Last weekend we were at the Palm Springs Summer Dance Camp and a friend of mine who had previously taken Cipro,  and has had two previous surgeries on her calves due to ruptures,  re-ruptured her calf while dancing. It is a harsh punishment to take a drug that robs you of your passion.

What I would like to know is when this will ever end! The fact that Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox (flouroquinolones) cause severe muscle, tendon,  joint pain and rupture and are still being prescribed without telling the patient of these risks is ludicrous! They claim that “only” 1% of people taking these drugs are effected and that they are otherwise “safe”.  I believe that to be an inaccurate number of people effected due to the lack of correlation between the antibiotic and an injury, therefore there is a lack of reporting the incidence to the FDA.

I have found numerous people that have been effected by these drugs and never realized that the antibiotics were the cause until it was brought to their attention. How many of you ever even thought that your muscle and joint pain, or ruptured tendons might be related to an antibiotic? I know that I never correlated my first tendon rupture  due to Cipro, until one year later when I took it again and could not even walk.  It was then that I re-examined my medical records and found that I was on the drug for 2 days when the rupture occurred.

I urge anyone that has had any injury of been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, or Rheumatoid Arthritis to go back and check their medical records to see if you had previously taken any of these drugs. You may be amazed to finally be able to figure out why your physical health seemed to deteriorate overnight.

Doctors and hospitals love these drugs and prescribe them like candy. It is a crime that they continue to do so with no warning, and no cure once the damage has been done. You will be hard pressed to find any help or even someone to believe you if you are poisoned by these drugs. Dancers’ and all others please Beware of the Antibiotics called: Cipro, Avelox and Levaquin.

As much as I don’t like to admit it……..there are dancer’s that I just do not want to dance with. I am also certain that I am that person for some dancer’s as well, so I guess that is just a dancing fact!

While attending The Palm Springs New Year’s Bash, I got brave enough to sign up for 3 Jack n Jill competitions. For those of you that are unfamiliar with a Jack n Jill, it is a competition where dancers are randomly paired up. You do not know who your partner is, or what music you will be dancing to.

While checking in for the competition, my friend commented that she hoped she wasn’t paired up with the guy that she was standing in front of. I said that there was really only one guy, in the whole group that I didn’t want to get paired up with. Turns out, it was the same person. Guess who got the guy.

Yup, it was me……..karma……..seems that if I put it out into the universe, it happens!

Now, for the confession……the dance really wasn’t that bad at all. I was actually pleasantly surprised. The leader was no longer difficult to follow and he even stayed on time. Moral to the story…….keep your mouth shut, feet moving and a positive attitude. Shame on me for having negative thoughts!

I didn’t even make semi finals in that West Coast Swing category, but I did place third in Hustle. Just goes to show you, you never know what is going to happen~

Any of you who have ever had the chance to be thrilled with the discovery of a place to dance while traveling out of town and felt shock and awe, not in the sense of military doctrine regarding overwhelming power, rather, in the realization that the quality of dancing was frightening, would understand what I’m talking about! Ras #1 and I discovered such a place….Tuesday 2-step was our agenda for the night! Now….don’t get me wrong….I’m not claiming to be a great dancer, in fact, I’m still on the huge upward learning curve, so, on that basis, you may have an understanding of how sad the dancing really was.

Now, Ras #1 and I have attempted on a few occasions to play the man’s part (lead) of the dance team, usually when there is no-one to else to dance with, and country 2-step is one of those we have attempted to dance the boy (oops, I mean man)-part. The fact that, while playing the man part, we were about as good at dancing as most of the men on the dance floor, and better than some, just proved how bad it was. DO NOT DESPAIR! DO NOT GIVE UP! More that likely you can find better dancing material in your area, you may just have to look longer and harder and/or drive further.

Ras #1 and I decided, right then and there, that we would never again complain about dancing in our own locale………..that is, until we attended the Palm Springs Swing Dance Classic……………………but that’s another blog for another time.

The New Year started with a bang, or should I say a splash or two, or three, of champagne, while dancing the night away at the Palm Springs Swing Dance Classic. After five days of dancing and workshops, Ras #1 and I have so much to talk about, that we have actually been in a “quandary” (not to be mistaken for “at a loss of words”), as where to begin. So, rather than sit and stew, I thought I would just pull one subject out of the hat……hmmm……what is it going to be? I suppose that I will talk about the subject that stands out the most, and that would be………how one dancer can make another dancer feel. I’m not just talking about whether or not you were able to follow or lead during you dance or whether or not you were making eye contact with your partner while dancing with them, but were you smiling? And I am talking about smiling from the inside out. As a dancer, I can tell you that I can “feel” another dancers’ smile!

For those of you who are new to dancing, it is important to make eye contact with your dance partner, while not staring at them. Dancing with a partner who either stares at you, or at the opposite extreme looks at everyone else, on and off the dance floor, with the exception of you, is very uncomfortable. Focusing on your partner while you are dancing increases your awareness of how they’re moving and what they are doing and makes your partner feel like you are actually part of a dance team. In addition to focusing on your partner………smile! Social dancing should be fun. A snobby, arrogant attitude based upon anything, including your superior dance skills (if they indeed exist), is inconsiderate and very intimidating, particularly to a beginner. Considering how passionate dancers are about dancing, we should be doing everything in our power to encourage others to discover the joy that can be achieved from dancing. Joy, now that is an interesting word…it may sound like corny verbiage attached to dancing, but Ras #1 and I are here to tell you……………..dancing is pure “Joy”. The more we dance…..the more joy we experience and the more we want to dance. Yes, it is a vicious, addictive cycle!

One more thing I want to add is….….when you have a genuine smile on your face, your parnter “feels” it, not just “sees” it, it’s like putting the icing on the cake.

We danced with one particular gentleman in Palm Springs, who we’d previously met and danced with. I am here to tell you that dancing with Mark is simply, pure joy! Every dance that man dances, he smiles, with his entire being! It is as though he is dancing the best dance he has ever danced! Dancing with him is pure “joy”. That is the kind of partner we aspire to be, the kind of partner that everyone should aspire to be!

Happy New Year and Enjoy,

Ras#2

Unbelievable……another year has come and gone. As usual, I just don’t understand how time passed so quickly and what was I doing that I missed it going by?

Oh yeah, that’s right…..I was dancing, or attending dance festivals, or dance workshops, or looking for someplace to dance, etc. I guess there was also the two cruises that Ras#1 and I went on, and oh yeah, there is that other necessary evil thing (for some of us) called employment.

So now……..I guess its time to contemplate some New Year resolutions…………… hmmmm………what to do…..what to do! Well………..I’m thinking that we should all commit ourselves to improving the world in which we live by improving ourselves……………I think that can be translated to…………..LETS DANCE!!!!

New Year’s Resolution………………..improve your dancing skill. And…….…..to improve the world around you (cause you do remember how dancing makes you feel……….better, remember?), encourage someone, a friend, a family member, and/or a neighbor…… to take up dancing. Cause we dancers all know………that if everyone danced…..the world would be a happier and more much fun place in which to live.

Happy Dancing and Happy New Year!!

Ras #1 and Ras #2

PS If any of you are at the Palm Springs New Years Dance Classic, be sure to find us for a dance!