Black Tie 2007: THE DANCE, a diary

This is a page from two students' diaries during their preparation for the ballroom dance. Click on comments link at the end and give the dancers a shout out. You can be anonymous or use an alias! Then take the poll to your right. Did you enjoy the black tie?



.....by Janae
Deciding to do the ballroom dance performance, I think, was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It started when my dad came home from work and shouted, “Which one of you wants to dance with your dad!” Of course between my sister and me, I was the first one to say, “MEEE!” I didn't really know what I or my feet were in for, but I figured why not give it a try.
Our first dance practice was around the beginning of October. I was excited to learn a new style of dancing and loved it as much as I love other styles of dancing. For the first couple of weeks, our dance teacher taught us “The Basics”, which were the moves that you basically needed to know to be able to perform a ballroom style dances. Some of the moves were extremely easy and I caught on really fast, but other moves took me some time to get down. Also, the other dance participants caught on to the moves and there was always someone to keep everyone's spirits up by continuously making us laugh.
After the weeks of simply learning dance moves, our instructor that would teach us the routine came into town. It was easy for me to learn and remember the routine because I have learned many dance routines before, but there were also a lot of things that I needed help on .Eventually though, I had the dance down and all I could do was practice, practice, practice.
As I continue to practice I'm gradually getting better, but I have to remember that ballroom dancing isn't a solo thing. Making sure my dad has the dance down is also important too. We stumble every now and then, but I have no doubt that the night of the performance we will be great!
Ballroom dance has been a great experience for my dad and I. If I could do it again I definitely would! Every step I took was worth it. It was either the right move, or if it was wrong and it showed me what I needed to do to get it right. I know that in my future ballroom dancing will come in handy. There are always opportunities to dance and it benefits you to know many types of dances. I am very happy that I did this and I can't wait till we perform!





The Cha…cha…cha preparation for Black Tie by Nailah
Our first practice was on October 14th. I decided to do this because it seemed fun. When we first began to learn the steps, they were actually pretty easy to me. I really liked the combinations they taught us because it helped us review the steps, and get more comfortable. The dancing did not interfere with school at all, so that was good. All of our practices were at the KBC on Sunday. Mr. Ali was really nice and very patient. I feel really good about where we are today. We have practiced our butts off and are all so excited. Then, there is the nervous factor. I will be very nervous, but my dad and I know the moves and we should do fine.
It took a very long time to find a dress. Not just an ordinary dress for some event, but I wanted one I liked and it had to be red! The colors were red and white, so I was not getting a dress with black in it. I really love to dress up and this was certainly a challenge. Finally, after online and in-store shopping, I found the dress at Dillard’s.
I learned from this experience, that you can do anything you put your mind to. I think learning different kinds of dancing will help you if you want to go into show business. I would definitely do this again because it was really fun and exciting!