Recent Posts
A Time to Dance
Return To Blog Listing
A blog about dance from the point of view of an avid dance lover. Maria is particularly enamored of salsa and modern dance, and loves to go to concerts, watch dance movies and TV shows, and find cool stuff on the web about dance.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'dance-life balance'
on moving forward
On Friday I reach the end of 40 Days to Personal Revolution, the yoga program that has been a big part of my life for the past 6 weeks (read all about it here). As I come out of this incredible experience, I reflect on how I will move forward from he...
Yoga, yoga, and more yoga (40 days of yoga)
I have taken a brief sabbatical from dance. Earlier this spring, I decided that it was time to get my life into greater balance. At the beginning of the year, I committed to taking better care of myself and to slowing down a little. So the timing was...
Art in a recession
The NYT’s ArtsBeat Blog asked artists to comment on how the recession is affecting them. It is a fascinating read. Common themes: Artists are poor to begin with so they didn’t have much to lose. Recessions are good for lesser known artis...
Dancing at home and using video to explore areas for growth
I don’t often dance at home, beyond a little freestyle grooving simply because of my space constraints. Mr P and I live in an 800 square foot one’bedroom apartment. If you do anything involving a fast-moving extended appendage, you are bo...
What has dance taught you about life?
Nichelle at Dance Advantage asks the question: What has dance taught you about life? Go here to add your voice to the discussion. ...
First Patrons of the Arts
As the news media have widely reported, Barack, Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama all attended last night’s sold-out performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. While the time-out from stimulus p...
Dancer Cribs: ABT’s Nicola Curry
ABT dancer Nicola Curry’s new studio was featured in The New York Times Real Estate section (via Apartment Therapy). One feature that I think is universally appealing to dancers is hardwood floors. Even though the studio is small, Curry seems t...
the year to come
I am not usually big on new year’s resolutions, but 2008 was kind of a long tough year so I’m welcoming the chance to turn over a new leaf. Instead of calling it my list of resolutions, I’m going to call it my 2009 Action Plan. Maki...
Parkinson’s Disease and Dance
Today’s All Things Considered on NPR had a wonderful story by Jacki Lyden on Parkinson’s and dance. Each week, the Mark Morris dance company holds a class for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. One thing that I learned from ...
why I still love salsa
While my salsaholic days are long over (going out dancing at least 2-3 times a week), and I am lucky if I make it out once a month, salsa is still an important part of my life. Salsa is an old, familiar friend to me. Going out on a week night, I just...
even better than eating lunch at your desk…
…is grabbing a table in the perfect September sun on the Woodrow Wilson Plaza to listen to live salsa by Verny Varela and his orchestra. Even better than dessert…a post prandial dance. Trust me, it makes your day sooo much better (and is ...
even better than going to my Sunday dance class…
…is taking an impromptu Sunday road trip to the beach with my friends from said dance class. Dance has given me so much more than itself....
priorities
I’m going through a time when there are priorities in my life that compete with dance; that at this time are more important than dance. I’m still dancing, but I’m not aggressively pursuing improvement or perfection. I know I will go...
rejoining the dance
I am back from vacation and am starting to get back in the swing of things– this blog included. I really appreciate the comments you all left and I apologize for not responding to them earlier. I finally had a chance to read through them and re...
with gratitude
I never would have dreamed when I started this blog that I could be an inspirational to anyone. After all, I am but an amateur dancer with no particular great ability, just a love for doing it. Over the course of keeping this blog, I’ve gotten ...
Fun with water
Bodies of water—pools, lakes, the sea—aren’t just for swimming and splashing around. They are also great places to dance and improve your ability to move in different ways. The resistance provided by the water, the buoyancy of your body in the ...
My First Musical, Part III: Learning the choreography
Read the first two installments in this series: My First Musical, Part I: The audition My First Musical, Part II: In which I am cast, have to make a tough decision, and begin rehearsals ~~ We finally started learning the choreography after a few we...
this is a good thing, because I need all the help I can get in the memory department
A telling 2003 New England Journal of Medicine report showed a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who regularly danced during leisure time. But what was so surprising about the report is that other types of physical exercise didn’t affect...
TV or not TV
In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t blogged at all about this season’s So You Think You Can Dance. At first I was feeling bad that I was letting my readers down, but this is my blog, not yours, and let it be known that I am takin...
My First Musical, Part I: The Audition
I said in my last post that I’d be writing about a new challenge I’ve embarked on and the new experiences and lessons that have come with it. What is it you ask? Ok, the title of this post gives it away, but all I have to say, is: Broadwa...
getting back to my process
I haven’t devoted the same attention to this blog that I did in the first months. It’s not that I’ve run out of things to write about– I will always have good material as long as I’m dancing– but keeping balance in...
interpretive wedding dances
We’re headed into full-out wedding season, and the NYT has an article about couples going above and beyond the traditional ballroom dance at their wedding. In the case of dancer couples, this can come in the form of a dance choreographed as a g...
visual learner
I am very much a visual learner, and very much not an auditory learner. When I’m driving, the navigator must point– “left” and “right” are completely lost on me when split second action is required. The same goes f...
a road warrior’s guide to dance
I find that I’m often apologizing for not having posted in a while. My general goal is to post at least three times a week and to stay up-to-date with a core group of dance blogs on my feed. But that can’t always happen. I travel quite a ...
Q and A with Helanius Wilkins of Edgeworks Dance Theater
I’ve been hoping to get a little more insight on his work, so I was thrilled when Helanius Wilkins, Founder and Artistic Director of Edgeworks Dance Theater, the DC-based all male dance company, agreed to answer a few of my questions. He’...
still here….
….just not in a blogging mood lately. I sometimes have phases where I’d just rather be dancing than writing about dancing. If I didn’t feel like doing either one, then I’d be worried. Did anyone see Step it up and dancelast we...
some healthy debate about gender in dance
There is a great discussion going on in the comments to my response to Sascha Radetsky’s Newsweek article about being a male dancer. There is an even livelier debate going on about it at the Winger (partially instigated by yours truly ). To me...
summer intensives and ballet slippers
Dear Readers, I need your advice. Two things on my to do list are buy a new pair of ballet slippers and look into the possibility of summer intensives. For the ballet slippers: I’m looking for a relatively high-quality and durable pair with a s...
men in dance…is it really that tough?
Sascha Radetsky wrote an article in Newsweek about the challenges of being a male dancer– the stereotypes, the misunderstandings of what the profession entails, and the social adversity of being one of the few men in a male-dominated professio...
