Dance Class Birthday Celebration

There are three ladies in my dance class with birthdays in October, so I hosted a party to celebrate the lives of all of them. We had a pot luck and everyone brought the most delectable and healthy food. Quinoa salad, roasted veggies, collard greens, hummus, etc.

After dinner we danced. Well duh! We are a dance class. Latin dance. Mmm hmm. I still haven't taken down the decorations from Lily's party a couple months ago. I can't bring myself to get rid of them. They're so festive.

This is Olivia, our instructor. She's in her mid-50's and she has created an entire life around her passion for dance. As she says it, she didn't choose dance, dance chose her. She is an incredible dancer. Every week when she's demonstrating what we are supposed to be doing my mind wants to explode at seeing how her body can do what it does.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. It has been quite a struggle for her. I made her the necklace she's wearing. It has a big red bead because red is both of our favorite color (we are soul sisters and our mutual adoration of red is just one manifestation of that) and a little heart shaped box locket. I put lots of love and prayers in it before I gave it to her and I carefully sized the chain so that it would hang right by her chi chis (as she calls them) to help them heal.

My culinary contributions to the party were the flower cupcakes and the fruit pizza. Traditional fruit pizzas are basically sugar cookies with frosting and fruit. I used a recipe from the Healthy Junkfood cookbook. The crust was gluten and sugar free (spelt flour, sweetened with agave), the frosting was organic cream cheese, agave & lemon and then the fruit. It was delicious and not overly sweet.

The lovely birthday gals. Patti, Chau, Ranjani.

The non-birthday gals. Emily, Olivia, moi.

This picture was the cause of a lot of you-had-to-be-there type laughter. I had just spent several minutes setting up a self timer to get a picture of everyone as the gals blew out their candles. Right before the camera went off, Olivia, ignorant of my self-timer intentions, ran up to compose her own shot of the same scene. Just then the flash went off and she shouted "was that a picture of my ass?!!"

This is the laughter that ensued. It lasted quite some time. Maybe you had to be there, but it was really hilarious.

I really love my dance class. I started going to it 7 years ago when I lived in L.A. previously because I was looking for a good workout. It has become so much more than that to me. I do get a great workout for two hours twice a week. But beyond that, I'm learning so much about rhythm, global music, culture, history, self expression, and much more. One of the most rewarding things about it, though, is the wonderful friendships I've developed. I adore these women. They are unlikely friends. I wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to know such beautiful and diverse women with fascinating stories. I love it. I love living here and gaining so much exposure to so much radness. Dance magic dance!!