Okay, just received about the biggest back-handed compliment ever. Last night at my studio, we had a party, and my Cha Cha teacher wanted the class to perform the routine we’ve been working on. There are several “students” in the class who are professional jazz and ballet dancers who are learning ballroom so that they can eventually teach it. I was really nervous, especially given that I’m the worst in the class, but figured it would be good experience for my upcoming theater showcase in March, and there didn’t seem to be that many people there, so I thought I’d try. But, while I was resting in the lounge between class and party, another student apparently thought I was trying to calm my nerves, and sat down next to me. “Hey,” she said, “you must be really nervous. I know, we’re the only non-professionals in the class. But, really, I think it’s very good for other students to see someone who’s obviously not a professional trying hard and yet not giving up. Shows them how hard it is to be a real dancer…” Ugh. Can’t wait to get on that stage in Long Island now!

Ugh, the nerve of him. Just kidding:) I’m set to perform my very first student / teacher showcase on March 11th and I worked so hard to find the perfect Rhumba song and help my coach and teacher to choreograph a very cool routine, only to turn on Dancing With the Stars last night and see Jonathan and Giselle have already had their way with Jessica Simpson’s remake of Take My Breath Away! Which is a problem for me of course because anyone who will be in my audience likely will be a ballroom fan and thus have religiously watched DWTS, and because Giselle is so gorgeous and such a wonderful dancer – especially for having studied it for like, two days… ugh, they will know how it’s really supposed to look! This is my first time performing on a real stage (albeit a small one) before a real audience (albeit a very small one) since I was about 9 years old and was in a school production of Swan Lake at Phoenix Symphony Hall. My adult stage fright seems to be about 300 times what it was then.

Oh well. Our routine will be different, to be sure, because, in my quest to fulfill my goofy dream of pretending to be ballet goddess Alessandra Ferri, I managed to coax the studio-owner coach (who does the choreography) and my poor teacher (who does the dancing) into putting several pretty lifts into ours – which the DWTS contestants were forbidden from doing. Why was that? Because they’re significantly harder for the male amateurs than the females, or because of age differences in the contestants? That’s my favorite part, man.

Anyway, I have to laugh at myself because over the past several months that I’ve been so immersed in the world of dance, I’ve heard ad nauseam complainants like, so and so stole my costume design, so and so stole my choreography… And, I’m always like, jeez, calm down. At work, we have a brief bank and continuing legal education meetings; we constantly borrow argumentative strategies and ideas from each other. And now, my first reaction upon seeing J & G’s routine is to have a nervous breakdown over the song!