What a night!

Cristo Rey's "Dancing with the Kansas City Stars" Fundraiser was last night at the Sheraton Crown Center. 940 people were in the audience, seven couples were entered and $604,000 was raised. Marvin and I had a blast!

The Judges -- Trent Green - of Kansas City Chiefs fame, Teri Rogers - T2 Productions who also produced amazing videos for the event and Kansas City Mayor, Sly James, -- broke the rules to give us 3 perfect 10 scores. This is a video of our performance and the judges commentary. My favorite quote is the first thing Mayor Sly James says when it's his turn to critique, "Get down with your funky self"!

I figure when the Mayor of Kansas City says that, you've made a pretty good impression.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have been part of this meaningful and fun event. It's an honor to be able to help contribute to such an outstanding organization.

Dancing with the (Kansas City) Stars

I've been busy working with my "Star", Marvin Rollison of KCP&L to prepare for the upcoming fundraiser for Cristo Rey high School.  We've had a lot of fun so far and our intention is to win!  One of the ways to win is to raise the most money - votes are only $10 each and you can really support a great cause. 

Here is their Mission (from their website) "Cristo Rey Kansas City provides a Catholic, college prep education enhanced by an innovative corporate work study program to culturally diverse students with economic need."

What a great thing to help give kids a positive start in life!  Here's a bit of our practice so far...we might have hammed it up a little for the video :-)

Healthy, Happy, Whole

Last Wednesday Dance Kansas City had the pleasure of participating in the "Healthy, Happy, Whole" expo, held at the Federal building for the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal employees.   

Nicole Hernandez was the organizer of the event. She called us because she loves to dance and wanted to offer the powerful benefits that learning to dance provides to the other Army Corps of Engineer workers.

 Ballroom Unlimited teachers: Perry Gingerich, Matt Schissler, Josh Thornton, Katie Moshier, Abby Vogels and my husband Mark attended the event. We met hundreds of folks and had a blast introducing them to the benefits of dance.

Every time I get the opportunity to share the physical and mental and social fitness benefits ballroom dance provides, I feel so priveleged.  I thank my lucky stars for the day someone invited me to their studio...I never stopped dancing! Hopefully, these folks will feel the same.  

 The new Monday night Beginner's Only group class will be full of these folks, so if you see them in the Studio, introduce yourself and give them a warm welcome. 

Sit Less, Dance More! A simple _yet powerful_ message to bring to your organization

When I began the Freebox Everyday Dance Project, the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted a vehicle that would make me commit to dancing everyday because I know that dancing is physically, mentally and spiritually beneficial to me.  I discovered over the course of that year that _in fact_ there are many other people who feel the same. I adopted the motto, "Sit Less, Dance More" and made it my mission to share this simple,yet powerful idea with others. I am very happy that that mission is continuing to blossom!

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Terrie Van Zandt-Travis, Executive Director at Head Start of Shawnee Mission.  She asked me to come out and energize her staff for the start of their school year on Monday, August 1.  She said she had saved the Kansas City Star newspaper article about The Freebox Everyday Dance Project since June 15, 2010 and was excited to have an opportunity to do a video with me.

My visit was a surprise to the staff, but they all were good sports and played along. We danced to ABC by the Jackson 5.  

So what do you think, could your organization use some energizing? How might your staff benefit from being encouraged to let their hair down a bit and get their blood flowing? Do you, like Terrie, have the vision to see that this can nurture happier, more creative employees?  Get in touch with me and let's talk about how I can help energize your organization today!

Amazing Inspired Dance photos

I came across this trove of dance in everyday life photos. They are amazing. I especially like the one with the red dress.  Which ones do you like best?

http://thumbpress.com/dancers-among-us-amazing-pictures-of-dancers-brightening-mundane-situations/