currently streaming: choreography on youtube

The other night, I fell down a serious Instagram rabbit hole. You know the ones I'm talking about -- it starts casually with the explore posts tab during the 17th commercial break during the Kardashians and next thing you know you're re-watching that same episode when it airs an hour later because you've spent the last hour looking at lord knows what on Instagram. We've all been there. It gets really bad when it transcends Instagarm and goes to YouTube because YouTube is the real black hole. Well guess what happened to me the other night?

I started casually exploring posts, somehow made my way to the Dallas Mavericks Dancers page which then led me to the hashtag #michellekeyschoreo. Michelle Keys is a former DMD (Dallas Mavericks Dancer -- learned that acronym, though my Alice in Wonderland-esque rabbit hole fall) and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who teaches a power class in Dallas every Thursday. Instagram is filled with 15 second clips from her classes and eventfully, I made the move to Youtube to watch a full number and let the "up next" side bar videos roll. I was mesmerized which is how we landed here today.

Quite the rabbit hole, right? I told you.



I grew up dancing and really came into my own in middle school and high school experimenting with jazz, hip hop, and modern. I never had the body for ballet (shocking, right? ha) nor the discipline. My mom -- while ever supportive -- didn't have the patience or ear drums for tap so I fell into something more lyrical.

I'll admit, I was never the star of the show. I was a second row kinda girl; never the backrow and sometimes the front row. But I was one of the happiest. I LOVED dancing. I loved the outlet, I loved the movement, and I loved the expression. And since I didn't have the discipline for ballet or more structured dance, I just went with where the wind took me. Is anyone that knows me surprised to hear this? I floated along dancing what I wanted to dance. And that is what made me the happiest.



I considered dancing in college but got too busy drinking wine on front lawns with school and sorority stuff that I let it fall off. Nowadays, I don't do much dancing aside from around my apartment while cleaning or forcing Aaron to dance with me after a few glasses of wine. Spoiler alert: that is rarely a successful effort. Watching these videos was both nostalgic and inspiring.

Fellow creatives: I think you'll agree with me here. There is so much inspiration to be drawn from the talent and successes of those around you. Even if you're not a dancer, watching these videos is captivating. You can't deny that the level of talent and showmanship is seriously impressive! I hope that you find these videos as enjoyable as I did and even maybe draw a few nuggets of inspiration yourself.