"Fever"...Our 1st Stage Performance

As many of you know, Kevin and I started ballroom dancing just under two years ago. We went to the Arthur Murray studio on our anniversary in August 2007. After just two introductory classes, we were hooked. This past fall our instructor asked us if we would consider being in the next stage show. She and the other teachers had already found the perfect music for us...Michael Buble's "Fever." Kevin and I weren't so sure if we could really do a stage show. First of all, we had only been dancing for one year at that point...we were very basic beginners. Then, there is the time commitment of weekly practice; which means time away from the girls and relying on our parents for babysitting help. Of course, I loved the idea of being in a show! I have always loved to watch shows and have always secretly wished I could do it. Kevin, on the other hand, had never considered such a thing and wasn't too sure about all of this. As always, my wonderful husband said that if it was something that I wanted to do, he would do it for me...what a guy!!!

We started practicing about 8 or 9 months ago. We went to the studio once a week for a double lesson. The first lesson was always to practice our routine. The second lesson was often just for fun to keep us moving along with the other varieties of dance...swing, cha cha, rumba, waltz. I cannot say enough about how amazing our parents are. They are such a blessing to us and the girls! Both sets of parents would rotate weeks so that the girls were always with grandparents while we were dancing. It was a big commitment on the part of our parents and we truly couldn't have done it without them!

Our choreographer, Terry Irwin, is from Wisconsin. He is a U.S. Theatrical Arts dance champion himself and has choreographed and performed in Bob Hope's last U.S. Tour as well as several Miss America Pageants. Terry choreographed our routine specifically for the two of us. He didn't have any of the routine prepared at our first session. He wanted to get to know us as a couple. Then, he turned on the music and went to work. It was really impressive to watch him develop this routine out of nothing...a true artist!

Terry definitely pushed my comfort zone. His style is saucy and seductive to say the least (these are the words of my friend, Jodee). He said that he didn't want to make me too uncomfortable and to just speak up if I didn't want to do something. Well, pretty much the slightest wiggle is out of my comfort zone, but I told him that I wanted a challenge. Although a lot of the moves were clearly out of my comfort zone, I loved them!

Our teachers, Tyler and Christine, were very patient throughout the process. Tyler's big catch phrase throughout our lessons was, "Smooth Kevin." He said he was going to take my very tall husband and turn him into one smooth-moving guy...and he did!

The week of the show, we had practice Wednesday - Saturday. So, the girls and our parents were real troopers. We didn't see much of the girls this weekend until the night of the show. And our amazingly wonderful parents had the girls all weekend! I missed the girls so much and am glad to be back on a normal schedule so I can just be with them.

I am totally going to put ourselves out there with a small section of our very first stage show performance. It isn't perfect, but the mistakes were just minor timing issues. I was so afraid that one of us might just totally blank out and forget the routine due to stage fright. We were pretty pleased that the mistakes were minor and nothing too terribly noticeable. Here is the last fourth of our routine. Unfortunately, there were technical problems with my camcorder so we were unable to get the first three-fourths of the routine with our camera. So, I can't show you a lot of our "tricks"....lifts and such. Fortunately, there was a professional videographer, so we will eventually get a copy of the entire show on DVD.

Okay, here we are at the end of our routine...

Guess what...we have been asked to perform our routine again in October in Appleton, Wisconsin. Since I already have the dress, shoes, and accessories, we are going to go for it!