Final Video – December 2018
Sometimes you have to do some emotional/mental/physical/spiritual digging and therapy to get through a time when you’ve been emotionally/mentally/physically and spiritually rocked. One of the craziest times in my life, from 2015-2016, was when I was pregnant with my third child, I found out my mom was terminally ill and to top it off, I got the 100 day cough in the last trimester. After my mom passed away, I knew I was not mentally/emotionally/physically/spiritually prepared to take on another child – so I chose to seek help. I went to therapy, got some Reiki done, did some journaling and cried A LOT.
My daughter was born in June of 2016. What a gift she was. So calm and EASY. A true blessing that I like to say was a gift from my mom. During the Christmas holidays of 2016, when I couldn’t sleep, I came across a dance video to Michael Jackson’s Black or White song – professionally choreographed by Tobias Ellehammer and then something happened to me.
My heart started to pump loudly. My nerves got excited and my mind started going in all different directions. The strongest direction being the one where I knew I had to get back to dancing. I wanted to learn this choreography. I NEEDED to learn this choreography. I was so inspired. I knew it was going to help me grieve from losing my mom. I knew getting Hip Hop back in my blood was going to bring some normal to my life. I just knew it was going to be like therapy. What I didn’t know, was that it was going to create a domino effect and give me the confidence to go after what I really needed and wanted. A career change.
Dancing is such a beautiful part of who I am and I neglected it for a while. I was on a mission to have kids so it went on the back burner, but after that rough year, I needed to find myself again. I asked an awesome friend of mine, Janet Castillo, who worked as a dancer/choreographer in LA and England, if she would teach me some private lessons with the goal of learning some of the choreography from the Tobias Ellehammer “Black or White” YouTube video (specifically inspired at the 43 second mark).
We did about 12 sessions in early 2017 and by the end we just didn’t get a chance to film it. See below for more videos of me learning how to dance (again) and the awkwardness AND awesomeness of it all.
March 2017 – learning some choreo at a slower pace.
April 2017 – getting better – at the slower pace. 😉
May 2017 – Here I go with Michael Jackson’s Black or White. It’s fast and there’s a lot to clean up, but not too shabby.
June 2017 – gettin’ there – and that serious face is very much helping.
A year went by and we got together a few times in early 2018 with the intention of “getting it done”. It still didn’t happen. I was stuck thinking I wanted other dancers in the video, but it was hard getting folks together so the goal fell off the table again. Check out the hilarious ending to this next video.
May 2018 – almost there – but the ending…. yikes!
Fast forward to December of 2018 (almost two years later!) and a huge Thank You to Janet for keeping me honest and pushing to finish it. We finally cleaned up my moves and recorded it! I am so proud of myself. This was SUPER FAST choreography, which was very challenging. Even for my 22 year old self (now 38). Janet helped me relax in my dancing and tweak the parts where I came across nerdy and awkward. HA!
Doing this for myself is really what launched me into wanting to live my best life. Getting back to something I loved, something that was in my bones all along, is what guided me to do additional things for ME. I went on to get a core pattern reading done, which led me to realize my life purpose – doing energy healing and spiritual coaching. I then went on to get my Reiki I, II and III and now I am attracting clients to help them live their best lives!
There is nothing like “signing back up” for a deep seeded passion that can get you back to feeling alive. You never know which direction the dominos will fall. I must say, I AM FOREVER A DANCER and can’t wait to see what dancing will bring me in 2019.
Happy New Year to you and remember to EAT MORE VEG, SWEAT daily and don’t forget to BREATHE.
Michelle GB