Thanks to my beautiful daughter, Cate, for giving me this song.  I loved it the first time I heard it, and I still do.  I think this is the first time I actually danced to it, though.  I used to have it on a workout playlist, which was fun, but dancing to it is so much better!

It was a great cha cha – really fast – but since I am playing around with timing lately, I was able to do so here as well.  The music was perfect for that, with all those stops and starts.  I’ve been working on this cool thing where instead of spinning really fast, I spin in half-time, feeling like I am somewhat suspended in mid-air as the music continues.  One leg is in a ronde at the same time; not as easy as I thought it would be.  And it’s not as if I planned it all out – it just happened the first couple of times – so now I am trying to figure out the dynamic of it.  That’s one of my favorite and surprising parts of this challenge – how certain things – whether movement, or timing, or whatever happen spontaneously.  The trick is – as in all aspects of life – to be aware of and open to it – and ready to follow the path – to see where it leads this time.  I love that!

Continuing to celebrate Bonnie’s 61st birthday.  I love this song; love its funk; love it many opportunities to play around with rhythms, which is exactly what I did.  I have been doing this thing where I do a regular spin followed by one in half time with a low ronde.  Sounds easy, but without a partner, it is a challenge.  We don’t realize how much we rely on our partners until they are not there.  And I was trained to maintain my own balance – never to lean on my partner; nonetheless, I must have leaned – at least a little, because the ronde, especially slowed down like that is definitely not easy, but I am pursuing.  It’s a pretty cool move – or at least it will be.

Happy birthday, Bonnie.  She turned 61 on November 8th; I’ll be 60 on November 25th – and we both look good!  :  )

To celebrate with Bonnie, I am dancing to a series of her music this week.  This is one of my faves.  Love the lyrics, especially, “I will not be someone other than who I am … What is living if I can’t live free?  What is freedom if I can’t be me?”  Is this sentiment an updated version of The Chairman of the Board’s “My Way?”  The thing that I have learned is that being truly free is living free, not in someone’s face about it.  That freedom brings with it peace and contentment, which is the ultimate freedom.

And the dance was pretty darn good too.  I have danced to this song with Art many times – usually West Coast swing, or at least a version of it.  Today, it was more of a free-form cha cha, where I continued to experiment with different timings.  I am loving that!

Here’s yet another Bonnie Raitt song.  Couldn’t find this one YouTube, but here we go anyway.

Feeling so much better tonight, so I danced again, and it was great.  Made a huge leap forward in my dancing by taking some time off.  I found myself doing more innovative and creative moves – getting out of the rut I had inadvertently fallen into.  I was doing those spins followed by the double spins I had been writing about, but this time, they were more controlled.  I was spotting, which allowed me to stop “on a dime.”  It will be fun to try that with a partner next.

What adventures on the dance floor lie ahead … ???

Yes I took a few days off from the challenge.  I needed a break; my dancing was becoming too routine – and my life was insanely busy.  Glad I listened to my instincts on this one.  I am back and better than ever!

I was sitting here watching Dirty Dancing on TV (one of my all-time favorite dance movies) and I was inspired to dance to Hungry Eyes (this same scene on YouTube) as they were dancing, and  I danced what they danced, with my own “spin” on it.  (Sorry, just couldn’t resist.)  It was fun again – and completely different from what I would have done to this.  They danced a very slow mambo.  Just wish it could have been me dancing with Patrick Swayze.  That guy was a gifted dancer.  It is so tragic that he had to die so young.

Yes, I love Pellegrino with lime – and Cher!  Hmmmmm….

Great song and it was a great dance tonight also.  I am having a really good time exploring this rhythm thing within my dancing.  I am not consciously trying to make anything happen – I think that would be contrived and weird.  Instead, I am just trying to let new things happen – to let go and be free from convention.  I think that is the best part of this challenge, so far – letting the new have free reign – and see what happens.  I am excited to see what lies ahead. I have been surprised where this journey has taken me thus far, so who knows what may happen tomorrow or the day after …

Great song – fabulous singer – led to a great, fun dance.  There were so many different rhythms to dance to, and I heard them all.  Interestingly, today, as I was walking the track during my prep period, listening to a completely different song through headphones, I was acutely aware of many different rhythms.  I am guessing that is why I heard all those rhythms in tonight’s dance.  Cool.  Very, very cool.