Heart pounding, knees a bit rubbery, face caked with make-up, I ran onto the court of the Rose Garden, home of the Portland Trailblazers for my hip hop debut. Ignoring the random people on the court and cords snaking around the perimeter, I took a deep breath and plastered on a fake smile, ready to dance. When the music finally reached my ears, I hesitated for only a second before bursting into the routine I'd practiced for months.
My experience performing during pre-game festivities of an NBA game is a mixture of pride, joy, and silliness. For the past 2 years or so, I've been taking tap dancing classes at a local studio, joining the competition group last year. The studio is constantly being invited to take part in a variety of shows--just this Christmas, we performed in an airplane hangar. This time the invitation came from the Portland Trailblazers. The studio owners immediately acquiesed and began putting together some of their top performing groups for the show. And then they invited the adults.
The studio offers an aerobic hip hop class, known as "Hip Hop Shape Up." I don't take this class, although I did briefly for a summer session once. Regardless, they asked the adults in any of the competition groups to participate. Considering that I'd never been to an NBA game and the fact that the rehearsals were immediately after my tap class, I joined the fun.
I really did have a great time, even if I ended up in a very Madonna-as-the-Material-Girl get-up. Performing on center court was exhilarating. Who cares if the only people in the stands were the assorted family members who had made the trip down from Washington? In fact, Jon's dad and his wife joined us in Portland for a mini-vacation. And as an added bonus, we got to catch a basketball game (even if the NBA is sort of boring with a lack of defense and nothing but 3-pointers and slam dunks).
(Against my better judgment, I would like to throw out there that I purchased the video, so if you're ever in the mood for some fabulous dancing, let me know.)
My experience performing during pre-game festivities of an NBA game is a mixture of pride, joy, and silliness. For the past 2 years or so, I've been taking tap dancing classes at a local studio, joining the competition group last year. The studio is constantly being invited to take part in a variety of shows--just this Christmas, we performed in an airplane hangar. This time the invitation came from the Portland Trailblazers. The studio owners immediately acquiesed and began putting together some of their top performing groups for the show. And then they invited the adults.
The studio offers an aerobic hip hop class, known as "Hip Hop Shape Up." I don't take this class, although I did briefly for a summer session once. Regardless, they asked the adults in any of the competition groups to participate. Considering that I'd never been to an NBA game and the fact that the rehearsals were immediately after my tap class, I joined the fun.
I really did have a great time, even if I ended up in a very Madonna-as-the-Material-Girl get-up. Performing on center court was exhilarating. Who cares if the only people in the stands were the assorted family members who had made the trip down from Washington? In fact, Jon's dad and his wife joined us in Portland for a mini-vacation. And as an added bonus, we got to catch a basketball game (even if the NBA is sort of boring with a lack of defense and nothing but 3-pointers and slam dunks).
(Against my better judgment, I would like to throw out there that I purchased the video, so if you're ever in the mood for some fabulous dancing, let me know.)
2 comments:
I would LOVE to see the video! :)
I'll bring it home the next time I'm in KC, Amy. :)
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