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.

Category: Dancetastic

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love – Facebook Style

    How are you feeling today, Kate? Well, fake Facebook, here's my missing status reports for the week: – is not impressed by her own dancing prowess (says The G). – wants to add Nessun Dorma to her list of songs.  Pavarotti!   – fell down walking into the dance supply store.   – bought the…

  • When Practice Goes Bad

    Like Grizzly Man, often when people practice ballroom dancing, I'm waiting for something to go wrong.   Here's where you get in your own way: Mental Practice Here's the thing about mental practice, or visualization: you have to have done The Thing before you try to visualize yourself doing it.   "I tried it in…

  • Zen and The Art of Toenail Maintenance

    I started meditating.   It's surprisingly hard. But I'm letting that go. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I don't meditate like that, btw.   There's no "ooommm"-ing.   Not that there's anything wrong with that.   I just like the silent kind of meditation.   It's a nice way to start, or end, the day: the silence and the…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – the last jar of tomatoes from my garden.  At the time, it didn't seem like I had canned or frozen that many, but my supply lasted until 2013, so I win.  This year?  I'm canning for a two-year supply.  Oh yeah!   smells like summer, not teen spirit   – picked out a rutabaga,…

  • Impressionists

    Competitive ballroom dancers are impressionists.   That's why there's only 3 hair colors on the floor.  (Black, red, or blonde.) That's why there's a million rhinestones sparkling under the lights. That's why there's a bottle of spray tan on each person's skin. That's why there's a can of hairspray keeping each person's hair in place.…

  • Man Dancers Props

    No, I'm not going to talk about bowties and g-strings.  Today's post is all about stroking the male ego. … There's not that many men that stick with ballroom dancing.  And I'll tell you why: ego. A guy, anywhere from age 13 to 83, will walk into a ballroom studio and get paired up with…

  • Jazz is Stupid

    I've been to a bunch of ballroom competitions lately and I've come to this conclusion: Jazz is stupid. it's true Let's face it, the dance floor is no place for improvisation and artistic license when you're looking to win a competition. Dancesport (as competitive ballroom dancing is known, to those in the know) is not…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – a new Facebook page for my other job (you know, besides the live-in nanny gig I got).  FB is such a beach sometimes.  I swear, getting a cover photo to look right is A CHORE.  I mean, 851 x 315 pixels?  851?  Not just 850.   Shut up, Facebook. – drove through 10 states.  No…

  • Things I Love Right Now- Dancetastic Version

    Mint. Gah. Minty minty mint. So pretty. No stones and then ALL THE STONES. Like, a not-stoned dress, OR SO YOU THINK, and then BAM! A crazy-stoned belt, shoulder strap, cut-out outline, flower, whatevs. Bangles. Lots of bracelets: still cool. It's not that many things, is it? One year ago: The Day That Will Not…

  • For Better or For Worse

    After yesterday's crabby post, I want YOU to chime in on today's topic. The classic artistic dilemma: quality or quantity? Or, in ballroomy terms, lovely basics or flash & trash? I go back and forth on this subject A LOT. I generally believe that the foundation of any art is the most beautiful part.  Punctuation in…