Dance Body

If you know me, you know it's no secret that I'm a fan of dance. Having been a dancer a good majority of my life, it's something I don't think I will ever lose passion for, and I hope so much (but with no added pressure) that at least one or both of my girls will fall in love with it the way I did. No, not the crazy stage mom, hyper competitiveness that it can sometimes be, but just the passionate love that comes with expressing yourself through movement. I can whole heartedly say that dance gave me poise, confidence, and strength (both physical and emotional) that nothing else could. I also credit my 15 years of competitive dance for the quads and calves I still have today (muscular and anything but "tiny"). I wish every so often that I could beam myself back to my dance days and feel the exhilaration that comes with it.
Being a fan of dance, I'm undoubtedly a fan of the show "So You Think You Can Dance." I eat it up and live vicariously through them every week. My own personal front runner this season is Melanie. Not only is she an insanely amazing dancer, her body represents everything I hope Sophie and Campbell aspire to someday in the journey of their own personal body image: strength, beauty and grace.

While most female dancers have rocking bodies, I just especially love hers. Every part of her body screams strength, and I can only hope that in a world that expects girls to eat little and work out hard to maintain a good figure, that my girls view their bodies as strong and beautiful tools that help them achieve their dreams. Like most parents, I hope my children find something in this world they are passionate about. I guess I lean towards the athletic side because I feel like being involved in athletics/dance my entire life, I somehow missed out on that whole pressure to not eat to be thin thing (I did push ups every day in 8th grade because I wanted toned shoulders and biceps) I always used food as fuel for the things I loved most (I still really really enjoy food, minus being extremely active, which is sometimes a problem when you want to lose baby weight). So I'm not sure who I have to thank for always wanting to look muscular and athletic in my childhood like olympic volleyball players and professional dancers as opposed to Kate Moss, but I can only hope we somehow instill that desire in our girls someday.

P.S. Click here to see Melanie and Marko's unreal lyrical hip hop routine! 

And if you aren't watching "So You Think You Can Dance", you should start! Wed/Thurs @ 7 on Fox.

xoxo