ProAm West Coast Swing - Swingtacular 2024: Austin Kois & Judy Zhu скачать в хорошем качестве

ProAm West Coast Swing - Swingtacular 2024: Austin Kois & Judy Zhu

Event: Swingtacular 2024: The Galactic Open by Dance Geek Production Venue: Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, San Francisco, CA, USA. Date: Aug 2, 2024. Leader: Austin Kois - Champion Follower: Judy Zhu - Novice Choreographer: Austin Kois Follower Styling Consultants: Natalia Kane & Riley Crozier Videographer: Wayne Ashby Song: Do What You Like by Taio Cruz My 1st ProAm. --Timeline With my progressive daily cognitive and physical struggles at work, doctor’s diagnoses and prognosis, as well as the recommendation of “disability retirement” from both HR and the management after various reasonable accommodations, I feel like the clock is ticking. I am too young to retire from the teaching career I am passionate about; I am too in love with WCS to bear the thoughts of not being able to do it one day; I am eager to get my pre-teen and teenager sons into my favorite dance to bring joy and friends from all walks of life to their life. At 6: 45 p.m. May 15, 2024, I messaged Austin Kois. I wrote “I want to have a memory of my best possible dance at a WCS convention for myself and my sons before I lose the ability to do so...” Austin responded saying he would check his schedule. On May 28, we planned out 8 lessons/practice sessions to work on a routine that we started last year but dropped due to my commitment to frequent Chinese Dance Group performances at various festivals in Monterey, Marina, Seaside, and Pacific Grove. With over 120 miles distance between us and busy schedule, we managed to meet at Starlite Ballroom in San Jose, the home studio of Groovy Tuesdays WCS on June 4th, June 18, and July 9th. Then in Monterey at Rene Arreola and Jennifer Filzen"s home garage studio as well as CSA in Pacific Grove on July 13, then in Santa Cruz at Palomar Ballroom on July 20, where we finalized the choreography. On July 23rd I reached out to Nataliya Kane for some lady styling consultation. Natalia did an amazing job via CapCut video captions and recap demos with Kevin Kane and sent the video to me Friday night, July 26. Thank you, Nataliya Kane, for your brilliant ideas and beautiful styling, even though I was unable to incorporate most of them, I learned a lot from this process. On July 28, Sunday, Wayne drove me to Polish Club in San Francisco to meet Austin for a practice session. My body coordination was so off that adding or changing anything caused me froze or totally uncoordinated; my brain was not processing what I was told. I felt slow and dumb. I felt defeated. Time flied. Austin’s next student came; I needed to leave. A couple of hours later, I met Riley Wcs at Dance Blvd in San Jose to work on body movement. Given my memory deficit, I requested to record as we go when Riley teach/help me practice instead of doing recap at the end. Riley graciously agreed. I arrived home around 9: 00 p.m. with 19 video clips. When I was reviewing the videos, I cried. It was painful to see myself struggling with cognitive decline and body coordination in the videos. I felt very sad, but I also felt super grateful to have amazingly kind and gentle people like Riley support me. --Floor Trial I have never been to the full event. Obviously, I did not know what I would face. At 8: 00 a.m. Saturday morning, Aug 2, I arrived at the main ballroom where all ProAm competitors did floor trial. I panicked. I felt unprepared, I felt nervous after seeing how proficient other competitors were. Austin Kois, the sweetest Champion dancer I know, kept comforting me, and helping me relax. I actually learned the correct footwork for one move during that floor trial time! And the performance was in the evening! Oh my! --During performance: Austin Kois and I walked onto the stage. I smiled, but my brain froze. Music started. I could not hear the beat. I could not hear the lyric. It’s just sound – rhythmic sound. I forgot how to pulse. Oh no, I have no “metronome” in my dance. I felt rigid. My hips were locked. I messed up my footwork. Then after the double spin, I was not grounded. In fact, I was off balance. Then I messed up more. Meanwhile, I heard cheers and applauses. I was able to “keep going”, thanks to all my friends, the very kind audience, as well as my AMAZING champion leader. I am an optimist. I am hopeful that there is a magic cure for my neurodegenerative disorder, even though the doctors say the best would be “not progressing to dementia”. I believe in neuroplasticity. Dancing, especially West Coast Swing, might be that magic bullet! My journey of healing and making memory for my family will not be the same without this fun creative dance and the incredible community. I have a dream. I have a dream that one day my two sons, Eric and Kai, will join this wonderful community! I have a dream. I have a dream that ten years from now I will still remember this experience and will still be able to dance. 😊