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

  • Dancing Makes You Better At…

    Dancing makes you better at dancing.   Surprise, right?   As much as running and Pilates and the yogas and stretching and reading psychology and physiology books and watching champions and talking technique points are great and fun and worthwhile pursuits, practicing the craft is actually what makes you better.  Damn. I realized (or it…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – the stench of spray-on tan.  For a solid week.   – girls wearing flowers in their hair. they look exactly the same! – V has learned how to point, then shoot.  Her subject matter is something else. I'm not worthy! – veggie "pizza".  Guess who's making this EVERY WEEK?  The ladies totally loved it.…

  • Weekend at WSDC 2012

    Let's take a peek at my weekend attending the Wisconsin State Dancesport Championships.  It's not DWTS, but it is a lot of hairspray and rhinestones.  And coffee.  Lots of coffee.   Yet no photos of me in costume.  I always forget.  And feel stupid asking people to take them.  Sorry! Sexiest picture ever on this…

  • As Usual…

    I'm sitting in an amazing hotel room (free brekkie! 2 story windows! full kitchen! free WI-FI!) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recovering from a big night of dancing at the Wisconsin State Dancesport Championships (25 year anniversary!).  Dancing went great (made finals from a quarterfinal! didn't fall down!).   The G and I have only one little…

  • How To Do A Box Step

    How To Do A Box Step: As Shown By A  3 Year Old First, you need a good teacher.  Preferably one who's not afraid to roll up their sleeves (or pants, as the case may be) and get down to business. Second, you need some Post-It notes.  Duh.   Then you stand on the one…

  • Going Line Of Dance

    You're a ballroom dancer.  You go LOD.   Then go LOD all the way. Line of Dance is the super-awesome t-shirt company started up by ballroom superstar Chris Lynam (um, he owns the #1 Arthur Murray Studio in the world).   If you friend LineOf Dance via the Facebooks, you can get witty ballroom dance-oriented status updates:…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – so much candy: Cadbury Mini Eggs and Creme Eggs (because they're the best)  Starburst jelly beans (they're also the best, so suck it, Jelly Bellys) coconut M&Ms (for The G) and peanut butter ones (for me) Whoppers malted milk ball eggs (those are like Kryptonite for my willpower, plus I enjoyed typing "ball eggs")…

  • Open(er) Choreography?

    My darling dancers, I've tried and tried to get this point across to MANY dancers and I'm here to try again (I'm stubborn AND persistent, isn't that charming?): Keep it simple. You are a ballroom dancer.  You are not competing in jazz, modern, tap, or ballet.  (Yes, yes, you can have glimpses of those genres,…

  • If I Don’t Congratulate You…

    Good luck to all the amateur competitors dancing at the USA Dance Nationals in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland this weekend.   I'm excited to hear news from all my friends and students who are sure to scoop up some awards.   If there is no award-scooping action, let me remind you… Source: someecards.com HahahahaHA!   *sigh*…

  • DON’T DANCE [What You See]- Episode VI- Ladies’ Poise

    Ladies, ladies, ladies.  What.  Are.  You.  Doing. No.  It's not a question.  Because I know what you're doing.   But you are doing it wrong and you are hurting me.  And yourself.   Gah.  She is so lovely.  Of course you want to look like this. But doing this… I'm looking left Or this…  I'm…