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?