nikiunleashed

Got my first travel comp this weekend! Hopping on a plane to go dance, who even am I!? Wanted to capture current mindset.

And tell you a funny story 😂 Will explain below, but I am dancing Rhythm (a category) for the first time and I need a dress! A teacher graciously let me try on one of hers.

LISTEN. Dancers are ATHLETES.

I thought putting on a wetsuit was hard. Nope. That is now a cake walk. A dance dress is basically a super tight swimsuit, but with rhinestones and fringe and a bunch of other stuff that pokes you as you put it on and scratches you as you take it off 😅🥵

And dance dresses make absolutely no sense. I put this one on incorrectly and didn’t even KNOW it COULD be put on incorrectly! Had to wiggle out of it and back into it all over again! And then when I got the legs right, I thought the cape seemed funny and didn’t know how I would get my left arm up into frame. Turns out there was an arm hole for my arm to go into 😂

This was a beautiful dress and I will be wearing something else that I will bring with me on my travels! Very grateful for the guidance and kindness (and laughs) provided to me by the dance community.

I remember when I first started dancing, I would ask people what their favorite dance was. They always hesitated and said something along the lines of they like different dances for different reasons. I get it now!

I used to only do a handful of dances so it was easy to rattle them off. Now I know a bunch, and have to organize them in my head! These are the categories that they would be in at a competition.

American Rhythm

• Rumba. Very fun. Ol’ faithful. So many actions to work on.
• Cha cha. Enjoying this more! Doesn’t seem as “fast” and changing my mindset has done wonders.
• (East Coast) Swing. Love the music. Thought I wouldn’t like this. Learned it only really because there are batches of dances that include this one and I wanted to be able to do them. I like it now! Different applications of Cuban motion.
• Bolero. Literally just took my first class of this. Really did not like it initially. By the end of the class, I felt excited to ask about this at my next lesson. One of the moves was like a molinette in Argentine Tango! I love being able to connect the dots and pull from different dances.
• Mambo. I reeeeally did not like this when I was nerding out on salsa on2. I messed up big time on this one at my first team match. I signed up for one heat of this dance this weekend purely out of spite and to redeem myself… and wow, the Universe works in mysterious ways 😂 Now I love this! Not hard or confusing at all anymore! It is indeed punchier than salsa. It’s fun to emphasize different parts. I’m overall seeing a theme of not liking something initially is absolutely not an indicator of how I will feel about it down the road.

Club

• Salsa. Gateway drug. You have been warned! I saw a video of people dancing salsa at the beach, barefoot! Never occurred to me to do that. So excited to travel and dance this summer!!! Fun progress on this and bachata today, I think I know enough and have relaxed/slowed tf down enough for us to be able to now goof off and experiment! Fun new level unlocked!
• Bachata. Just lovely. The umm around the world thingies are getting better. I’ve slowed down enough to feel them, yay!
• Merengue. Hate this at socials. Love this with my dance instructor!
• Argentine Tango. Boleos need help. Overall becoming more sensitive! Wonder if/when I will buy tango heels.
• Hustle. Flat out fun. Amazing music. I would argue that the 70’s is one of the top eras of music.

These are dances I’ve done and kind of know but don’t float my boat.

• West Coast Swing. Ehhhh. The Jack and Jill competitions look so cool! I just don’t really like this dance. Or… hm, “love is having something better to do” from Imagination School. I’m enjoying my other dances too much to put in the effort required to learn this one well enough to enjoy it.
• Country Swing. Good music. Fun swing feeling. Ehh.
• Country Two Step. Mmm don’t really like walking backwards on this one, but I do for Argentine Tango. The count is so simple but I just don’t grasp it!
• Sensual Bachata. No.

Smooth

• Waltz. I think this is what most wedding dances are? I mean it looks beautiful and super romantic. The songs are good. It does feel princess-y dancing this. But ehhhh… I don’t know. Maybe someday. For now I am enjoying trying to get my Cuban motion down for Rhythm. I took a workshop with a Smooth instructor and I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. But if what I enjoy is technique, progress, and movement… sounds like Smooth has plenty of things to play with.
• Viennese Waltz. Don’t know the difference, but I know this is different than regular waltz. Again, looks beautiful. But my hands are too full and I’m too much enjoying Rhythm to sink my teeth into this.

Dances I want to learn

• Night Club Two Step. Good music.
• SAMBA!!! (International Latin.) This looks so fun. And so HARD! All the body parts are doing the MOST all the time 🥵
• Jive. (International Latin.) Okay this looks like an absolute blast. And. If I can barely do (East Coast) Swing, let me work my way up to this one haha.
• Hula. I want to learn this in Hawaii, and then bring all that hip motion to my ballroom dancing. I want to learn all the cultural dances in their native land.
• Paso Doble. (International Latin.) I really just want to stomp my feet haha.

Alrighty, journey continues! Was very surprised that taking some time off dance was actually helpful. I mean, there were initial cobwebs to dust off. But after that, things kind of just gelled! I remember hitting PR’s in CrossFit after taking unplanned breaks. Love this Neville Goddard quote, basically saying I don’t know anything so chill tf out 😂

“I, your desire, have ways ye know not of; my ways are past finding out.”

Oh one more funny story – I lost a toenail! I don’t even know how I slammed my… let’s see… my right heel into my left big toe at Argentine Tango. But I did it a few times and the nail was loose for weeks. Finally fell off at a pedicure. I’ll spare you the photos, but the health care nerd in me is so mesmerized by what’s called the “nailbed.” Like, it isn’t just skin under there!!! I like seeing the layers of the body, like when I pick scabs. So curious to see how this nail will grow back. And if it will grow quickly, like my hair does.

Very curious how this first real dance comp will go!