In July of 2022, I packed up my car and drove from the Mühlviertel in Austria, to Soest, Germany. On the way, I listened to the audiobook, ‘Ambitious like a mother’ by Lara Bazelon. In it she discusses how difficult it is sometimes to be ambitious and prioritise your needs as a mother. How society often expects that your needs, career and dreams will take a backseat to that of your partner and children. I am happy to say my spouse is supportive of my career moves both in my professional life as a TESOL teacher and teacher trainer, and in my private life as an FCBD®Style dancer and teacher. So, as I pulled up in front of the Frauenhilfe center in Soest and heard the zills and music from the General Skills taking place, my heart skipped a beat and I thought of all the women who had come together, 70 women from 20 different countries in total, to put themselves first and connect with each other in the joyous dance that is FCBD® Style. It would be remiss of me if I didn’t say thank you to Miriam Schroth for organising this and bringing us together.

First came the tearful and excited meetings and introductions as I connected with old and new friends, some of whom I had only met online till now. The beauty of this dance meant we could just come together and dance which we did at the Hafla that night! What a brilliant event! I danced, bought cholis because a girl can never have too many, and chatted till I fell into bed exhausted!

The next morning brought a meeting with DeAnna Padron Freeman and the lady herself, Carolena Nericcio. She came in through the door and said, “it feels like I’ve met you before”, then a hug and I felt like I was on top of the world. This is part of the joy of this dance form. It feels like we are part of a global family and meeting ‘Mama C’ was a highlight for me. You can see the results of this meeting soon 😊 An afternoon with my dance sisters and friends, and food in the main square and then another meal in the evening as we chatted, caught up and got to know each other better.

The next day the teacher training began. We warmed up to fun music before the teachers arrived. Then in came Carolena, DeAnna and the incredible Kelley Beeston. I tried not to fan girl, but it is surreal to meet people you’ve watched dance on You Tube countless times and there they were, in the flesh, about to teach us all how to teach our own students. I guess this hit me quite hard because my GS was online and the pandemic had stalled so many events, that to actually be here was almost overwhelming. We were put through our paces and given steps to teach. I got propellor turn! We all had to teach our fellow students and were given detailed feedback by our group teacher. We finished up and were given a step to teach the next day.

When we were done, we would meet for food again in the main square together. I can recommend the salted caramel ice cream! I made so many friends and it was blissful to sit and chat with my fellow dance sisters. We went back to work on our steps. I had the forward and back shimmy half turn. The step suddenly felt like the most difficult step in the world! I diligently sat and studied Carolena’s lesson on it on FCBDu.com and watched the DVD’s again to make sure I knew the step inside and out.

The day began as it had before. Warming up, the gratitude meditation… Then we began to teach our steps. We rooted each other on and supported each other as we each, in turn came forwards to present our knowledge. Then suddenly, I was up. Oh my goodness, my heart ponded as Kelley watched me like a hawk as I got my ‘students’ to ‘learn’ the step. It was over far too fast and then came my feedback. I listened hard and tried to carry on as normal while the day went on. Had I done well enough to pass?

Yes!!!!! Oh, the elation and pride! I/we had done it!!! Reached my/our ambitious goal of becoming a certified FCBD® Style teacher! I couldn’t stop grinning as I went to receive my certificate from our teachers and the moment was caught on camera!

It was so hard to say goodbye to my dance sisters the next day. There were a lot of tears!!!!The next morning, Lisi Brümmer of Tanzerei Adabei and I drove back together and spent the whole time chatting about the experience and our new plans and goals! Our next ‘ambitious’ one was to become registered as a certified studio, but more on that another time. 😊 Thank you to Miriam, our teachers and my dance sisters. This is an experience I will treasure forever. In the words of Sister Sledge, “We are family, I’ve got all my sisters with me!”

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