GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Today is a perfect day, the weather is calm and peaceful just like how I feel. I am picking up the pace as I am so excited to get to Daza Dance the place where I feel most inspired. Mario and Maxi are hard at work creating and studying dance moves, they greet me flow right back into an intense concentration. I feel so much inspiration as they continue to create. Hearing them talk through rhythms helps my thoughts flow, and I have some time before class so I begin to brainstorm about the future.

Antonio comes in and gives me a hug and then goes to collaborate with Mario and Maxi. Later Antonio and I start class and we start with a Waltz. Antonio is continuing changing up on usual the sequence of moves on me breaking me of my habit of anticipating instead of staying in the moment. When we get to foxtrot I have to watch my arms as I have a tendency to press them down when in closed dance position, which makes me very heavy, kind of like a 600 lb. sack of potatoes. I take note and concentrate on keeping form with my arms.  As we do the Tango my face is so severe, but Antonio tells me to soften it. It is so hard to stay in character and I am laughing so hard it takes extra energy to try to remain composed. When we get to Rumba I am incorporating the notes my dance from two weeks ago Antonio is smiling.  

Finally we get to Cha- Cha and I incorporate my notes from last week. I get the Chase Turn, and as I am doing it correctly I realize it’s called a Chase Turn because we look like we are chasing each other. Antonio gives me a blank stare and laughs because we have been working on the step on and off for several months and I am just now figuring it out. It feels wonderful to finally get this step, I feel like I just won Ms. America, and I want to do a victory walk down Peachtree Street and wave at people! We continue to practice cha-cha to cement this in my mind. Antonio then talks about the correlation between Latin and African dance and he shows me a couple dance of steps using isolations which reminds me of doing Dunham technique from modern dance. 

At the end of class Antonio and Maxi meet with me to talk about my future in dance and we are on the same page. I will have a more structured program starting in January and will have an opportunity to become a type of dancer I have always wanted to be. I am so humbled as I look and see that they both truly want to work with me, and I am bursting with excitement as I know I will not only become a better dancer, but the life lessons I continue to learn during class will help me become the best version of myself. I leave the studio smiling from the inside out and so expectant about the year to come.

By: Kamaria George (11/28/2016)