westin Long Beach Hotel on July 14-15, 2022. As always, it was a fulfilling event full of laughter, friends, dancing, memories made, and tired feet. :)

This year's Unique Dance-o-Rama took place at the Westin Long Beach Hotel on July 13-14, 2023. This year was all about being present in the moment and just dancing together. :)

This year’s annual in-studio theater show took place at the Solana Beach studio on October 18, 2024, and for the first time, I created a piece with Peter and a piece with Damion. We definitely had less time to create than we usually do, but, as it is every year, the process was incredibly fulfilling, and we had a chance to try new things without having to worry about strategy, judges’ marks, or critiques. We could just explore, experiment, create, and grow. If we had more time, of course the performances could have been more polished and more technically precise, but there is also something to be said for allowing something to be more raw and just living in the moment and being okay with whatever version of the performance may exist in that given moment. Each performance is just a snapshot of the process, not the full story, and sometimes you just need to allow yourself to embrace that.
As usual, there was a theme/storyline for each of the pieces, but we intentionally left it up to interpretation so that each audience member could take from each piece whatever resonated with them based on their perspectives, experiences, and state of being in that moment.