Read Online Dancing Through Life by Candace Cameron Bure, Erin Davis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Candace Cameron Bure, Erin Davis
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What I put into my body is what I can expect to get out. Put junk in. Get junk out. The same is true for the rest of my life. What I put into my mind is exactly what I get out. Where I invest my energy is where I can expect to get results.
What does that have to do with my time on Dancing with the Stars ? Everything! Week four was switch-up week. Just when we were all starting to get comfortable, America voted to switch the teams, partnering each celebrity with a different dance professional. If I had to describe that week as a food, I might choose the imaginary breakfast buffet that Maks prepared. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks of the entire competition. Just like sitting down to a giant hot fudge sundae with my family, everything about that week went down smooth, but ultimately it was a week marked by all grace and no truth, resulting in scores that tied the very low scores I received for the rumba. That landed me at the bottom of the leader board with 28 out of 40 points, leaving me way behind all the other contestants.
Week Four, and the Livin’ Is Easy
I knew that switch-up week was coming, and I was most hoping to be partnered with Val or Derek. Maks, who really is a big teddy bear underneath it all, felt too intimidating, and I was hesitant to be paired with Tony Dovolani. For the bulk of the show, Tony was partnered with Nene Leakes. You might know Nene best for her role in the Real Housewives of Atlanta . I’d watched Tony and Nene own it on the dance floor during every round of the competition, and I knew Tony was an accomplished dancer and fabulous instructor, but he also liked to joke at my expense. He knew my tendency to think more conservatively and loved to hone in on that to make me squirm. It was all in good fun but he was always out to make me blush! Because of that, I was hoping he would not be my new partner for switch-up week. But when the door flung open to reveal my new partner while the cameras rolled, there stood Tony.
As we talked through our initial reactions about our new partnership, he compared how different it was going to be for him to have had someone like Nene, known for her unfiltered and unabashed dominant personality, to someone like me, who was much more reserved and blushed at a moment’s notice; not to mention our height difference with Nene standing tall at 5'10" and me at 5'2". But Tony quickly put my fears to rest. As we settled in to our new roles of teacher and student, Tony was very sweet and professional. He put up a boundary and traded in the silly jokes for serious but gentle instruction, which was a great relief.
Quickstep: True to its name, the quickstep is a dance characterized by quick steps set to fast-paced music. It’s intended to be a dance that is very energetic, yet elegant. Quickstep dancers are supposed to maintain very straight upper-body posture while appearing very light on their feet.
We were assigned the quickstep and given the song “Ballroom Blitz” to dance to. This was technically my first ballroom dance of the show. To understand why, let me give you a crash course in ballroom dance terminology. (You didn’t know that you’d enrolled in Ballroom Dance for Dummies when you bought this book, did you?) There are five points of connection in a ballroom frame. If you have ballroom dancing aspirations of your own or just love quirky trivia like my guy, Lev, check out the five points of connection on the next page. The dances I’d performed in previous weeks didn’t require me to be in a frame with the five points of connection, so they weren’t technically ballroom dances. (But that didn’t make them any easier!)
I had a blast learning with Tony. He was such a good teacher and I was totally at ease. During that week I never forgot my choreography. I felt no pressure at all. Even though we were still training for six hours a day and looking ahead to a live performance in front of millions, Tony managed to make it feel light and breezy. It
What does that have to do with my time on Dancing with the Stars ? Everything! Week four was switch-up week. Just when we were all starting to get comfortable, America voted to switch the teams, partnering each celebrity with a different dance professional. If I had to describe that week as a food, I might choose the imaginary breakfast buffet that Maks prepared. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks of the entire competition. Just like sitting down to a giant hot fudge sundae with my family, everything about that week went down smooth, but ultimately it was a week marked by all grace and no truth, resulting in scores that tied the very low scores I received for the rumba. That landed me at the bottom of the leader board with 28 out of 40 points, leaving me way behind all the other contestants.
Week Four, and the Livin’ Is Easy
I knew that switch-up week was coming, and I was most hoping to be partnered with Val or Derek. Maks, who really is a big teddy bear underneath it all, felt too intimidating, and I was hesitant to be paired with Tony Dovolani. For the bulk of the show, Tony was partnered with Nene Leakes. You might know Nene best for her role in the Real Housewives of Atlanta . I’d watched Tony and Nene own it on the dance floor during every round of the competition, and I knew Tony was an accomplished dancer and fabulous instructor, but he also liked to joke at my expense. He knew my tendency to think more conservatively and loved to hone in on that to make me squirm. It was all in good fun but he was always out to make me blush! Because of that, I was hoping he would not be my new partner for switch-up week. But when the door flung open to reveal my new partner while the cameras rolled, there stood Tony.
As we talked through our initial reactions about our new partnership, he compared how different it was going to be for him to have had someone like Nene, known for her unfiltered and unabashed dominant personality, to someone like me, who was much more reserved and blushed at a moment’s notice; not to mention our height difference with Nene standing tall at 5'10" and me at 5'2". But Tony quickly put my fears to rest. As we settled in to our new roles of teacher and student, Tony was very sweet and professional. He put up a boundary and traded in the silly jokes for serious but gentle instruction, which was a great relief.
Quickstep: True to its name, the quickstep is a dance characterized by quick steps set to fast-paced music. It’s intended to be a dance that is very energetic, yet elegant. Quickstep dancers are supposed to maintain very straight upper-body posture while appearing very light on their feet.
We were assigned the quickstep and given the song “Ballroom Blitz” to dance to. This was technically my first ballroom dance of the show. To understand why, let me give you a crash course in ballroom dance terminology. (You didn’t know that you’d enrolled in Ballroom Dance for Dummies when you bought this book, did you?) There are five points of connection in a ballroom frame. If you have ballroom dancing aspirations of your own or just love quirky trivia like my guy, Lev, check out the five points of connection on the next page. The dances I’d performed in previous weeks didn’t require me to be in a frame with the five points of connection, so they weren’t technically ballroom dances. (But that didn’t make them any easier!)
I had a blast learning with Tony. He was such a good teacher and I was totally at ease. During that week I never forgot my choreography. I felt no pressure at all. Even though we were still training for six hours a day and looking ahead to a live performance in front of millions, Tony managed to make it feel light and breezy. It
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