Famous by association - hesitation

I was sitting at my computer working on a project when I got a text. (Was this from you Joanie? I would text back, but it would look like this hijoanieisthisyouicanttextbecauseIneverdosoIamreallybadatit) Anyway, the text mentioned that Italo had been on Dancing with the Stars. I looked it up on Utube and found this.

I hesitate posting this...because I am not trying to pull the, "This is my old dance partners little brother and now he is famous so I am cool because of my association" card. Mostly, it just...well...makes me amazed at life.

I started ballroom dancing because I broke my ankle doing point. I was never meant to be a ballerina, but it broke my fourteen year old heart when I heard the news. Mom mom suggested I try other venues. I chose ballroom, but the problem was that there really wasn't a lot of teachers/opportunities where I lived.

I joined Sky View's "Ballroom Dance Team" (Really was synchronized social dance in ugly costumes team). But it just wasn't satisfying my need to dance. The good thing about the dance team was that I was exposed to a lot more opportunities, and it was there that I got the idea that I wanted to compete as a Latin dancer. Great. Now I just need a partner that doesn't wear white socks with his Latin shoes and a pair of shorts. I patiently waited a year. Nothing happened. So I prayed about it. I told Heavenly Father, "Please send me a partner...oh and can he please be foreign? That would be really cool." (I was picturing someone German...I don't know why)

One month Later Elias showed up at school. His family had moved from Chili and enrolled him in school midway through the year. We had already had our team tryouts, but he contacted our adviser because he really wanted to dance. Boys who want to dance aren't easy to come by so we gladly took him on. The details around here are fuzzy to me. I am not sure how, but somehow we both started dancing together. We both really loved dancing and really wanted to be good. We didn't have anywhere to take classes so we watched videos and spent hours choreographing routines. We practiced early in the morning and endured the taunts of many people who watched us "geek dancing" in the student center. I really didn't care what people thought.

Elias and I had a teenage angst relationship. Partner dancing, especially when you have no clue what you are doing, takes a lot of give and take. We fought a lot, but we were also really good friends. I remember one day, amidst one of our fights about why something wasn't working, that I realized, "I have a dance partner...and he is foreign! Woah!" After that I was a bit nicer.

We worked really hard, took some classes, and began choreographing our own routines for competition. (There are five dances, Samba, Cha Cha, Jive, Paso, and Rumba that each need to be two minutes long) Most people have their routines choreographed for them...by people who actually know the steps. Aka professionals. We went to our first competition so eager and exited. Most competitors had dazzling Latin outfits that matched, flawless makeup, team jackets, and coaches/mothers following them around with hairspray and tips. We wore pieced together costumes and old dance shoes and were our own entourage. I am sure the judges thought we were a joke, but we loved it and continued to attend. (I am sure there were times they wondered what dance we were even doing!)

I really can't explain how much I wanted to dance, and to be good at it. I don't think that feeling has ever really left. To this day I am surprised at how dedicated and passionate we were when we had so many obvious set backs and disappointments. To this day I think if we had had some proper training, we would have been awesome. We both could dance, we were passionate, dedicated, worked hard...we just didn't get the opportunity.

(BTW ELias and I choreographed Italos' first routine for his first competition)

In the end Elias and I both went to college and danced there. I always wanted to be partnered with him again, because he was the best DANCE partner that I ever had. Ironically we both served missions missing each other and the windows that the other was actually dancing. I have only seen him once since my freshman year of college, yet I often wonder what he thinks of his brother being on "Dancing with the Stars"
I am sure he is proud of him. (As I am!) But I also wonder if he is like me and is just a tinsy bit jealous. Italo did do all the hard work...but we taught him his first steps. :) I like to think of us as the unappreciated dance pioneers. It also makes me wonder about life and the roads we end up on and where they take us. Dance to me, has been a treadmill. Even when I ran as fast and as hard as I could I didn't get any farther than the two foot track. Every time an amazing dance opportunity came, life took me elsewhere. It amazes me that Italo has gone so far. Obviously....he has a better treadmill...or maybe he was smart enough to get off it.


Added Later: I just re watched the clip after Noelle got up from her nap. Then we danced together to the Ghost busters song. I would still love to put on my ballroom shoes again, but for now, I enjoy my little dance partner and her enthusiasm.