Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Month: July 2017

  • Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

    No, I'm not doing a recap of Stranger Things in anticipation of the second season. Nope, I'm answering the age-old question: Should I go to Intermediate Class? There's a flowchart for that.  DISCLAIMERS: - of course, if you have a good grasp of the basics of a particular dance (foundation patterns, the default rhythm, good frame, good…

  • The Domestic Type

    I was recently flipping through Women's Health, which is a bit like Cosmo for the fitnessly inclined, when I came across this little column:  The Guys Next Door Real talk on relationships from three of the gents who put the "men" in Men's Health Q: I'm not the domestic type (cooking, cleaning).  Thoughts? Thanks! I DO…

  • Group Class : Switching Partners 101

    This is fairly basic idea, but I've seen interesting things happen often, so LET'S REVIEW. Generally speaking, if you go to a syllabus-level group class (hello, "beginner group class", "community education ballroom dancing", "newcomer class", or anything with the words: Bronze, Silver, Beginning, Intermediate), there will be a few to many people (group classes often…

  • Sorting Hat

    The G started reading the Harry Potter series to the kids awhile ago and last week I remembered that there's a fun "sorting hat" quiz you can take online to determine which house you'd be in.   V went first and got Hufflepuff.  Yes yes, quite. Mae Cake was next and got Ravenclaw.  Of course,…

  • Falling Down

    "I'll fall down!"  Dancers: we are dancing.  On the floor.  With two feet, generally, on the ground.  Why is there fear about falling less than three feet from our feet to our rears? I will accept severe osteoporosis or other choice maladies as valid answers. Otherwise, SHUT UP. I figure it's mostly out of embarrassment…

  • Why You Should Learn to Follow

    It seems really obvious to me why you'd learn to lead as a follow, but that's probably because I'm a follow, who thought it was awesome to learn how to lead. But as I lead guys, it's becoming clear that WE SHOULD ALL SWITCH ROLES in our learning careers. Why You Should Learn to Follow…

  • Why You Should Learn to Lead

    If you've delved into ballroom dancing on the follow's side and feel you've developed some acuity on the art [sport?], surprise!  You've only got half the story! Why You Should Learn to Lead  Cause.  As in "cause and effect".  As a follow, we are experts in rolling with those commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and run-on…