From the Top!

“I’ve been a dancer for the past twenty-six years, since I was four.  So now you can do the math and figure out how old I am… I love to dance, I’ve been dancing for as long as I remember and I’m going to keep dancing as long as I can. I love to learn new styles of dance, to meet new people through dance, and share what I know and love about dance. Dance is a living, breathing, ever-evolving art form and I am so excited to go on this journey with you!”

I tell this story at the beginning of the year with each new group of dance students I teach, so it’s fitting that I share it on the first post of this new blog, A DANCER ABROAD.  The part about sharing what I know and love about dance while going on a new journey has extra-special meaning since I am about to go on an actual, literal journey when my husband and I move to France in August 2014.

This is, without a doubt, the biggest life-change I have ever faced.

Am I excited? Absolutely!

Am I scared? Of course!

But I’m not alone.

My husband and I are embarking on this together, along with some of his work-colleagues/good friends and their spouses, plus we have the incredible support of our families and friends. This is not a journey we will take alone in any sense. Plus, it’s looking like everyone we know wants to come visit us at some point, so alone is something we definitely will not be.

Staying connected is important and that’s where this blog comes in. Being an educator and a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, as well as someone who loves to travel and write, I am seizing this opportunity to explore and share my love of dance, theatre, art and culture, both here in my Canadian community and abroad.  

I am going to take dance class in Paris. It will probably be in fast, Parisan French (which I can understand, thanks to French Immersion!) and I will be scared but I’m going to do it! France is the birthplace of ballet, after all, so at least I’ll understand the basic vocabulary. I am going to watch theatre in Europe and I hope it will be as challenging, thought-provoking and exciting as the theatre here. I'm going to travel to many different places and share what happens along the way.

And when I think of this huge journey in terms of what I will learn, experience and discover, it tips the scales from scared to excited in a very big way. 

So welcome! This is a living, breathing, ever-evolving journey and I am so excited to share it with you.

5, 6, 7, 8 – here we go!

Port de bras at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland.