Tap tap… this thing on? (Feed back) Hello… I’m in italics. We are having an open night mic here and I’d like to introduce our first performer, Stef. Stef come on up here and give her a warm welcome! She is the amazing dancer that burned the floor at Desert Classic in an amazing way. Her sweet and gregarious nature will melt your heart as much as mine and mine is a wild one. Ha ha ha ha… Ok, tough crowd… Please welcome and check out her blog, Dancing with Stefanie!!!! I can’t wait to cheer for her again! She will forever be couple 109 to me! =) Take it away Stefanie!
“Go Couple 109!”
I feel all kind of like “Adult Beginner” meets “Dave Tries Ballet.” If you don’t know about these dance blogs, they are two entertaining ones I personally follow and recently their respective authors met in person in New York. Well, I got the opportunity to have a similar experience when I met a fellow ballroom blogger, Miss Spinning Dancer, in person at the 2012 Desert Classic just a few days ago.
It is kind of a surreal feeling to see someone you recognize and “know” but don’t “know.” Would she think I was weird-stalker-psycho for saying hello? I spotted her quickly. It wasn’t hard to do. Between the bright red hair and sparkly pink dress I’d seen on a previous blog post, she was kind of a mini-celebrity to me, and to one of my readers, who I also met at the competition. In fact, my reader was the one who spotted her first. I wanted to say hello right away, but The Spinning Dancer was about to perform a solo. Not wanting to disrupt her mojo I decided to wait until a respectful moment to make my introduction.
I had the pleasure of watching Miss Spinning Dancer regale the audience with a lovely Viennese Waltz and a fantastic Lindy Hop. Here’s what I discerned from our heroine from her dancing: she is passionate, she is a performer, she has soul, she is lovely. Apparently the competition agreed and the powers-that-be awarded her Top Solo, an accomplishment of which she should be exceedingly proud. I’m proud of her too, for getting out there and doing it, and doing it well, but I’m not surprised. She’s a dancer, alright. Yes she is.
Later on I found my opportunity. I saw our protagonist snapping illegal photos from the sidelines. Of course at a ballroom competition they have a paid, professional photographer and they ban others from taking shots, but some brave souls still risk it, and Miss Spinning Dancer is an artist! She can’t be hemmed in by silly capitalistic rules! I liked her immediately. Well, I already liked her from her honest, funny, sometimes acerbic, but always witty and entertaining blog, but now I got to see her spunk in live action.
I had a few minutes before my next round of heats so moseyed my way over to Miss Spinning Dancer’s table and asked, “Pardon me, but do you have a blog?”
Recognition was instantaneous and the conversation began – one of those easy, flowing, fun conversations with someone like you’ve known for years. We heartily laughed over who knows what, bonding over the absurdity that can be found in ballroom dancing, as well as the beauty. But then, I heard my name – it was time to dance a Cha Cha or something, and I had to dash onto the floor.
But now I had a fan supporting me from the sidelines. Me and Ivan, couple 190, danced our little hearts out and I heard some cheering, from my newfound friend, loud, from the sidelines…for couple 109! It was funny. I knew it was she, The Spinning Dancer, and I knew she was cheering for me. I felt the support and that’s all that really matters, right? So what if she has dyscalculia? She’s an artist, remember?
Meeting Miss Spinning Dancer was one of the highlights of my experience at the Desert Classic this year. I had an “online” friend, but now I have a real life friend too. I can’t wait to see where dancing takes our demigoddess, especially now that she too will be dancing with a Bulgarian! (Bulgarians are the best!) And maybe next time, it will be me, cheering for The Spinning Dancer from the sidelines at a competition. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll yell out, “Go couple 109!”
I’m sure she’ll know what I mean.
thespinningdancer 