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Embarrassed to Dance? Can't believe it...Well here's Why:

Embarrassed to Dance:

Yes, I know, I have been in numerous shows, taken dance classes before, etc. Why on earth would I hesitate now? Well, I moved from my small hometown to the burbs. Here is how I started dancing:

When I was 3 years old I was diagnosed with Cerebral palsy, which affected my right side. Yep CF and CP!

 I walked completely on the outside of my foot, held my right arm/hand up tight in what I call now (my T-Rex pose). And I talked out of the right side of my mouth. So immediately my mother being the AWESOME mom she is, she got me enrolled in dance to help correct it and build muscle.

She put me in swimming classes to at age of 6...but realized I hate the water. Cold water makes me tighten my muscles and I can't hold my breath long anyway. So I hated the water. Still do to some extent. I can doggie paddie/attempt like swim and I can back float, but I tend to not get in the water. But dancing stuck with me! I love it. I loved performing, I loved Tutus, I loved Music, Dancing was amazing! I was always in the class below my age group though growing up, until I finally had enough muscle control in 8th grade to join my classmates in a more advanced class.

I wore the leg brace from 3 yrs to 10 years. I always picked out fun color velcro straps! However, When I would sit on my legs (like little kids do) the brace would pinch my butt! Once I was in the Walmart Grill, eating nachos with my Mom, Sister, and Grammer (Grandma), when it got stuck pinching my butt. I was started screaming. Mom had to lift me and Grandma had to unpinch it..lol 

I used to match the brace and my clothes. Shoes were a problem, because my feet were two sizes when the brace was on, so I mom told me I could have many pairs of the canvas shoes! (They were really cheap at Wal-
Mart). Mom was a genius and told me, Then I could match my shoes to my outfits everyday. I loved dressing up and loved being a "princess" so I had a ton of  different colors of canvas shoes and loved it!
 
Read about how my CP affects my shoe shopping today in this blog post here!

(Below: Dancing in University of Illinois's Musical: Urinetown! - In on the right in front)

In college, I took a jazz choreography class at the community college, but I knew the teacher and the classmates were my friends to begin with- so no problem. Then at University of Illinois I was too nervous to take a ballet, or tapp, but I did take Modern Dance and Contact Improve Mordern Dance Classes. My best friend, Dan, did those why me... And I knew most people in the class didn't have Dance experience, so again not nervous. Plus I auditioned for Little Sally, in Urinetown (made call backs for Sally, and was very happy to be cast as Soupy Sue- The show had great dancing)!  I love dancing in Musicals/ Theatre! (Below I am in Engle Lane's: Hairspray dancing my heart out!) GREAT DANCING SHOW and made tons of lifelong friends in it!

Now, though...A dance class with people who do dance, in a bigger town.. I'm intimidated. I still catch my self T-Rexing my arm. And I trip a lot, I drop stuff quite often in my right arm, and I know there is a good chance if I take a class where I live now, I won't be able to keep up. (do to both my muscles being tight and my lungs working on breathing). If I was in my hometown, nobody would judge. (read here about how my hometown hceered me on during my 5K in this post here!) Everyone knows about my CF. But somewhere else, people may just think" Man, She's not very good at dancing and really out of shape".

I think regardless I'm going to do it! I'm going to start at an adult beginners level and see how it goes. The last dancing I did, was in the show: Xandau, in May.Maybe if you know me and have seen me dance, you can judge my ability better than me. I'm not going to let my CF or CP stop me from dancing EVER! I love it too much!

I misss it and it is really good for me! Good for my lungs (giving them a nice workout) and great for my CP (working out my muscles). Excited to start dancing again!
 
(and hopefully help my lung function too)

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