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Showing posts from February, 2013

Feature Story: A Dancer's Life

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When Martha Graham said:  "Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion"  I believe she was referring to dancers like Kiki Lucas; the subject of this months "Testing The Waters" Feature Story. I  had the distinct pleasure of becoming friends and working with Kiki Lucas while she was living in Los Angeles.   She being a fellow Aries woman we hit it off instantly.   To this day I continue to feel incredibly blessed to have known and worked with her. At the time, I was performing in and producing cabaret shows and she  graciously agreed to choreograph a couple of numbers for a few of my productions.                                                                                          Photo Credit: Whitney Browne Kiki has an extremely generous spirit on and off the stage. I  have always been inspired by her grace, passion and talent. When she dances she leaves everything she has on the stage. Working with

Hitting The Reset Button

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                                              Photo Credit: DawnMarie Ferrara I was walking around my neighborhood and suddenly noticed the trees along the streets are sprouting buds and some flowers are even beginning to blossom. What a lovely indication that the cold, dormant season of Winter is coming to a close and Spring will soon be upon us. Photo Credit: DawnMarie Ferrara I've always found February to be an interesting month. We are all still basking in the afterglow of the Holiday Season and the promise of the New Year remains in the abstract - mostly because we haven't placed both feet firmly into 2013 yet. This is an ideal time of year to hit the RESET BUTTON. Photo Credit: DawnMarie Ferrara There are times in our lives when the reset button is hit for us (or maybe it hits us in the head) . Think back to a time when a life changing event came spiraling towards you and you felt powerless to stop it... that's a reset moment. It'

An Important Valentine

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"Its not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love."  ~ Voltaire So true, so true.  We spend our entire lives with one person -  ourselves  and so why is it ingrained in us that loving ourself is not only selfish but also arrogant?   Society casts men and women in quite different roles.  There are some exceptions but typically at an early age men are given military toys to play with and are nurtured to become leaders and to aggressively pursue their passions. Us women, on the other hand, are given Barbi's, tea sets and taught to clean and keep house. We women are cultivated to be   'care givers' and subsequently we learn that our aspirations are secondary to that of a man. What ever your childhood experience, if a love of one self is not cultivated self-hatred is inevitable. "I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves  through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do."  ~ BrenĆ© Brown SELF-LOVE

Take hold of Life's handle

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                                                                                    Photo Credit:  Trust Your Journey When life hands you lemons (let's say it all together now) --  make lemonade! This is what we are instructed to do in times of crisis - you know those times when life hits so hard you fall to the ground with a loud thud and the pain from that hurl reverberates throughout every bone in your body. Admittedly, there are some hits that can leave you so incapacitated that, while writhing on the floor from the pain, you begin to entertain the idea of living the rest of your life face down on the asphalt. GETTING BACK UP I've always prided myself on being someone who could be body slammed onto the mat of life and still have the ability to bounce back quickly. I have always been able to self-motivate and recover from the blows life has thrown at me. The deaths of both my parents by the time I was 5 years old, followed by the death of the woman w