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Dancing Past Doubt for My Sister’s Wedding Party (video)

Posted on July 15, 2014 by

Dancing for cori and fadh's wedding party

My sis Cori and her boyfriend Fadhly got married recently, and we celebrated with a wonderful party at their home in Alameda last Saturday. I couldn't really decide on what an appropriate present to get for the couple who has everything. So I decided to put together a little dance piece for them I thought they would enjoy.

It was quite the personal challenge.

I've never choreographed something by myself, for myself, to perform for a specific person. Just finding a song that I thought was appropriate and might could work for a solo piece was tough. But when I heard Kimbra's "Settle Down" playing in one of my playlists, it just felt like the right song.

It was hard to come up with something that I thought I could create, practice and polish enough to show in just a few days time. It took four practices before I thought I had something decent to share.

But the far harder job was keeping my own personal doubts and anxieties in check. I'm by no means a natural performer, despite years and years of dance training and shows under my belt. Until recently, the thought of going into a cypher or a dance jam terrified me. 

As I mentally prepared myself to perform, I reminded myself that it wasn't about perfection, it was about intention. I tried to focus on how happy I hoped the couple and the attendees would feel watching the piece. I reminded myself that I was my own worst critic, and that others' had no expectation of really anything.

That said, I hadn't told anyone I was going to do this, except the party DJ who had my song cued up. And even up to a few minutes before performing, in my head I kept asking myself, "Are you REALLY going to do this? Right now? In front of your friends and family?"

And then I fucking did it.

 

You can see that it went over pretty well. 😉

Thanks to Liz for recording and sharing this.

RELATED POST: Jam Circles and Confronting Your Inner Critic.

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