This year, dancing with Blake on the ballroom circuit has been a journey with many ups and downs, but mostly, a year full of happy surprises. All over this beautiful country, we have met amazing people and have had an opportunity to experience something totally unique. Often in life, when we decide to make a commitment to excellence, and put our passion and energies into a specific goal, the Universe has something better in store for us, when we align our intentions with joy. This has certainly been true for us.
We are coming down the homestretch on the competitive dance season with 4 months to go, and hope to finish first on the World Pro-Am DanceSport Series Leaderboard. Who would have thought we would place so well? At the moment, we are holding first place rankings in all styles for the Region Four Team Scores as well as the DanceSport series. The DanceSport Series includes ballroom competitions across North America. Points accumulated during each event count toward a national ranking during the course of one calendar year. Additionally, our scores have helped to push our studio, Birmingham Ballroom, to the top of the list, another wonderful surprise.
By December, will have attended over 26 competitions in 2012 to achieve our goal. We’ve often laughed about this, having been road warriors who are frequently stuck at airports on holidays or delayed in traffic. Being on the road so much, there were days we didn’t know what city we were in or where we were heading next.
Dancing together for two years, we recently took inventory of all our numerous awards, a Triple Crown Championship in our division, and even a few memorable train wrecks (translation: forgetting your open choreography, which makes a two minute routine seem like an eternity.) Despite regular physical injuries, missing our families, and stepping on each other’s toes more times than can be counted, we’ve performed on the competitive ballroom floor nearly 10,000 times. For better or for worse, it’s been a year to remember.
Winning the leaderboard, coupled with our shared goal of placing first on the Global DanceSport Series and the Dancers Cup Tour, the remaining two of the three national competitive ballroom dance circuits, would be a dancing grand slam. Since we’ve competed in all three series, we thought as long as we were fit, and having fun, we might as well go for it. Every time we walk out of the dancefloor, we continue to put joy at the front of our agenda, and will remember to inspire others to do the same. And who knows what will happen? I hope you will hold us in your heart, and maybe visit us on the road during my Dance Sabbatical in the next few months. I’ll let you know how our journey is going, and what we’ve experienced! Follow our progress here and at facebook.com/charlene.m.proctor
Every Blessing,
With Larry Dean at The Florida State Dancesport Championships
