What an amazing past few months this has been! In reality it began a little over a year ago when I first interviewed Rebecca Romero of BBBSEP for this very same event for the El Paso Public Forum. My husband and I had started taking 2 step classes earlier this year which is where I met Hugo Vela, one of the instructors, who became my dance partner for this event. He's an amazing champion country dancer, and I was very new to any type of partner dancing at all.
Fast forward about a month to where we were assigned our dance studio, Expressions Dance Academy, (EDS), 1 of 5 studios who generously donated their time and energy to this cause. Monica and her son Memo were not only our co-choreographers and coaches, they were our support system and cheer squad along with their amazing students. We practiced at EDS once a week, many times late night, (late for me anyway lol), and on our own when we could. What started off as one country dance to a single song became 3 different dances to 3 different songs, but we were up for the challenge.
We also had a few fun events like a "meet the other dancers" dinner and getting to record an intro video that would play before our performance. Hugo and I also ended up getting some "biker and cowboy" ballet lessons, and giving a 2 step lesson to the lovely girls and boys in ballet class at EDS. Along the way we also raised over $7,000 for BBBSEP, largely in part to our sponsors Nusenda Credit Union and International Wire, as well as all of our friends and family who bought tickets under our name.
The months went by fast and before I knew it, it was the day before the performance. I got my hair done by my amazing friend Bianca at Studio DC and makeup done by my very talented friend Mirthy. It was an early morning sitting in the makeup chair at 7am, arriving at dress rehearsals by 9am, and then playing the waiting game for a few hours before the actual performance. The Dia de los Muertos parade was in full force when I arrive back downtown around 4pm so traffic was a mess. I finally arrived after almost an hour in traffic and got to see some cool costumes while walking back to the Plaza. The nerves really hit me that last hour before performing. I went over the dance a few more times with Hugo and by the time I was standing on stage ready to go behind the curtain, the nerves were gone and I just wanted to have fun and enjoy all of the hard work. Once I was on stage I started having fun and relaxing, (believe it or not), and by the end I didn't even realize we had gotten all 10's. I don't even remember what the judge said, I just remember hearing Stephanie Valle, (who was co-hosting with Mario Lopez), announce the next performers.
All of the dancers afterward were so kind and congratulatory. I was relieved it was over and proud of both of us for making it! It wasn't even important to me at that point if we won because I was finally able to enjoy the rest of the show. Looking back I wouldn't change a thing. I had fun choosing props and costumes and songs and meeting the other dancers and practicing new dance routines. It was a big commitment but luckily I love dance and had an amazing and patient partner which made the journey to the stage one that I will miss! Plus now we all can say that we performed at the historical Plaza Theatre!
In addition to getting a perfect score we did end up winning Best Costume!