5.9.12 Time To Blog About Dancing - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

5.9.12 Time To Blog About Dancing

A few weeks back our news director approached my co anchor and Jackie Morlock and myself and asked us if we'd be interested in a local dancing with the stars competition. We looked at each other and shrugged then said, "Yeah, sure."

I must admit that when I said yes to the idea, I didn't think I'd be having as much fun as I am now.  We got pretty lucky in that we found a local dance studio with great people with awesome energy about the idea.  Jackie did all of the leg work. She was calling here, calling there, I think I just watched now that I look back at the event.  Anyway we came upon Urban Dance Complex on Krupp Drive in Williston, Vermont. 

Jackie and I first went to the UDC on Monday the 30th of April to meet our instructors and dance partners. Jackie is paired up with a friend of mine, Ricky, who choreographed their two minute routine and will be her dancing partner. On my side I have Sarah Cover as my instructor (who also runs UDC) and my dance partner is Hannah.  Hannah is of "Elite" dance status (Sarah tells me) which is the highest of ranks and wants to dance professionally. So in other words she'll be making me look good for our finale.

We learned that we'll both be doing hip hop songs, about two minutes in length each. I caught a glimpse (stalking) of Jackie and Ricky's routine and it's fast from the get go.  Mine on the other hand is slow to start but then speeds up about 30 seconds in and features a dance solo by yours truly.  I won't say anymore pending giving it all away! We practiced for about an hour and a half to two hours on that Monday, learning most of our routines.

I have very little dance history and talent going into this thing. Aside from breaking it down with enough liquid encouragement or in my living room when no one's watching, I've put in almost nothing for dancing hours. Nonetheless this has been a great learning experience. I love trying new things, which is a great perk to this job. Chances are I wouldn't have done this dance lesson, or I may have done it years down the road instead of today. I've got to hand it to the dance professionals in the fact that it's tough and it's a good workout! There are some intense parts in my routine that leave me breathing hard at the end.

So here's what we're doing. We're practicing a few more times and then recording video of the one-time finale sometime next week. We'll try to capture it on two cameras so we can cut away to different shots and angles and then edit it together to show YOU! I'll be pouring out invitations for you and others to vote on how well we did, then how well Jackie/Ricky did. I think it's going to be a close race. Two very different routines but two very good ones I believe.

-Meteorologist Steve Glazier