Dance Up a Storm

Once in a rare while I miss those days when I thought of myself as a "dancer." I always moved well and sort of fell into that path by default. I was a male and could fake my way through it enough that it landed me work. I don't fool myself that I was every the right body type or the most limber. That does not mean that I didn't love the convergence of music and how it brought my body to life.

Here are two videos that continue to inspire me. What dancers do now is so far beyond what the expectations were even 15 years back. One is the University of Minnesota Dance team that continues to dominate the national competition stage. I have never been a big one into the arena of dance lines with generic white princesses and years of studio training. But I have to admit I have been sold by their sheer audacity and how they manage to bring an emotional element in conjunction with their amazing technical skills.

The other is from Ellen who everyone loves. Her kindness is authentic. She recently had a dance off where people submitted videos of their work. And here she is crowing a winner in Sam Pickhart out of Seattle. He is amazing and infectious himself.