Dancesport is a big theme for me which connects my experience in Spain to that of UMass and home. It has been something I´ve wanted to pursue since I began sophomore year of high school. I danced in the newcomer and bronze levels for a year until my partner stopped dancing, leaving me in a small town in central New York with no dance partner and negative chance of finding another one. Senior year of high school I focused on other types of dance and explored other aspects of life. One of the main reasons I chose UMass was because they have a Ballroom team. During each of the three years I was there I was fortunate to have a partner with whom to compete. I entered college as a bronze-level dancer, placed out of bronze, silver, gold, and left competing in the pre-champion level. I gained experience dancing, performing and competing; developing technique, personal expression, and partner connection. My last partner at UMass not only became a dear friend of mine but also taught me a lot about the aesthetic factors that go hand in hand with passing into the higher levels of dancesport in order the attain ¨the look¨. These visually artistic details include but are not limited to hair, makeup, tanning, dress design, stoning (i.e. gluing crystals to) pretty much anything: a dress, a bracelet, my head…etc.  The ballroom team introduced me to a nearby dance studio with great instructors who believed in me and provided me with encouraging, affirmative and productive guidance at a crucial moment in my dancing, right around the time I decided I would spend my senior year of college studying in Madrid, Spain.

¨Success occurs when preparation meets opportunity¨ – Henry Hartman

Around this time last year (March) I had been accepted and decided to study abroad in the Hamilton College Academic Year in Spain 2013-2014. I knew I would go for at least the first semester, and if things went well for me in Spain and I could still graduate from abroad, I would extend to stay for the year. I immediately reached out to a Madrid-based ballroom dance studio I had looked up online. For the first time, I knew I could combine two of my greatest passions: travel and dancesport. I wrote an e-mail to the studio and expressed that I would be coming to study in Madrid at the end of August, was interested in taking lessons at the studio and inquired about the possibility of finding a partner in order to compete. I realized this might not be probable considering the possible time constraint of only one semester and the difficulty one can face when looking for a partner, spending months and sometimes years without one (I knew from experience), but I was determined to try. At worst it wouldn´t be that bad, and at best it could be amazing, I thought. Understandably, being the month of March, I got a response saying that we could absolutely look into it when the actual date of my arrival approached. Months went by and I lived my life in the present moment, intentionally not thinking too much about the future.

August rolled around and by the time I got to España, the dance studio I had been in contact with notified me that there was a possible prospect of a partner for me. One day in early September I was to go to the studio and meet with the directors for the first time where they would give me a tour and discuss the possibilities. I found my way to the sports club in the Chamartín train station and walked through a beautiful, elegant place I had only seen in pictures as if I were walking through a dream. It felt surreal, as I had been anticipating this moment for five months. I met the directors, brother and sister, shining with beaming smiles, warm, excited, impeccably put together and impressively dressed. The brother gave me a tour of the gym and studios as the puzzle pieces connected in my mind, filling the blank spots and linking the fragments of familiarity from the photos I´d seen. We sat at the bar and talked over a café and a té rojo about my goals for dance, my availability, dedication, and the potential partner. He knew a male dancer my age in the same level who had recently stopped dancing with his last partner. ¨Muy bueno…hace muchas vueltas…¨ He would start coming to class again in October.

In the meantime I signed up for group classes at the studio and started getting back into the groove of dancesport. Over the weeks I noticed myself improving and was excited about the technique instruction I was receiving. Meanwhile my coaches didn´t mention a word about the supposed partner. I didn´t ask either; I tried to be patient, to not jump the gun, and told myself everything would work out in time. However, with the absence of mention of this mysterious potential partner (who was nameless, faceless, and may as well have been imaginary in my mind), I began to wonder if he really would come to class in October or if he even existed.

One day in early October I arrived late to a group Samba class and was caught off guard by a new face and body in the room, haciendo vueltas. I knew it was him. Towards the end of class we were paired to dance together and afterwards our coach told us he was pleased with what he saw, that our energies match when we dance and that aesthetically we are a good pair. We planned to meet at the next group class.

It started off slowly, only seeing each other and dancing together at group classes. Our coach saw potential in us and believed we could make a solid partnership. Some point along the way we transitioned from group classes to privates lessons and started our routines for competition. Many days of the week, after finishing my academic classes, we began to practice in the afternoon hours when the studio had sala libre.

I left Spain in mid-December for three weeks of winter break. In early January, a week before the second semester began, I returned to Madrid to compete in my first European competition.

I landed in Madrid merely two days before competing, not enough time for my body to grab ahold of the 6 hour time difference but definitely enough time for it to realize the extremely dry air which congested me for an entire week and made my head feel like a balloon filled with whipped cream. When I arrived to mi casa my room was just the way I´d left it, only cleaner. After a disorienting five hour nap I headed to Chamartín to practice, stuffy-nosed, exhausted, rusty and wobbly from not having danced all vacation, much less in heels. I don´t know how I got through that lesson. The competition arrived and even though it was a new experience in that I had never competed in Spain before, I still felt at home and in my comfort zone because I was familiar with the setup of the competition from those I´d done in the states. We danced and placed 3^rd, not bad for a first competition together after three weeks of replacing dance with Christmas cookies.

The biggest difference and highlight of the competition was that on top of being a national competition, it was also an international competition registered with the World DanceSport Federation. I was able to see in the flesh and watch some of the top level dancers from all over Europe who I had only every seen on YouTube, specifically Armen Isaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno from Russia who are 2^nd in the WDSF right now! I sat on the ground in the front row and as they danced before my eyes I thought of my former partner and how he would flip if he were there with me. It was thrilling.

One thing a bunch of people mentioned at the competition was Torremolinos, a week-long competition in February which is not affiliated with the Spanish DanceSport Federation, but its own separate entity. The more they explained it to me, the more intrigued I became.

I took off with the HC program for the week-long orientation in Andalucia and upon my return we began dancing a tope, improving our routines in lessons with our coach and increasing the number of hours and days of the week in which we practice. We traveled to compete in Benalmádena, Málaga and would be returning to the Costa del Sol in two short weeks for the Torremolinos Campeonato.

Competing at Torremolinos was different than anything I had ever done before. Since it wasn´t part of the Spanish Federation of Dancesport it was composed of different types of dance and had fewer rules. This being said we had to learn and create five new routines in under two weeks before the competition, one of which, Argentine Tango, I had never really danced before.

Another difference from dancesport was the costume changes. At Torremolinos, everyone changes their attire to fit the character of each dance. The family of my dance partner´s former partner completely took me in with open arms and offered to lend me any and all of the dresses I might need. Closets burst with dozens and dozens of dresses, more than I had ever seen in one room that wasn´t a costume vendor’s corner at a competition. I have never felt more like a princess than when I went to their house to try on the beautiful gowns and funky costumes. They lent me dresses and all the sparkly, iridescent, rainbow-refracting-into-your-eyeball jewelry to go along with them—glitter, glitz, crystals cut to refract and attract light, fabric flowing, fringe, beaded fringe, sequins, colors, crystals, crystals, and more crystals. To this day, I´m not sure how to express my gratitude to that family, neither in Spanish nor in English.

We were to compete Tuesday through Saturday. We arrived Monday evening and went to watch the Flamenco section of the competition. I watched in awe, realizing I was witnessing something very particularly Spanish, and even more, Andalusian; something local and cultural; something I would not see in Amherst, Ma or even in other parts of Spain. Competition categories included traditional Sevillanas and also more contemporary flamenco formation dances with which I was particularly enchanted. A strong powerful presence from the passionate, foot-stamping energy, a community united in rhythm. The stage was dominated by flamenco troupes; entire schools of flamenco representing their region, dancing in unison and in harmony through weaving choreography to incorporate many bodies and create massive moving sculptures of duende. I realized it was completely normal for everyone around me. I was immersed.

Tuesday began the week like a shotgun at a horse-race. We competed everyday twice a day for six days and on the last day, three times. Each day we competed a different dance. The first round was midday and if called back to the final, dancers were to leave for lunch and siesta and return to the ballroom hours later to repeat the whole sequence through the night, this time with a different dress and a bigger crowd. Prizes at the end of the night often went well past midnight as tired dancers swapped heels for slippers and peeled off half-stuck fake eyelashes. After a long exciting, exhausting and emotional day we would return to the hotel around 2am, eat bocadillos for dinner and then drift off to sleep for a few hours before getting up to practice and perfect our routine for the next dance to be competed later in the day. It was intense and high energy. I lived a lot of emotions during that week. It was demanding, thrilling, challenging and rewarding. I felt a lot of pressure but also realized maybe it was pressure I was putting on myself. It was difficult at times but worth it. I improved a lot as a dancer over the course of the week, individually and also together with my partner.

It wasn´t only about the dancing either. It seemed as though everyone knew each other as it is a competition people have been attending year after year. There was a lot of regional pride and many people came from the same hometowns, mostly from the south of Spain. When I first got there I felt like a fish out of water but by the end of the week I was cracking up laughing with the friends I had made over the course of the competition. Like my host family, my partner´s family, and the family of my partner´s former partner, the dance community also welcomed me with smiles, jokes and open arms. One of the highlights was that on Friday night one of my best friends from my study abroad program in Madrid who was spending the weekend in Málaga came to watch me dance and was also received with a warm welcome.

The jam-packed week flew by in the blink of an eye. I couldn´t believe all I had lived in such a short amount of time. We were headed for Extremadura where we would experience the last night of Carnival in Badajoz. A perfect way to celebrate the end of a crazy week. I went dressed as a clown and partied with new and familiar friends in the streets filled with color, alegría, and parades of music and dance groups. The next day we headed back up to Madrid, 6 hours and halfway across the country in a VW bus blasting Calle 13, Bob Marley, and Playing for Change. In the caravan I was surrounded by guitars, bongos, art supplies and donuts. The night fell and thousands of stars twinkled as we drove through the campo. I stuck my head out the window and let my hair get tossed around by the speeding wind. I looked at the sky and thought of my best friend from my study abroad program in Costa Rica and felt connected to her through the nature of my travels and the bright smiling moon. Back inside the caravan I sat up front between two new great friends as the glow from the dashboard cast a soft blue light on our shadowy faces. Under the vast sky good company warranted life conversations. I sighed a beautiful deep exhale of relief and basked in the moment. This, I thought and smiled to myself, is what life is all about.

Since then my partner and I have continued to train for the upcoming competitions. Last weekend we placed 1^st in our category and tomorrow we leave to compete in Valencia.

Graduation is right around the corner and I am planning on staying here in Spain to continue dancing. I´m not sure what the future holds but what I do know is that now in the present moment I have an opportunity here and I´m going to explore this path. I´ll take life as it comes. Let´s see where it leads me!