For some reason, Mettaton was my dance teacher.

The beautiful and talented Debbie Allen. She's so beautiful and talented.. in my own words. Role model 🖤🖤🖤

Rachel💕💕💕💕💕🌸🌸🌸🌸

July 20, 1986 - Robert Plant, his daughter Carmen (R) and her aunt and his former sister-in-law Shirley Wilson at the Limelight Club in London.

Robert had divorced Shirley's sister Maureen on August 1983, and in 1991 both would have a child, a boy named Jordan Garcia Jesse Lee Plant (being the cousin and half-brother of Carmen and her younger brother Logan Romero).

(Credit Image: © Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com via alamy.com)

Cousin Joi, Dancer photo by Kerby Jean Photography 📸

Travels and Dancing 20

I like writing these.  They calm my nervous system down, help me figure out what the heck happened, because, damn life happens!  Some people tell me that that’s what my next book should be about: travels and dancing.  I agree, I want it also, but it’s not there.  I’ve tried many times to write a book and the only one that actually came out all the way to publishing is the one that had a clear structure, direction and just basically got vomited through my fingers.  A bit like when I write these texts… but these are like a glorified journal, not interesting enough to publish for the world to see.  Actually… for the world to buy.

I’m so happy with where I’ve come from in the last year and where I’m going, but, as always, I have to pace myself better: the new year barely started and I’m exhausted.  I have one day off in two months.  I don’t think that’s healthy… so reorganization is on the table.  Everything I hated before, I now understand how it serves me.  Having a routine allows me to spend less time finding where everything is and just going; having structure gives me the freedom to move, build and create.  There is definitely more work to do in those areas, but going from feeling the ick in my body just hearing those words (routine, daily, structure, authority, Québec, family) to wanting them.  Wow.  Path in my own back.

We did another iteration of Le Chalet wcs with Phil and Flore in August of last year.  I love these two so much.  As always, I was really slow in understanding that they wanted my friendship, they reached out so many times before my brain actually went: oh, ok, they want to be friends, they are friends.  They are amazing people, aligned in their values, hardworking, a beautiful example to have around.  And I know things are probably not always pink and fluffy for them, but if you read this: you inspire me to be a better person, and that having a family, being stable and dancing can all go hand in hand.  I love you.

Le Chalet was amazing as always: 35 people sleeping in the same house, eating together, training, dancing, playing games, sharing.  It’s definitely one of my favorite weekend of the year.  I love seeing how the community grows stronger by people having time to share more intimately, play and just sharing the same space.  This is definitely something that we’ll keep holding as long as possible!

Then it was the Country Festival of St-Michel-des-Saints.  Me and two of my best friend in this world drove there, rented a little cottage, cooked, ate, drank, danced into the night and partied at the Festival.  An honorable mention for your host who won the title of Mechanical Bull Queen of the festival!  What did I win?  Pride.  Lots of it.  Bruises.  Even more of it.  A bit of bleeding and shaky leg (where not going there).  Was it worth it?  100% would recommend.  100% won’t do it again.  We found the party with the line dancer and I don’t know if it was the euphoria of the whole thing, but I got carried into it for the first time in my life.  If you’ve seen me at events, I’ve been mostly on the side of the dancefloor for all line dance type things…  I has a blast there!  Maybe it was the weekend I had spent at the Calgary Dance Stampede in April, seeing videos of my then roommate Mackenzie Keister, who made it look really cool, but it made me want to do country.  Something might be brewing on that front. ;-)

September was for training and resetting.  Anybody knows Noah Kahan?  I discovered him when he released the Stick Season single and fell in love.  I had just bought my first car ever and listened to that tune non-stop while driving in BC.  I would go for cold dips in the morning as the sun would rise and blast it.  I honestly think this whole album helped me re-acclimate to Québec, which wasn’t my first choice of place to settle, but has so many of the people I love.  The melancholy of it.  Making winter, slowness and boredom feel attractive through the poetry of it all.  Sincerely, thank you Noah.  So last summer, as I was driving to Halifax for a contract with a student and friend of mine, I played Noah’s album over and over and mentioned that this is the one artist I would love to go see live.  My student found tickets for Toronto and there we were screaming our heads off at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto a couple months later.  Probably the best concert I’ve been to in my life (ok, I really have been to like 5 concerts ever, but still…)  I’m so happy for that memory before the tickets became 400$+.

I then drove to Sherbrooke to give a teacher’s training and a couple workshops.  Gosh, I love my job.  I love teaching so much.  Some dancers I know do it because it’s the part that pays the most, but, for me, it’s the best part!  Anything I do, I do it in the frame of mind of teaching it, if I don’t, I lose interest real fast.  Teacher’s training are the summit: passionate people who are interested in details and want to ingest as much information as possible to then share it with their world?  Gold.

I had a weekend home so I invited my new dancer partner to practice and actually meet.  Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you.  One day, I saw a video of a baby novice dancer and said to myself: I don’t know who that is, but he’s mine before he gets to All-Star and people finally realize that he’s as good as I know he is.  I then proceeded to stalk him (in a totally legal and respectful manner) and ask him if he was available for a call.  I told him what I saw in him, he told me his story and he planned to come up for two days.  Then in a fun turn of events, I happened to have to move that weekend.  So hi Aaron, nice to meet you, here’s half my family and thanks for moving my mattress and underwear and sleeping on a mattress on the floor in a half empty apartment with me.  Great introduction.  We had a blast anyway, sharing, constructing plans and trying liftwork for a potential routine.  The weekend after, I was in Austin to choreograph for us with Glenn Ball.  I love choreographing and I am always drawn to share a story I’ve created or seem important to share, and we needed a leader that knew more about swing.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend with awesome people having me over, a few games of laser tag, riding in my dream car (black mustang) and being dragged to a country evening… which also re-kindled/re-confirmed the country love affair!

Then came, one of the craziest thing I’ve ever done: registering for a pole competition after being grounded (literally, not flying… with apparatus, I still took the plane) because of a shoulder injury, having health problem that got me bedridden for a couple of months, basically being in the worse shape of my life.  I registered mid-august, so I had two months to choreograph, train, get in pole shape, create the music, and order costumes.  At the time, I also thought that I didn’t have a partner for The Open so it was going to give me the motivation to train for something else, but I ended up having two partners and creating two dance routines at the same time, finding and cutting music, getting costumes for that and trying to find travel time to meet my partners.

To my surprise, I won.  I didn’t even have a competitive goal in mind.  What I wanted to do was present something that was so clear that it gave me a business cards to get gigs with other polers.  I don’t need to become world pole champion, I want to help people who have so much more abilities and/or fire than me, create a routine that resembles them, has smooth transition and is sound.  I didn’t manage to run my full until the day before.  I rented an extra studio hour in Toronto and succeeded once.  Perfect, ready to go.  I told myself that a lot of things could go wrong with a pole routine (dealing with different poles, slipping, speed of rotation, angles, height, distance between poles, angles on static), but that I knew my routine, my song, my theme and myself enough, that I could make it work and present a show that I’d be proud of.  After 2m on stage to rehearse… which means you don’t have your music, you don’t get to run the whole thing, there are 3 other people on stage with you… I went on to do make-up, watch other performance, wait and finally get on stage.  It felt so good.  Pole audiences are normally very loud, but during half of my performance there was not a sound to be heard.  Which can be a really good or really bad thing.  I was so proud.  People came to me after to tell me I’ve touched them and that they heard my story and that’s all I needed.

For those who haven’t seen that routine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFKdHvSUKU&t=14s

Montreal Westie Fest came around.  The hometown event where I always felt welcomed, loved and seen no matter where I was coming from at the time.  Stephen came in town so we could choreograph and we won the pro strictly.  I hadn’t felt that good dancing in a competition in a long time.  That also felt like home.  We know each other so well, it just flows.  I had an awesome lumber jack and jill where you are randomly paired with different levels and performing battle style.  I drew Alex Glover who reminded me he did his first pro-am jack and jill (actually the winner of novices got to dance with a pro) at Montreal Westie Fest a few years back and now we were dancing together and we were sitting side by side as he was competing in the pro strictly as well.  I love full circle moments like that, they feel so warm and fulfilling.

Vidéo of Stephen and I:

Calgary was next and what a freaking weekend!  I got there a couple of days early to meet my best friend Kim who moved to BC a couple years ago.  We rented a hotel, roamed around, bought cowboy hats, and went totally berserk in the hotel pool.  Then I met Nelson at the event hotel and some of the shenanigans we got up to that weekend are definitely not shareable through this media.  All I can tell you is that there are videos of it and that most people thought I was drunk off my ass, but I actually had two glasses of wine in the entire weekend.  One of my great idea was to get inflatable costumes to do a two-steps before the real presentation.  I forgot to mention, it was Halloween weekend.  So Nelson and I got into these giant pig costumes, blew them up and went down for the show.  As we started, I realized that we hadn’t tried dancing at all in them and that every time my arm was lifted for a turn (and it is often in a two-steps) I couldn’t see anything; that every time a wrap happened (and it happens often in a two-step) it would squish my whole body and bounce me back out.  Then my costume started to deflate, the pomp dangling down my leg and… let me tell you it was the worse or the best demo you’ve ever seen.  It all depends on perspective.

I was home for a weekend after that (halleluiah!)  So I decided to do a house warming party in my new apartment: after all, one of the reasons to have a home is to be able to have people over, no?  I invited my closest friends and family with all their kids… and this stranger I had talked to online a few months ago.  I’ll explain.  I created an account on Hinge to show guys profile to my brother as I was talking from a woman perspective what I found interesting and might catch my eyes.  I kept it to swipe left on everybody when I was bored at night and feel better about myself with all the likes coming in.  For some unknown reason to this day, I swiped right on this guy’s profile, then forgot about it because I was never going to talk to him, but then he wrote again.  We talked for three weeks (I was always out of Montreal), it was easy and nice, but after some thoughts, I realized I still wasn’t ready to meet anybody after the disaster of my last relationship.  I told him so and expected to be told off.  Instead he sent me a really nice message with his number for if I wanted to contact him in the future.  Long story short, I meet him by chance in September, we talk for 5m, and I tell him it was really nice to meet him, that I’d like to meet again in a couple months.  Fast forward to October, we’ve texted a bit, I finally have my own apartment, my life is getting settled, I feel ready, so yeah, I invited him to my house warming party with a bunch of strangers (to him).  He came.  The rest will have to go inside of another story book, but we’ve now met most of each other’s family and friends, spent the holidays together and he’s coming on a dance cruise with me in May.

Back to our initial topic: dance.  As a last minute decision to get some time to rehearse with Stephen before The Open, I flew to Seattle to spend a few days at his place, meet his lovely life partner, rehearse like maniacs, chill and head to Sea to Sky.  Sea to Sky was a really relaxed event for me, which I’m not really use to: I didn’t have workshops to teach, no judging, just a few privates, rehearsals with Stephen, floor trial and performance after a grand total of a few hours over 5 days of training for that routine.  I’d say it went pretty well for the context.  It gave us the information we needed to know what to adjust before the big day… in our head because we could only meet on the Thursday of The Open. Loll.  You got to love the rush!

I went home for 36h (had a glass of wine with mystery Hinge man) and left for Philadelphia to train with Aaron.  We had a few hours between workshops I gave, private lessons we both had, leaving for DCSX where we had some coaching down, I taught some more, judged a few comps, competed and finaled in Champion JnJ and Strictly.  We also had the opportunity to see a basketball match live in the VIP section.  Freaking loved it (also sent tons of videos to mystery man who loves basketball)!

And there it was, the most expected weekend of the year for most of us: The Open.  After consulting with friends I trust and having hard discussions, we decided to scratch the showcase routine with Aaron.  My friends basically told me: you were right he’s extremely talented, you could run it, but your routine is not quite ready yet and it’d be better to leave a great first impression than an ok one.  Aaron was glad to also have a first year at The Open to be an observer soak in the vibe and feel more ready for when the moment will be right.  Stephen and I performed in Classic on Saturday.  I say performed and not competed because our intention was wildly different.  Not only we knew that a total of maybe 14 hours (with many curve balls thrown at us), was not quite enough to do something highly competitive, but also because we wanted to present something that was us.  A feel good routine.  Something you want to watch with a hot cocoa, wrapped in a big blanket.  A window into some other people’s inner world.  And we did just that.  I’m really proud of the results and especially proud of the fact that it inspired other artists around us and, for me, that’s one of the highest compliment… along with people writing me that it was their young kids’ favorite routine!!!

Stephen and I’s routine:

We rented a huge Airbnb by the beach with Stephen, Jacinda, Aaron, Brad, Jerome, Alyssa and Sean to get some rest and reset before TAP.  How did I rest?  By going to a silks` class, copying cabaret liftwork with Aaron and partying for Alyssa’s birthday.  It started all nice and fun until a party bus was called at 11pm and we got taken to a random karaoke bar and… the next day was hard.  Just thinking about it, I’m getting tired.  Another honorable mention for me who traumatized the young adult boy partying next door.

TAP came along and I did the classic mistake I often do: party like an animal and stay on the dancefloor until 6am on the Friday because I’m so excited to be there and then be completely trash for the Saturday night. A classic, loll.  I have to admit I was really sad about not making finals and being able to dance with my peers in strictly.  I don’t know why, but TAP is the only event that gives me that feeling: it’s like being left out.  I did have the chance to do a smooth demo with Joel Torgeson for the Invitational.  I also took a few privates which triggered some fire and interest in me that I hadn’t felt in a while.

I came back to Montreal on the 5th of December and got my wisdom teeth removed the next day.  Never too old to get wise!  NO, but seriously, the entire month of November, while I was in the States and gearing towards The Open, I had a tooth infection, got some antibiotics that knocked me out and was just in pain the whole time.  The extraction went really poorly, I had to take two sets of antibiotics, my jaw was so locked I couldn’t open my mouth, I couldn’t eat, I’m allergic to all anti-inflammatories so I was in pain, I couldn’t eat for a week, couldn’t work for two… it was a mess.  All the while mystery man came over (there is a specific reason I manage to swallow my pride and let him see me like this so early on, but I won’t get into it now) petted my hair while holding an ice pack in my face and talking to me for two hours since I couldn’t speak.  That’ll accelerate the bonding process…

Besides that mess to end 2023 kind of how it started, I had a great holiday season, got to see my friends and my family in Montreal, went to a fun chalet for the New Year (first year in a long time that I’m not working an event at that time, it felt kind of nice!) and spend quality time with everybody before my crazy winter schedule started.  I am now teaching every evening between pole dancing, aerial art, yoga, wcs group and private lessons of different levels at different locations, and I am gone most every weekends for different gigs.  I already miss seeing my people.  Once everything is settled and my life has a bit more of a rebuilt, I will free at least a weekend a month and an evening a week so I can have a social life with “normal” people. ;-)

I’m excited for what’s to come, but I also need a solid nap and some healthy food.  Help!

It's been a long four years since I've been on stage, but I've grown a little human who's about to head off to kindergarten (although we're not quite ready for weaning yet, so nighttime gigs are still off the table for a while longer). I've also been working away in the studio for the past year on a choreography qualification (thanks to the incredible team at Circobats for your constant support and encouragement, and for letting me wiggle in your studio to get my assignments done while Little B learn to juggle and hang from a trapeze!) that I should be done with after one more year. And, I've also been building (at an excruciatingly slow pace, because of all of the above) a brand new website, with its own in-built community, course platform, and resource collection. Within the next few months I'll be launching my first online choreography course, with another one or two due out by the end of the year. I'm putting the feelers out to teach some in-person workshops from term two this year, so if you'd like me to come and take you through some ideas to introduce you or your students to choreographing, or to shake up the approaches you already have, I'm definitely keen!

Let's Get Certified!

This post will be all about my experience getting my ABT teacher training certifications.

All during my last semester in college, I badgered on about working at the new ABT school in Costa Mesa, CA. I knew there would be an opportunity, just had to wait for the right one. Sure enough, March of 2016 rolled around and I had my chance! They were in need of classroom assistants and I accepted the position!

After I graduated from college, I would go into ABT a few times a week to assist ballet classes for Pre-Primary and Primary age groups. For those unfamiliar with the structure of ABT Curriculum: Pre-Primary is for ages 3-4 years and Primary is for ages 5-7 years. I’d help demonstrate classes, and attend the needs of the students and lead instructor. 

I grew fascinated with the school as I never trained in a ballet conservatory. It wasn’t just technique we were teaching the children, but respect, etiquette and proper demeanor with everyone in the school. I was raised and trained in a cutthroat commercial dance environment, so this was a nice change of pace. I loved getting to know the kids and learning more about the ABT curriculum everyday.

Come spring semester 2017, I get my chance to FINALLY go to a training course to learn the curriculum, take the exams, and hopefully become certified. I went to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Pre-Primary to Level 3 course. I did not expect to learn as much as I did while I was there. Disclaimer: I did take the Levels 4 & 5 course the following year, but will focus mostly on my first course for this post.

First day there, the nerves are stirring a big ‘ol pot in the pit of my stomach. Our teacher trainers walk in and give their introductions, let’s call them Bill and Frank (forgive me as I’ve been very into The Last of Us on HBO). They give us a friendly welcome with their confident and well-poised demeanors, something I quickly became self-conscious of, and explain the nature of the course we’re about to take. This would be nearly 10 days with 8-hour seminars, discussions, presentations and of course exams. I felt confident enough that I would at least be able to make it to the end for exam day, but as I looked around me for the other trainees, I felt as if I didn’t belong and had to prove my worth at the same time. 

We had the same structure for every level we covered: discuss the curriculum, watch a class, take a class, and present an exercise. This allowed us to get a full range of understanding for each level, and helped prepare us for the classroom. I felt most intimidated by the presentation aspect. While I kept reminding myself it’s all for the learning process, my insecurities bubbled up and I began to overthink everything. Bill and Frank would alternate for the exercises presentation as there were so many of us, and very little time to give everyone the feedback we all deserved. Out of the two, I felt the least comfortable with Bill. I’m not completely sure why. At first, I thought it was his blunt and ruthless nature, but Frank had those qualities as well. Perhaps I’ll never be able to pinpoint the exact reason, but I digress.

One exercise presentation did not go well. I had inconsistent timing, the sequence was messy and the intent was unclear. Bill did not hesitate to tell me these sentiments with his own direct feedback. I felt embarrassed as I didn’t know what to say or do. He was not wrong in giving me these criticisms, but I had already low self esteem as a teacher, it began to emotionally and mentally affect me. I worried all night long I wouldn’t be good enough to get certified and teach students of my own in a ballet setting. While these feelings carried into the next day, I didn’t let them defer me from going on with the course. 

Getting close to exam day and I am feeling all the stress! The oral exam would trigger my anxiety more as I struggle with speaking in front of the exam proctors, but it would only help me in gaining my confidence and comfortability as a ballet instructor. I studied hard and made sure I knew how to approach the oral exam to a T.

EXAM DAY!! Cue the nerves! I walk in with a similar pit in my stomach knowing today will decide my certification status. But at this point, I can only do what I know and show what I have learned over the past 9 days. The written exam was administered and easy breezy for me as I finished it in less than 10 minutes. Now, I get to wait around and go over my oral exam answers. My time slot is up and I’m in the room. Going through each step of my exam I felt ok. The proctors are also there helping me out along the way, and making it less of an intimidating environment. Before I know it, 30 minutes is up and I’m out of there. I felt like a solid 7 out of 10 on my performance. Not the best, but I came in prepared ready to go. I could leave Salt Lake City with a clear head knowing I gave it my best shot. Now comes the waiting game.

A few months go by, and I get a large manila packet in the mail. It’s arrived! My exam results and OFFICIAL CERTIFICATION! I couldn’t believe I had done it! It felt extremely validating to know my work had paid off, and I had shown I learned enough to start teaching the ABT curriculum to my own ballet students. 

Reflecting on this crash course of ballet pedagogy, I learned so much that I carry into my classroom today. One of the biggest lessons I took away is not necessarily the ‘what’ to teach the student, but how to teach them. With slow and steady progress, comes good results and a boosted confidence of the dancer. I’ve also learned a lot about the characteristics of young students in different age groups. What they’re capable of, and what they need of me to help them grow. But while I was more stressed than I should’ve been during this course, I’m forever grateful it helped catapult my teaching career. 

Would you partake in a crash course for the purpose of dance education advancements? How would you have handled a course this intense? What are the catalysts of your own teaching career? 

Turns out your skeleton hurting all the time is not normal and is a sign of the Illness of the Bones.

Also, me and my new dance teacher who is the same age as me were bullied by the same mean girls, we realized, since we went to the same dance school and were both the weirdoes there.

(Insert picture of tiny Blackplaaague before he realized it was unusual to not have a normal relationship with gender and was a sign of something.)

I feel like I'm in the beginning of either a queer love story or a horror.

Very random thing, but I go to dance, and we have been practicing our coreography forever, and then at like the last lesson my teacher says that apparently the stage we're supposed to perform on is much shorter (background: the place where i practice dance is like a very slim rectangle), and that apparently the short side of our dance room is equal in length to the stage. Of course we make a fool of ourselves cartwheeling in to each other. Is anyone else's teacher like this?

xo t<3

greek gods and goddesses

inspiration hit in the middle of dance history on wednesday, so i have been doing some research on greek goddesses and gods. or rather, goddesses and one god: aphrodite, artemis and apollo.

my plan for now is to research them even further, pull inspiration from them, their stories and the way they were worshipped back in ancient greece. once i feel ready, i will make a group choreography based around my research. all i'm missing is the research and a group of dancers...

i'm going to share what i learn along the way here, because i don't believe in gatekeeping information. all of my information is going to be from the internet anyway, i'm just collecting it into one place.

wishing you motivation and academic success!

~p

S follows me on Instagram and I ofc follow her back we interact with each other occasionally she replies to my stories sometimes and likes my stories kindaa BUT I LIKE ALL HER STORIES kinda taking a break bc that's so obvious!! Also learned a lot more about her.. I know her whole family's birthday (I don't have it written down or memorized just smth to note) I feel this like guilt for stalking her now I feel like he accepting my follow request is trust so I haven't stalker every pic even though I kinda wanted to like deep down she's so sweet like when I post smth negative about myself she'll respond LIKE OMG she likes my stories when it's a pic of me like AHHH SO MANY BUTTERFLIES I'm trying to be like over her bc I feel like it's weird now that she's not my teacher anymore also I waited a whole ass month before I followed her on insta bc I didn't want her to know I already knew her insta 💀 my friend has covered for me multiple times when it comes to stalking her but deep down I think she knows though she hasn't mentioned it 💀💀😭 I feel so much shame I once even messaged her friend on Snapchat bro like what the actual fuck was wrong with me 😭😭😭

1988 - (L - R) Beautiful Carmen Jane Plant with her father, former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, and her aunt and his former sister-in-law Shirley Wilson.

Unknown details.

After his divorce with Carmen's mother, Maureen Wilson, Robert would have a son with her younger sister Shirley, Jordan Garcia Jesse Lee in 1991.

Yoh my dance teacher is crazy. I almost threw up BC she wouldn't give us a breather or let us have water. My whole face was turning red. And I could barely breath. I almost burst out crying BC I was dying inside. I legit asked her if I could have a sip of water and she said no. Like wtf?😭😭

(via "Dancing silhouette for a ballet dancer" Mouse Pad for Sale by Velvet Ease)