Category Archives: Dance

Dec6

My Dance Journey

Posted on December 6, 2021 by donnadavenport

My Dance Journey

I love dance. I dance and practice everyday. I dance in the studio, socials, dancehall, and at home. I’ve learned that it’s a journey and a process. I love watching dancers that dance beautifully. I aspire to dance like that. I’ve seen so many dancers step through their footwork alone for hours at the studio. I know that each dancer goes through their own journey and process, lots of time and hard work goes into what they do and some have danced for years. It has been hard at times when I’ve been around so many that compare and compete. I’ve had a hard time understanding why there are dancers that are critical and talking about another dancer’s dance or won’t dance with someone that isn’t at their skill level. Everyone has a different reason for dancing but we all were once a beginner and started with the basics. There is a quote on my studio’s door, “The only dancer you should compare yourself to is the one you used to be.” I believe this is a quote that should apply to all areas of our lives.

Aug26

My Year of Dance That Changed Me

Posted on August 26, 2019 by donnadavenport

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Over a year and half ago, I was going through a hard time where I was in my life, health, weight and relationship. I was truly in need of a change. I look back at that time and I think, “where would I ever start“. I felt frozen in a bad dream that repeated itself with no way out. I will give enormous credit to three things, Marcus Tutor, my faith in God and whatever faith I had left in myself. Marcus Tutor, thank you for getting me back dancing. I know it may seem crazy, that this action transformed me in a huge way. Marcus Tutor you were also my friend, you supported and cheered me on during some very difficult and challenging moments for me. I’ve lost over 75 pounds. I pursue learning to dance a variety dance styles at Go Dance Studio and ACDC. To be honest, I’ve had a hard time the last few weeks, new decisions need to be made about my life. A few positive things happened this last week that were very refreshing, enabled me to take a deep breathe and say “it’s going to be okay, I can do this thing”. This is an important week for me because I’m about to level up in 3 styles of the dances at the Go Studio so I’m prepared to set new goals for myself. I really didn’t know where this was taking me a year ago when I started. I believed it would make me a better dancer, it gave me passionate goals and something I truly loved doing. Today I feel I’m unstoppable. Step aside FEAR, I’m coming through with confidence. If I fall down and fail, I will get back up, RESET and move forward to try again. I have no reason to stay down!

Oct23

Go Dance

Posted on October 23, 2018 by donnadavenport

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I used to go dancing several times a week, then I stopped going out as much because of my partner and family stuff. My son was out of state for a while and when he came back to Texas, I started going out dancing again with him. I wanted to become a better dancer and follower. I found it to be difficult because I didn’t get a chance to dance enough to learn how the others were dancing. The current style is very different than I was use to. My son always dances with me several times in the evening. We had a favorite place we went because it was closest to where we lived. It recently closed its doors because the place got sold to someone else that is going to make it a different business. There was a big after party and a Jack and Jill Competition on the last night it was open for country western dancing. I participated and had so much fun.

I started attending Go Dance for dance lessons on August 2, 2018. I was amazed that there were so many styles of dances to try and I wanted to try them all. I started with 12 classes at Level 1: One Step, Two Step, Country Swing, Country Waltz, Waltz/Foxtrot, Cha Cha, Bachatta, Salsa, Swing, Lindy, West Coast Swing and Argentine Tango. Ready or not I moved up to Level 2 in all the classes on August 27, 2018. I was attending classes daily to be able to do that. I found that the classes that were the most difficult were the ones that I only had once a week. There were several classes that I was able to take more than once a week which allowed for repetition and practice. All I know is I was having the time of my life. I had great instructors and it was fun learning the different styles. I had to adjust my schedule a few times to allow some of those lessons to be more than once a week. In the process of this I decided to discontinue Argentine Tango at a different time but I was still attending 11 different styles. I started with 22 lessons a week, then 21. Then I decided to increase the number of times I went to West Coast Swing classes. West Coast Swing has become the dance that I want to learn the most. I felt that way from the start but now I feel like I’m in a place to make that commitment. With that adjustment my classes went down to 18 classes a week. Go Dance has two schools, North and South Austin. I go to both schools to get my classes in.

Go Dance has socials where you can dance the different styles of dances with a partner or with others from the school. I’ve gone to a few of the socials which was a little hard at first because all I knew was my basics in all the dances except for the country dances. I’ve danced two step, polka, country swing and country waltz since I was a teenager so that wasn’t difficult for me. Go Dance teaches the formal style of all dances so there are many things I’m learning that I would just follow in the country dance establishments without thinking about it. I sometimes feel that the formal style is a little more difficult for me because I’m thinking about the move more. I’m hoping that gets easier. I’m trying to attend 2 nights of socials a week primarily for the West Coast Swing. I still go out country dancing elsewhere, mostly with my son and friends. I thought learning dancing at the school would help me follow better out country dancing. I find it difficult because dancing outside the school is very different.

There is a total of 4 sessions in Level 2. I have completed 2 so 2 more to go. I feel after the 4 sessions are completed. I will move up to level 3 in most of the classes but there are a few I am reluctant because I struggle. I struggle for a couple of reasons: the class is only once a week and I don’t get the opportunity to practice that style as much as the others.

I’m also attending Austin City Dance Club for West Coast Swing. I’m wanting to learn all I can and perfect my technique.

My Go Dance Poem:

I came to Go Dance to learn how to dance.
Didn’t realize that there were so many ways to prance.
I couldn’t settle on one class, so ended up taking a dozen.
I couldn’t take the chance of missing out on One Step, Two Step, Country Swing, Country Waltz, Waltz/Foxtrot, Cha Cha,
Bachatta, Salsa, and Swing…
Lindy, West Coast Swing and of course Argentine Tango.
What a way to go! What a way to dance!
That is how I did it at Go Dance. Go Dance. Go Dance