mer's journey

This past weekend, I went to Atlanta for a swing dancing workshop called AVS, Atlanta Varsity Showdown (http://www.aseda.org/avs/index.php?page=handbook). It was AMAZING. For the past year, I have been working REALLY HARD on a dance called the Lindy Hop. (Here's a brief history: http://www.lindycircle.com/history/lindy_hop/) I've gone to workshops, danced social dances, and taken lessons. I've worked HARD.


During on the workshops this weekend, I was being observed by one of the foremost Lindy teachers in the country, Bill Borgida (http://www.billborgida.com/). This man is incredibly talented and it was an honor to have him critique my performance. As I was dancing, Bill asked if he could use me as an example. In front of 100 other students. OH MY WORD.

Because I get hives carrying on conversations, and usually cry, I initially thought there would be NO WAY I was going to do that. But then I thought, "This seriously could be an opportunity of a lifetime. When else would something like this come along?"

He pulls me to the front of the room, and begins to dance with me. He turns to the class and says, "Pay attention. This what you should NOT do."



Wait a minute.



WHAT?

OH MY WORD I WANTED TO DIE. Right there. Sweet, amazing Bill ripped apart everything I knew about dancing and told me it was all wrong. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. In front of 100 other dancers.

.............................Let me just say. That was really hard to hear. REALLY HARD. And I wanted to die. My pride, my hard work, was smashed to a million little pieces. I never wanted to dance again. EVER.

But there more I thought about it the more I realized how foolish my thinking was. How prideful could I be to think that after a mere year of dancing I would be a professional, that I would no longer need to practice? The best dancers are the ones who never. stop learning.

Isn't that how it is with everything? We should take every opportunity to learn and grow and change. We should never. stop. learning.