I wish someone would have told me that learning choreography in a class setting was completely different from copying my best friend’s moves at the club or dancing at a wedding. As a confident freestyle dancer, who always wanted to break into the world of choreography, I struggled in my first few classes for almost 2 years with learning set pieces of choreography. However, struggling was never going to stop me from taking a dance class and if I focused really hard I could figure out this new way of learning dance.  

Why did I struggle though? In reflection, now as an instructor for 2 decades, I know exactly what made me feel lost and/or sometimes out of place when I should have felt right at home. I struggled for a few reasons. First and foremost, I didn’t know how to count music or that all music was even written in an organized way. I only knew how music made me feel and I danced through that measure. All trained dancers who grew up in a dance studio know this. 

I also didn’t know how to track movement throughout my body without looking like I was trying to analyze a calculus problem as an instructor is demonstrating choreography. As someone who freely moves to music, I would always move to a specific song or how music made me feel. With absolute confidence, I knew it accurately represented what the song or music was telling me to do with my body. I never tried to remember a series of movements unless it was a popular move. There are many other reasons why I struggled, but the main reason I was having a hard time was because I was unaware of all the tools a dancer that trained for most of their childhood has.

I could have stopped taking classes and be content with where I was as a dancer but my goal was to learn choreography in a dance class and be good at it. I am writing this blog to share something with you that I wish someone shared with me in my first experience with choreography. 

If you are looking to take your 1st dance class, there are some things you don’t know yet. What if I told you there was a language that helps you remember everything without trying to use your brain. What if I told you that how music makes you feel correlates to understanding the language of movement. What if I told you that the more you let go of memorizing moves the faster you learn choreography and the faster you learn how to dance. 

The only thing is that it takes practice to get better at learning anything new. And if your plan is to learn how to dance in a choreography setting then you have to find instructors that will guide you through this secret language that I found out is necessary for you to feel confident about learning dance. Most dancers that give on dance when they first start, give up for this very reason. We do our best to combine this language seamlessly into how we teach dance but if you somewhat knew these skills beforehand you would fall in love with dance over and over again. 

This is why we created Choreography Breakdown, a session that allows you to learn about a language that will fast track learning how to dance. We recognized why new dancers were struggling and developed a 4 week session to teach them exactly how to use the skill that no one really talks about in a normal dance class. Why, because it’s assumed that you already know this. 

We really want you to succeed and Choreography Breakdown is the one thing that I wish I had when I first walked into dance class to learn a routine to ‘Blame it on the Alcohol.’ So if you are reading this and you want to learn choreography without struggling with memorizing moves or you want to rid yourself of some of the unknowns about taking your first dance class consider our 4 week session as a gift from a younger dancer that wants to see you be the best dancer you can be.   

Do you remember that naive younger version of youserlf that saw your dreams as shiny diamonds in a field and all you had to do was some simple mining to own them? However, somewhere along the way you realized that in order to get those diamonds in your hands, you had to endure all the dissapointments, the let downs, the failures, the mistakes, the stress, and come to terms that the world doesn’t care about your shiny diamonds as much as you do. But you still have to work and push with the enthusiasm that you had from the beginning. Why? Because it means the world to you, it belongs to you, it makes you happy, and that’s what truly matters. 

I was reminded of who I was, about 2 weeks ago now, by my best friend Susie K.  You see in 2011, our friendship was fairly new, and she didn’t quite know me outside of dance. We were becoming closer as friends so in order to not seem like I fell off the side of the earth, I shared with her that I was going to go into my “focus mode” to get ready to audition for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Season 12. I told her that it was something I always dreamed of doing as a dancer, and in order to achieve it, I had to shut everything/everyone out and go after it with full committment. That meant not being accessible at times and only engaging in little to no communication with anyone, even family, so I can get in dance shape, work on my craft, and mentally prepare for the grind of it all. 

I thought that was normal course of action when anyone set out to accomplish anything they set their entire beings to. To me that was the level of discipline that was needed but to her it meant she was losing a friend. Regardless, I knew I needed to do what I needed to do. 

This realization of what I was sharing with her made her instantaneously sad. She immediately responded with “But…but we are still friends right? And you will text or call me.” I said, “Not until I accomplished my goal Susie.” A part of me felt bad, but I knew I needed to do this for me. I didn’t really mean for my news to have that effect on her, so I had to explain that she wasn’t losing me as a friend, I was sharing that with her with because I wanted her to know why we may have a break in communication. 

Reflecting on that moment two weeks ago, she shared she had never met anyone so invested in accomplishing a goal that they had to close the world out so it threw her off. However, she reassured me that she understood why now which brought some relief to how I made her feel back then. 

So I proceeded to closing the world out, making a plan, and executing that plan. I auditioned and accomplished what I set out to do. I auditioned for SYTYCD in 2012, and it positively altered my perspective in a way that made me work even harder to achieve some of the goals you see today like Musicality Central.   
So as I am entering a new year, I want to be the friend to remind you that it is OK to set boundaries, maybe not closing out the world boundaries, but if that is what it takes to get your dreams started or accomplished then figure out a way to do it and be direct about it with everyone around you. 

I am entering new levels of business, there are new skills I need to master – Skills that I currently struggle with. Well, as of 2 Wednesdays ago, the person that was once hurt because I wanted to close out the world, including her, told me I need to get back to that version of myself in order to put my Plated Soul private chef business on the map, where she knows it belongs, and I agree with her. 

It’s been a little under 2 decades running through life pretending to be a lost puppy searching for a rightful home that would accept how I work internally. You see, we all have these tools, mental tools that allow us to accomplish anything we set our being to. Tools that you have access to but only when you dig deep or push yourself through the discomfort of your comfort zone do you ever see them. They are not just given to you, they are earned through obsessive trial and error work. Hard lessons that reveal who you are without filters. The raw honest truth about yourself that you cannot disguise or cover up. 

I call it the beautiful hard truth. That is were the real work begins, from ground zero. That’s the person I have somewhat strayed away from a bit and want to revisit in 2024.

So take this blog as a reminder from a friend of a friend of that naive version of yourself before the realities of the world made you shrink a little bit to get up and get some of that dirt out of your timberlands and put your work gloves back on. We have some more mining to do. 

Get focused and wake up every day ready to work with enthusiasm and consistency. Now that you know a little bit more about the world, you are more equipped for what may be out of your control and more prepared to battle though those tougher days when you don’t want to. Why? Because every day gets you closer to your diamond than you were yesterday, and that is what keeps you mining. That shiny diamond that has a specific color, a specific cut, clarity, carat weight, and certification that no one can take from you. 

Here’s to 2024 being the most bountiful year of our existence. It’s time for breakthroughs and achieving new levels of success in business, our personal relationships, our careers, our finances, and most of all the most valuable diamonds our overall the happiness within ourselves. 

If you would have told me 7 years ago that I would be in the kitchen cooking about 5 days a week, I would have laughed in your face. I’ve never enjoyed cooking. Whenever I heard other people say that they love being in the kitchen or that it’s a form of meditation for them, it’s never resonated with me. It always felt like work. So you better believe that when I became good friends with Rishone, I took advantage of every opportunity to not have to cook for myself, but instead enjoy culinary creations from a professional chef. I was actually Rishone’s first meal prep client back in the day. He made my lunch and dinner for me 5 days a week, and I was in heaven! But all good things must to come to an end, so after maybe about two years of not having to cook at all, I quickly had to shift gears after Rishone pivoted his business model to small event catering. You might think, “Okay Susie, so this is when you started cooking for yourself then.” No! You’re crazy. This is when I started eating a WHOLE lot of Chipotle, Panera, and prepared Wegmans food. I did this for a lonnggg time. Too long. But after coming to terms that eating out that much was not good for my health nor my budget, I made the decision to start cooking for myself again. I will say, the good thing about having a professional chef as a best friend is that he was always willing to help me out with cooking tips and techniques. But when I would ask him for a recipe or how to cook something, you better believe he was telling me how HE would make it. Of course, he was giving me all the gems to make an incredible meal, but there were a lot of steps and attention to detail that I was NOT ready for. It all felt very overwhelming. I had to take baby steps…

So what did I do?

First off, I started by only committing to cooking a 1-2 days a week. If I tried quiting the take out meals cold turkey, I knew that wouldn’t be sustainable or realistic for where I was at at the time. I didn’t have the cooking skills needed to cook more than 2 days a week nor did I have the mental or emotional capacity to be in the kitchen that much. I kept it simple and hit the “easy button” when I could.

If I could buy green beans that were already cut and washed for me, you better believe that’s what I was going to grab at the store. Then those green beans were just seasoned and roasted in the oven. Easy peasy. Season and sear some chicken… Bada Bing, Bada Boom – Dinner is served. I cooked a lot of seared meat and roasted veggies.

Slowly, my cooking schedule turned into 3 days a week, then 4, and now 5. And although I still do a lot of simple seared meat/roasted veggies, I’ve slowly added in new things as my confidence has grown in the kitchen. My salmon with cream sauce? To die for. Chicken stir fry with a homemade sauce? Chefs kiss! But you can’t forget about that easy button! You better believe that sometimes I still use pre-made sauces for my stir fry when I don’t feel like making my own. And that’s okay, cause I’m still moving in the right direction as a cook. It’s all about the baby steps.

The reason I thought to share some of my cooking journey with you now is actually because of the beef stew I just made today. I’m not going to lie, my beef stew is bomb. (Recipe courtesy of Chef Rishone.) Normally I just grab the stew vegetables bag at Wegmans in order to make it a little easier on me with less to think about for the entire stew. I opened the bag of stew vegetables today and even though it wasn’t expired, the carrots were a little slimy. I took the bag back to Wegmans, planning on simply exchanging it for a new one. But unfortunately, they were out. I ended up buying all of the ingredients separately – the onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Of course, it was a little more work to cut and clean everything, but totally doable. The reason I think it was doable for me at this point in time is because I took those baby steps and used some “easy buttons” to get me to where I am today with my comfortability in the kitchen.

All this to say – It’s okay to take baby steps. As much as you may think you need to dive right in, head first, into a new endeavor, that may be the last thing you want to do, especially if you know the failing involved in the learning process will deter you.

Let’s say you want to become a runner, but you’ve never run a mile before. Start by walking a mile. Then try jogging/walking, on and off, for a mile. Then slowly work your way up to being able to jog that full mile. Or maybe you want to learn how to paint. Instead of starting with a blank canvas and a pallet full of paint, try hitting that easy button and buy a “paint by number” kit, just to get you painting and learning some of the brush stroke techniques. You’ve just got to start moving! And it’s okay if the path you take or the pace you move at looks a little different than what other people have chosen to do. Just take that first baby step, and if you need a little extra guidance or maybe even a couple shortcuts to help get you moving in the right direction, just do it. Create that momentum. Sooner than later, you’ll find yourself running 5 miles or painting your own beautiful landscape by freehand and looking back to see how far you’ve come. I know I’m certainly proud of how far I’ve come in the kitchen.

We would love to hear from you! What baby steps do you want to start taking towards one of your goals? Or do you have any “easy buttons” that you have found to help you get started in a new skill or activity? Share the wealth in the comments.