One of my very first memories is dancing in my living room to “Disco Duck” on vinyl (https://youtu.be/5fhgUKUmWb4).  I remember feeling free and happy.  I actually had a recurring dream where I could do turn after turn after turn, and it really felt like my body was spinning and my legs were moving and it was the BEST feeling ever!  My parents both seemed embarrassed by my actual moves and said I “danced like a stripper”.  They’d probably both deny it today, but that’s how I remember it.

Next, I took modern dance lessons with Marilyn Dolcetti, a very close family friend.  The classes were at a place called Cherry Lawn Park.  “Aunt Marilyn” taught a Martha Graham technique and was very impressed at how quickly I picked it up.  She offered me a “Scholarship” to come back the next year and take dance with her again!!(Thank you Aunt Marilyn! XOXO)  So, it couldn’t have been that classes were too expensive, it MUST have been that the drive was too far…?  But, if I search it now…  According to Mapquest, it’s exactly 3 miles and roughly 6 minutes away from our home.  So, that couldn’t have been the reason.  I probably assumed at the time that my parents just didn’t want me to grow up and become a stripper.

In middle school, I went to my first big “Dance”.  I remember standing next to my friend, Gwen Burmester.  I attribute so much of where I am with my dancing today to her.  (THANK YOU, GWEN! XOXO)  I remember her specifically asking me why I wasn’t dancing.  And with a racing heart, I told her: “I don’t know how”.  She laughed an endearing laugh, and said: “There aren’t any rules, you just move however you feel.  Come on!”  And I felt it again,  the spark I felt as a little kid dancing around the living room…

I attended a summer theatre group with Keith Shawgo that year and that’s where I performed musical theatre for the first time. Singing AND DANCING together, I was in Heaven.  Now I dreamt of following in Ginger Rogers’s footsteps.  With Mr. Shawgo’s encouragement, I auditioned for Swing Choir my Freshman year of High School.    I got in and had the time of my life!  Mrs. Roberta Pollard (https://www.pollarddance.com), the choreographer, was so incredibly nice.  I asked her if she could teach me to tap dance & SHE DID!!  FOR TEN DOLLARS AN HOUR!  I didn’t realize until much later in life, what an amazingly generous gift that truly was.  Thank you Mrs. Pollard!! XOXO!  Unfortunately, every time I practiced at home, it drove my mom insane:  “HOW MUCH LONGER DO I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THAT NOISE?!”  I assumed that meant I was a pretty bad tap dancer…

My next shout out goes to Laura Albero!  XOXO.  SHE convinced both me and my sister that we were good enough to be Blue Wave Dancers.  (The equivalent to being a Cheerleader, at our high school)  That was the first time I really felt like a “Dancer”.  Performing in the middle of a packed football field was an AMAZING rush!  Unfortunately or fortunately, that rush distracted me from theatre that year…

Skip ahead to my Sophomore year of college.  I joined a sorority, Delta Zeta.  See, I didn’t drink at the time and since there very little else to do on the weekends in Storrs, CT, I ended up bored out of my mind.  So, I joined the sorority and was forced to become EXTREMELY ‘social’.  I quickly learned that EVERYONE deals with insecurities and if I could make them forget theirs, we would ALL have fun.  The easiest way was simply introducing people to one another, and getting parties started with my silly dancing!  I learned quickly that if I made a fool out of myself, other people felt comfortable joining the party.  The Homecoming Pep Rally was the BEST thing EVER!  I ALWAYS jumped at the opportunity to dance in the “lip sync contest” and THAT was at Gampel Pavilion, where the HUSKIES played!  That place holds over 10K people, I mean that was probably THE BIGGEST rush of my life.  Does anyone have video from back then, BTW?  “Forever Young”, anyone?  I think that was the first time I ‘believed’ I was a Dancer.  Strangers approached me afterward to say: “Damn, you can dance!”

That boosted my confidence enough to attempt to become a Professional Sports Team cheerleader…  I actually made it through a few cuts for the Nicks and the Nuggets.  But, I sadly and quickly learned that in order to compete as a “dancer” at that level, I would have needed to start YOUNG, like age 3.  That was a heart-breaking realization: (  I had absolutely no “technique” or flexibility.  It was shear determination, discipline and drive that got me through those first few rounds.  Thank you Asaad Syed! XOXO for teaching me the 3D’s.

(To Be Continued)