My love of dance has always been rooted in the act of dancing itself…actually physically moving my body through space, contorting it into sequences of what are hopefully somewhat aesthetically-pleasing shapes. The incredible mental focus and clarity that comes from dancing, where everything else in my life falls away, and it is just about the next movement, the next rhythmic touchpoint in the music. That will always be at the root of what drives my love of dance; however, I’ve been reflecting of late on the evolution of that love to include something I hadn’t expected: creating my own choreography.

I’ve always hated running. Vivid, wheezing memories of running 4-lap tests around the sandy, high school track at Cariboo Hill will forever be seared into my subconscious. It was something that I so loathed growing up, that it was a real victory to enter into adulthood, with all the freedom of choice that entails, and leave the unwanted remnants of any kind of running hobby behind on that sandy track. Given all of that, I admit to being a bit daunted and perplexed to find myself, twenty years later, voluntarily signed up to run a half-marathon.