Starting your life without pain, finally!

Our guest from Japan, Marina’s 2 weeks stay at our studio has ended and she is ready to go back to Japan for her big audition! During her 2 weeks stay, she was training to increase her body awareness and establish symmetry between body and mind, so she can live a pain free life.

Marina’s 2nd week training was even more difficult than her 1st week. After learning how to correct her posture (align her spine) and proper weight transfer to her foot during her walk, she was assigned a new task: alignment of her hip and pelvic bone in relation to her spine and legs. There are many people who sit in a funny position or try to use their hips that might not be complimentary to their joints. Marina used to walk with her right hip tilted upwards. As a result, her left side and her lower back compensated the additional pressure. Through Pilates mat exercise, she learned how to keep her spine and hip joints stable on the mat while her legs moved. Now she has to do this in standing position and when she walks. She practiced and exercised every day, all day, plus reviewed all material at night when she went home. During the last few days of her stay, I noticed that her walk looks more natural, her posture is straight, and she is pain free!

Everyone at the studio was very happy for her and touched by her hard work. For me personally, it’s always special to find someone who I can share the excitement of working on something you’re passionate about. It might not be the same activity, but there’s something inspirational about people giving their all to reach their goals, despite of the difficulties and struggles they go through during their journey. Marina wanted to stay in the US longer, but at the same time she was motivated to maintain what she learned here and prepare for her big audition in Japan. I must say, Marina was truly a pleasant character with positive energy that brightened up the studio. With limited ability to speak English, Marina was always smiling and trying her best to communicate with anybody who walked into the studio. We wish her all the success in Japan and with her dreams. We hope she can come visit our studio again in the future. Thank you so much for your positive energy!

P.S. I will upload some videos, so you can see the difference 🙂

Pursuing your dream, thanks to teachers who truly care…

As I was writing my blog posts, I noticed that I haven’t written any of my experiences of how I became a dancer. I got too caught up with students at the studio and totally forgot about myself, lol! So, I decided to write (in a nutshell :)) about my experience of how everything started.

Like many dancers out there, I always loved to dance. So after graduating from college, and stabilizing my job etc., I wanted to dance. At first, I was just looking for a hobby and I found Astoria Ballroom which was close to my work place, so I joined their beginner group class. One class was 45 minutes and I learned a few steps of Rumba and Waltz. Honestly, after this 45 minutes class, I was wanting for more action!! I understand that it’s a beginner class, but seriously, 45 minutes wasn’t enough for me 🙂 So, I continued to attend group classes every week and my feeling of wanting to learn kept growing….

One day, the owners/instructors asked me if I have time to talk for a bit. I was like “ok…” wondering what’s going to happen. The owners/instructors explained about different options in the dance industry. They told me that if I wish, I can compete, become a professional, start to teach and make dance my profession. Or, I can continue to take classes and private lessons, and dance will stay as my hobby. But of course, I told them “I want to compete!” So, I started to take private lessons and practiced every day because I was so excited to learn! Seriously, I was at the studio after work until 10pm or 11pm every day, even on the weekends! It was crazy, lol! After 1 month of taking private lesson, my teachers told me that we’re going to prepare for competition which was in 1-2 months… I was very worried, not knowing what’s going to happen, but I continued my practice and kept my focus with my teacher’s guidance. As a result, I won my first competition and I was super excited!! From there, I continued to compete and place in the finals and top 3 of major competitions. It was like living my childhood dream of wanting to become a dancer 🙂

Time flies so fast when you’re enjoying and focused on what you like to do in life. When I noticed, I was already teaching, helping with the business of the studio, while continuing my training to move forward in my dance career as a competitor. I must say, I couldn’t have done it without my teacher’s guidance, patience and belief in my potential as a dancer. Yes, we all have our ups and downs in our personal life (job insecurities, relationship troubles etc.), which may distract you from achieving your goals, but my teachers were very supportive during all of those struggles in both my personal life and dance career. They were there for me at 11pm at night listening to my problems, they were there when I needed a shoulder to cry, and they were there encouraging me even when I almost gave up on my passion and childhood dream = DANCING.

Right now, I’m still training and practicing every day to improve my quality of dance. I believe in continuous learning and being persistent with what you love to do. As you can probably tell by now, I’m not the type of teacher who stops their own training just because you’re already a teacher. I believe that I can become a better teacher and that I will be able to offer more knowledge and insight for my students by further improving myself. I would like to thank my teachers and thank all of the teachers in this world who supports their students wholeheartedly. You guys are amazing! To everybody out there: don’t get caught up with what others or what society expects you to do or become. It’s your life! Why not find your passion and continue to pursue your dreams?

Wedding Dance Story: Reenact Dirty Dancing (End)

Our wedding couple that reenacted the dance from Dirty Dancing did a wonderful job! They were at the studio every day practicing their routine. At their very last lesson, their family came to support their final rehearsal. It was so awesome to see all family members get together to support their son and daughter start a new life together as husband and wife.

Here is the video clip of their journey 🙂 Enjoy!

Improving posture and body awareness can be a life changing experience…

Recently, a young girl name Marina came to visit our dance studio from Japan to learn and improve her body awareness since she has been experiencing a lot of pain and problem with her body lately. During her stay, she was at the studio every day, training how to walk, improve her posture, learn correct body alignment, and exercise how to engage and use her muscles in different movements. She was determined to improve and reduce her pain naturally, so she can be pain free and also improve her overall quality of life.

Marina found her passion in life and fell in love with acting and theatrical performances when she was in high school. She majored in Arts and Theater Performance in college and moved on to pursue her dream in that field. Currently, she works full-time to support her passion for theater arts, plus take lessons, audition and perform on stage whenever she has a chance. However, recently she’s been experiencing strong pressure on her lower back and foot and now it has accumulated into severe pain which started to affect her daily life as well as her performances. Then, she found out that her mother is a friend of our studio owner/instructor who specializes in Pilates and natural ways to heal body to decrease pain or pressure.

Here’s a little bit of background information about how this Pilates class started at our dance studio. One of our instructors started this Pilates mat exercise class for the general public and for dancers. The reason is because she constantly saw people with pain or problem with their body when teaching dance. During her dance lessons, she noticed that there are many people who are struggling from pain caused by previous injuries, exercising too much, unknown causes, pressure from incorrect body alignment etc. Those experiences lead her to want to help others achieve a pain free life. In addition, she thought her own experience of recovering from a traumatic injury and naturally healing post-traumatic injuries can help others to continue their life style without surgery or medication.

During the 1st week of Marina’s stay, she learned how to correct her posture and learned how to walk without putting any pressure on her foot, ankle, or knees. She learned how to place her foot and transfer her weight evenly when she walked. It may sound so simple and some people might think “why do you need to learn how to walk?” but sometimes, these small adjustments can have significant impact on your body in the long run. For example, did you know that you can have sexy, nicely shaped calf by changing how you transfer your weight to your foot when you walk? I know that some people will say “wear high-heels and it’ll shape your calf!” And it might work, but the problem with that is, you can easily break your posture when you walk in high-heels. But if you learn and understand how to place your weight properly on your foot, then you can start to use your weight to develop certain muscles on your legs. Hence, you can soon develop that nice looking legs 🙂

And now Marina’s 2nd week has begun. She has much more to learn in this short period of time, but the amazing thing is that I already started to notice a difference in her walk. It looks more natural and balanced!! When she first came to the studio and took her first lesson, there was something unnatural about the way she swung her leg under her body. Also, her tracking of her foot didn’t have exactly 2 tracks (one track for her left foot and another for her right foot), meaning her legs kind of criss-crossed each other when she walked. Plus, her hips moved in an unnatural way when she walked. But now after 1 week of training and consistent practice, she is walking on our studio floor with great posture, confidence, and most importantly with no pain!!

It is truly amazing to see how someone’s motivation to learn can change their most natural habits of their body. It takes hard work, focus and determination to make such change, and watching someone go through that experience can be very inspirational. I am really glad to have met a young lady with such positive attitude and energy. Can’t wait to see how her 2nd week turns out!

To improve sense of rhythm for any Latin dances

Astoria Ballroom Dance Studio of Costa Mesa, CA is known for its unique method of teaching that focuses on improvement of body movement and coordination. Yes, we can all learn steps and technique, but establishing an understanding of how to use our body will take your dancing to a whole new level by adding richness and quality. Since 2013, Astoria Ballroom Dance Studio started a new type of class where students can improve their sense of rhythm and coordination of body in any Latin dances. The class is called Latin Rhythm exercise class and it is held at Astoria Ballroom Dance Studio (369 E. 17^th St. #10 Costa Mesa, CA 92627), on every Monday nights at 7:00PM.

In our Latin Rhythm exercise class, an instructor will lead participants through simple dance steps of Salsa, Mambo, Samba, Rumba, and Chacha. Moving to Latin music will get you comfortable moving to any Latin dances in no time. This class was put together because we see so many people take lessons to learn steps, but the common problem with that is, the quality of movement and the character of the dance is being forgotten. Yes, there are many people who have great rhythm in their body, but not everyone is born that way. Especially the popularity of the hit TV show “Dancing with the Stars” has introduced many different dances and Latin dances always look very flashy and fun J But if you don’t learn how to use your body, then you won’t look as good, lol! Repetition and practice does help, but from our experience, we suggest students to take a short-cut by learning these movements, so they don’t waste time practicing incorrect movement, and at the end of the day, they can actually look like dancers!

Latin Rhythm exercise class doesn’t require any dance experience or partner. Just bring water, a towel, wear workout clothes and comfortable shoes. If you’re interested in more exercise classes based on dance, Astoria Ballroom Dance Studio offers Zumba® Fitness, Pilates mat exercise, and Dance Fitness classes. More information on these additional classes can be found on Astoria Ballroom Dance Studio’s website: Dance Exercise Programs.