Ballroom, Ballroom, Ballroom | Clare Henney

Life has been pretty hectic these past couple of weeks due to rehearsals and the eventual performance of a ballroom number for an annual work convention that concluded last Friday.  As tiring as it was, I appreciated the workout and the opportunity to hang out in the big city again for a few days. Before any of you think that my ballroom dancing skills were put to the test, I have to first admit that our dancing was more group dancing than the typical couples dancing we see on TV.  It would have been cool to do something like that but none of us are professionals and we did not have the luxury of time to rehearse anything complicated.  I only danced the Cha-Cha, a little bit of contemporary and the LA Walk.

All the rehearsals made me miss the days when I used to dance. I just love learning choreography and performing (oh if only our performance was at par with my younger dancing days…it was too plain and a bit cheesy for me). I’d really love to attend dance class again if I could so I could learn and work with professionals to improve and keep fit.

You’d think that after weeks of back to back ballroom I’d be sick of it already but no, Dancing with the Stars just started airing on Star World and I have just become a fan of Irish dancer Tristan MacManus.  I will definitely be having my fill of ballroom for the next few weeks until he gets eliminated a little later in the season.  After watching this performance on YouTube of Tristan with Kym Johnson on the show, I just can’t help but swoon over the guy.  He is intense!  I hope that we get future seasons of Dancing with the Stars here and that Tristan will continue to be there.  I’d love to see him interviewed a little more often too — I’m such a sucker for that accent!

I used to think that ballroom was boring but after watching how the pros use contemporary/pop music to dance to, I have found a new appreciation for it.  They’ve made ballroom dancing look exciting and fun for me (especially when it’s an all-pro performance because that’s when things really get amazing).  Two thumbs up!