The lessons of 2020 reach so far beyond dance.

Students, friends, supporters and family,

Each December, I look back to congratulate, reminisce and share a little message to bring us into the new year. 2020 is without exception.

I will not lie. This has been a difficult year, probably one of the most tumultuous on record for most of us. As we trudge through the last week of the murky quagmire that is 2020, I hold onto the belief that all of us have the strength, love and hope to shed the darkness and dance into the light.

Home has been a cornerstone for us all. We've learned to adapt to and reacquaint ourselves within the walls that we sleep, live and breathe. Since March, a burgeoning paradox grew... are these walls that surround me there for protection – or do they prevent me from escaping? Either way, they were a constant reminder of our desire – our need, really – to be human and to connect.

This innate desire to connect under these terrible circumstances did have silver lining, however. It set into motion an unprecedented acceleration of innovation and industrious tenacity. It forced us to prove what we are all made of. For me, my coping strategy was to find new ways to be creative – to maintain some semblance of normalcy for my student community and to make sure we could still connect through dance.

This innate desire to connect under these terrible circumstances did have silver lining, however. It set into motion an unprecedented acceleration of innovation and industrious tenacity.

This year, we put on Cape Cod's first-ever dance film festival – "Step into the Season" was enjoyed by a welcoming audience. We participated in a community fundraiser for the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod to benefit the Artist Relief Fund. We welcomed Angel Fox as part of our dance faculty and she, along with Brandon and Samantha, navigation this unchartered landscape with pizazz. I learned to choreograph words into sentences, started to blog, and found that the power of writing can touch people profoundly. I reenergized my love for dance on film (dormant skill I never considered using until now) in our new DanceScape lecture series. We continued to provide dance education virtually and in person for the youths in the Chance 2 Dance program – making sure they would have space and time dedicated to them for dance. We learned to dance with heart, despite the clinical procedure of temperature checks, mask wearing and sanitization.

We are prevailing. Now, going into 2021, I couldn’t be more proud of the student body, supporters and teachers of Studio 878, Adam in Chatham and Chance 2 Dance. I look forward to seeing you all in 2021 with lots of exciting developments for the studio as time and climate allows.

Thank you for being your unique you – it allows me to be my unique self, too. This year has really invited us to find the best in all of us and our neighbors! Let’s take this positive into the new year and never forget that we are much stronger than we all anticipated. We can achieve anything together.

Much love,

Your dance teacher, Adam x

I dreamed of Dancing with the Stars, but all I got was this lousy box.

Spilling my secrets once again - Dancing with the Stars is my guilty pleasure, a dirty little secret I must hide at all costs. I keep it to myself because many high brow dance aficionados, especially those in academia, consider it common, even sub-standard, purely designed for mindless entertainment. Although I understand their disdain of the genre which mixes reality television and ballroom dance presented in a whirlwind of glitz, glam, and glitter with contrived over the top sets and scenery, I can’t help but find within that facade some totally unadulterated escapist enjoyment.

My gripe with Dancing with the Stars is from an educator’s point of view. Let me explain: one of my wonderful and dedicated 75 year old dance students who is, of course, an avid fan of the show comes in on Tuesday morning declaring that she “watched couple XYZ do this move last night on DWTS and want’s to do it,” not only does she want to do it, she wants to do it now. SHOCK SHOCK HORROR! Not only has this student been dancing for a mere 6 months…. at a rate of one lesson per week, she has only been exposed to the basics of 3 or 4 of the major dances and now, thanks to DWTS she expects to execute an exotic salsa move that incorporates flip flopping around my neck several times, swiveling around my waist with legs akimbo and landing with pizazz in a full stretched split between my legs. Uft!

Of course, my student believes this is a possibility because she is dancing with a professional (me) and the “non-professional” from DWTS was able to do it - and do it within a week to boot. Did I mention that DWTS neglected to let my student know that this 21 year old contestant has just come out of performing arts school, danced everyday since she was 3, is probably in the best dancing shape of her life, created an Instagram account and all of a sudden has ended up on this reality dance show and somehow I feel like this has just made my dance teaching just a little harder, both physically and psychologically. I give the dance teacher speech about wanting to feel confident in the basics and progressing to the more advanced choreography in time, but I instantly see despair and frustration in the brows and the eyes of my lovely student. My unfortunate innate response to a student’s disappointment is to find a way to make them happy. I give her the example of a pastiched but somewhat less demanding experience of the coveted move from DWTS. I see her face relax into a smile and I know she is happy, at least until next Tuesday morning.

Throughout the rest of the lesson, I subconsciously sew a narrative, placing emphasis on the importance of the basics. Hopefully it perforated the rhinestone roadblock that Dancing with the Stars had created for me. Uft!

Typically when a new dance student takes their first steps on the ballroom floor, those steps will be in the configuration of a box, the simplest and most versatile pattern known to dance teachers. The coveted box step is the gateway to learning a host of exciting rhythms and styles for the eager dance student. Interestingly, it is the basic element of nearly all the American styles of ballroom dance or “dance sport” as it is also known. Though it is basic, don’t ever discount its value as it will follow you like a shadow all the way through to the professional and even world champion level.

A professional competitor spends months rehearsing an “open routine”, which includes many basics but also incorporates variations, embellishments, and/or bastardizations taking the dance beyond recognition of the traditional dance for competitive purposes. Increasing complexity is generally done with the intention to enhance the beauty and expression of the dance. However, after months of coaching, and with great excitement and anticipation to strut their well rehearsed and polished stuff before the judges, the couple may suddenly be brought down to earth hearing the words “Let’s take it back to the basics, shall we?”

The laborious beginner box step, once again seems to be stepping all over your DWTS dreams.

Just as Martha Graham worked on contractions her entire life and Misty Copeland probably never goes through a day without plies, these basics are the foundation of the art of dance. It’s almost like coming home to learn something new about the house you grew up in and know so well. However, the grand vision of advancing in ballroom with dreams of triple spirals, standing footspins and never ending pot stirrers is hugely overshadowed by the realization that the box is basically with you forevermore and you will dedicate a significant part of your professional and student life to. Who knew?

However, does there come a point in a dancer’s life when a Rumba box step is pretty much as refined, efficient and effective as it will ever be? Is there a point to exerting seemingly unrewarded effort to learn to perfect minutiae that perhaps not even a seasoned professional would notice? Not alone the average person!

There must be a unique technical threshold that exists for each dancer and beyond that what makes the difference and most effective impact is the subjectivity and interpretation of the steps, also known as the art of dance.

And I believe, that whether you are beginner, a knowledgeable couple competing, professionals currently competing, or commercially employed professional dancers, there does come a time when, although you still do your plies or box steps every damn day, the importance of being a great technician is diminished and the impact of what you hold sacred and express from your heart is paramount and this is what makes the dancer a GREAT dancer as opposed to a technically proficient dancer.

So, yes practice that basic again, again and again, but never forget to infuse YOURSELF into the dance with reckless abandonment and emotion. You may not be ready for crazy lifts, just yet, so give that box your unique flavour and twist it upside down and squeeze the dancing juice out of it. You may even find out that it turns out to be more effective than a flashy move from DWTS because this is about you and not them.

At the end of the day, it’s your own box you are creating, no one else’s. Dance like that!

Thank you Dancing with the Stars. Uft!

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#dancecapecod #DWTS #ballroomdance

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Sometime you just have to dance it out. Red shoes, blue plaid shirt - homage to the Wizard of Oz - and of course, my home, sweet home England socks.

This choreography is a fusion of every style that makes me the dancer I am today, along with the inspiration from my husband, students, friends and family. A little respite to the madness bombarding all of our lives right now – just moving enabled me to escape and enjoy living in the moment.

Related post: Bravado, Intimidation and Insecurity... Oh My.

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#dancecapecod #wizardofoz #ballroomdance