So Dance has been a part of my life before I had a life. My Grandma taught my Mom Dance, who then taught it to her daughters! As a young girl it was something I got to dress up for. I got to wear pretty leg warmers and cute tutu's and it was an attention getter for my Mom when she had a camera...(If you haven't figured out I LOVE attention so this was a good thing). When I saw my mom with the video camera I would yell, "Mom, look at me" and she would zoom around to me and I would then begin to tap my feet and sing, "This is how we tap our feet, we tap our feet, we tap our feet", I would smile real big and my mom, never wanting to let me down, would always say, "Oh! That is So good Shelle, get your fingers out of your mouth", yea, I thought I was the bomb!!!
As I became a young adolescent it was just a thing I had to do after school and interfered with soccer practice and friend time. My parents conveniently forgot me at dance class 90% of the time and I would have to dial collect and the operator would say, "Please say your name so I can introduce you to the party to see if they will take your call" (or something similar to that). Then I would say, "Your late come pick me up from ballet" before the operator would cut me off. Then I would patiently wait for the operator to playback my plea to my parents, and then I would hear my Dad, "Hey, we forgot to get Shelle again". Then I would pray that someone would remember to actually come instead of thinking that someone else had already done the "easy to forget" job of picking me up!
As a Teenager dance defined who I was. When I met someone new it went something like this, "Hi, I'm Shelle it's nice to meet you", then I would get a reply back something like this, "Oh hey, you're the dancer right?" I use to hate that I was defined by my ability to dance. Dance did keep me out of trouble, I had little time to do anything else. I was on the dance team at my high school, as well as, taking dance classes, and practicing for solo's (someday I will tell you about those humilating experiences, but for now I just want you to get what a big part of my life dance is!)
Now as an adult, dance is something I get to do as an outlet. It is special because it bonds my sisters and my mom to me...its something we all enjoy together! It also allows me to use my creativity while creating dance numbers to my favorite songs. I get to escape for a few hours and teach my love to those younger than me. If I take a break from teaching, like I am now, I usually get asked to do some side choreography...Like, I just did a piece for a high school dance company in my home town to the song: "Love Today" by Mika! It was so fun to work with them and they were good enough, that I was able to really have fun with it! It's such a natural high for me! Having dance in my life also gives me the right to critically judge "So You Think You Can Dance"! lol! Yea, don't worry, I am obsessed...I can barely stand it having to wait another month for the new season...anybody want to have a weekly SYTYCD party...anybody? I'll make my special caramel popcorn, okay its not MY caramel popcorn recipe, I stole it from my older sis...but the taste is still just as good...lol!
As I became a young adolescent it was just a thing I had to do after school and interfered with soccer practice and friend time. My parents conveniently forgot me at dance class 90% of the time and I would have to dial collect and the operator would say, "Please say your name so I can introduce you to the party to see if they will take your call" (or something similar to that). Then I would say, "Your late come pick me up from ballet" before the operator would cut me off. Then I would patiently wait for the operator to playback my plea to my parents, and then I would hear my Dad, "Hey, we forgot to get Shelle again". Then I would pray that someone would remember to actually come instead of thinking that someone else had already done the "easy to forget" job of picking me up!
As a Teenager dance defined who I was. When I met someone new it went something like this, "Hi, I'm Shelle it's nice to meet you", then I would get a reply back something like this, "Oh hey, you're the dancer right?" I use to hate that I was defined by my ability to dance. Dance did keep me out of trouble, I had little time to do anything else. I was on the dance team at my high school, as well as, taking dance classes, and practicing for solo's (someday I will tell you about those humilating experiences, but for now I just want you to get what a big part of my life dance is!)
Now as an adult, dance is something I get to do as an outlet. It is special because it bonds my sisters and my mom to me...its something we all enjoy together! It also allows me to use my creativity while creating dance numbers to my favorite songs. I get to escape for a few hours and teach my love to those younger than me. If I take a break from teaching, like I am now, I usually get asked to do some side choreography...Like, I just did a piece for a high school dance company in my home town to the song: "Love Today" by Mika! It was so fun to work with them and they were good enough, that I was able to really have fun with it! It's such a natural high for me! Having dance in my life also gives me the right to critically judge "So You Think You Can Dance"! lol! Yea, don't worry, I am obsessed...I can barely stand it having to wait another month for the new season...anybody want to have a weekly SYTYCD party...anybody? I'll make my special caramel popcorn, okay its not MY caramel popcorn recipe, I stole it from my older sis...but the taste is still just as good...lol!
So I am okay now with dance defining me...it is as much a part of me as the color of blue in my eyes...I am lucky and blessed to be a part of the world that surrounds dance. I will never be famous for it, but its definitely something that I will never give up!
Now I have found a new LOVE that gives me the same natural high as dancing has! That is photography...no I'm not very good yet, but I love getting out there and shooting...it makes me happy when I get 1 good shot out of 50...I'm sure the odds will get better in time...I love jumping on PhotoShop and doctoring up my amateur photos, to make them look somewhat better...I love getting on the computer and reading everything about Digital Photography...I know, NOT another reason for Shelle to sit her big tush in front of the computer...but I have SO much fun! So being able to watch dance while practicing some action shots was a dream...it's so great to be able to do both at the same time!
So I hope you enjoyed these shots I got from my new DSLR camera. I found out really soon that the lens I have (18-55mm) is not at all the best for shooting action shots in an auditorium ( I couldn't get enough light and zoom to make the moving limbs focused enough), but I adjusted and got some pretty fun shots!
As not to bombard you daily wiyh my favorite photos that I have shot and edited I have decided to just create a blog where you can link over to them if you would like to see them!
It's http://www.plushmoments.blogspot.com/ - there's more Dance Action shots and other photos I have taken of my kids and things! So hope you can jump over there...and feel free to give me any constructive criticsm to help me along the way...because the more I learn the better stats I get...as I said before, right now I am at 1 good shot to 50 not so good shots...Thank Goodness for Digital!
Let me know what you think and if you like photography to and have someplace I can check you out...I would love to!!! I'm like a sponge soaking it all up!
