Dancing Fool

Call me crazy … but at least I get it honestly! My grandmother always called my father her “crazy #!&*?@$ son-in-law” because he didn’t always behave the way that she thought he should or do things in the expected way.

Summer is a busy time for us here at Gifts & Decorative Accessories, as I am sure it is for many of you too. We travel a lot covering the major gift shows to try to keep in touch with what is going on in the industry. And I need not tell you how physically, as well as mentally, demanding working a trade show is. We are on our feet walking the aisles and the showrooms from early in the morning until evening, and that is hard on the legs, as well as the general energy levels. So, you would think that after a grueling week of covering a gift show such as the New York International Gift Fair, the last thing that anyone would want to do is take off to a ballroom dance competition! But that is exactly what I did! Call me crazy.

No sooner had I finished “dancing in the aisles” at the Javits Center in NYC, than I hit the road and took off to Alexandria, VA, for the Capital Dancesport Competition. It was my first competition all year, and as tired as I was from working the show, I was also very pumped. Trying to balance my dancing and my workload this year has been an even greater challenge with all the changes that have taken place, especially recently. But this was important to me. After all, there needs to be more in my life than just this job, no matter how much I love it.

So, leaden legs and all, off I went. How did I do? Not bad for my first time out all year! Marks and placements aside, I personally felt that I danced well. I just went out and danced, and didn’t sweat the small stuff. Even when I flubbed something, I didn’t let it fluster me as I sometimes do. Do you think that not worrying was a remnant of tradeshow fatigue? Perhaps… Nevertheless, something was clicking (along with my heels!).

To me, going into competitions are like going into exams. And I never tested well, so this is progress. And comps measure my progress so that I can go back to the studio and improve: fix things that aren’t quite right and learn new things. 

And the results: 1 third place (my very first dance, a warm-up) and 14 firsts. Not too shabby. But best of all — I took second place in the scholarship!  What a great warm up is was for my next outing: The United States Dancesport Competition in Orlando, right after Labor Day.  How did I do there? You’ll have to wait for that report. Stay tuned…