No partner required- one will be provided
Once the rubble was cleared from the big hurricane back in August 2015 I decided to dive headlong into ballroom dancing, taking lessons at Aunt Sappy and Anna Cow’s dance studio with little Sally Lou. I’ve spent all of my extra time and energy learning how to dance the Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Rumba, Cha Cha, West Coast Swing… and the list goes on. I feel bad that I haven’t been spending time with my DS106 family, but all of the time I’ve spent with you and the digital storytelling skills I’ve learned have been right here keeping me company – reminding me of you almost everyday. Your past presence and play have encouraged and supported my ever widening creative endeavors in the outside world. I’ve been creating videos and images at work to share the story of new technologies in development in the 3M labs. And I’ve been writing a monthly column chronically my journey as a middle-aged woman learning how to ballroom dance. I can’t share my 3M work just yet, it’s considered confidential at this point, but if you’re interested in finding out what I’ve been up to on my dancing journey below are links to my past columns. I’m looking forward to doing some reading, viewing and catching up on what the rest of the family has been doing the last couple of months.
Middle-aged Moves
- The Journey Begins– Oct 2015
- Partner Dancing Partnerless – Nov 2015
- Facing Fluffy Full On – Dec 2015
- Welcome to the Dancers Studio Sangha – Feb 2016
- Conquering Cuban Motion With Xena Warrior Princess – Mar 2016
The How:
To create the “How to Dance” GIF I started with a public domain image of a postcard from 1878 of a couple dancing the Tango. At the time I made this I was writing my Partner Dancing Partnerless – Nov 2015 Sheer Dance column and wanted an image to go with it. Unfortunately, the magazine editors aren’t as creative as the DS106 community and weren’t up to using this image format in their on-line publication. Oh well, I’ll keep on them and eventually I’ll wear them down. 😉
The quick selection and magnetic lasso tools found in Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 were invaluable. I was able to cut-out the male dancer so I could make him disappear and reappear in the animation. These tools were also used to copy nearby parts of the female dancer as well as liberal use of the clone tool to fill in the blanks. For the animation the male image was added in and subtracting by changing the opacity of his layer in successive animation frames. With all of the experience I’ve had creating GIFs this was fairly easy.
Ballroom dancing at the trailer
The Burgeron Family 
Lovely! It’s been ages since I did ball room dancing. I liked it.
I danced a lot with my mum and my sister.
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Truly #4life….isn’t it great how you can apply. And the best part always knowing there is an audience of others standing ready who “get it” and also can push you further when needed. Wonderful to see the work at any time and your thoughts on creating it.
Ballroom dancing – looks so fun and elegant. I opted for Zumba. Today one of the participants told me I had some nice moves and I must have been a dance fanatic in high school – NOT! Music and movement – creating art – telling stories- making GIFs. #4life is good. 🙂
Thanks for the update!
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Rochelle – just read all the Sheer Dance articles! Fantastic! Boy – do I know we could hang out together and be laughing and creating together. 🙂 You express your experiences so well. And I am glad to know I am not the only 50 something who is discovering time for self makes us better for others. I do my Salsa, Cumbia, Regathon, bali practice moves while letting the dogs out. And yes – hips! posture, how to carry your body – what a difference it makes. Same energy I get from finally getting a GIF smooth or makng audio and visual flow smoothly. Wishing you continued enjoyment and success on all your life journeys.
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