Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Month: January 2018

  • What is Dancing? Agreement

    Previously on Riot and Frolic [cue cleverly edited montage of my witty and amazing writing voiced over by Morgan Freeman with some dramatic and foreboding music in the background]… But really, I was talking about partner dancing and what the hell are we getting into when we go social dancing.  And I copied my own…

  • Field Trip : ABLMS

    What the hell is ABLMS?  It DOES NOT sound like a fun field trip.  It sounds like an acronym for a horrible disease. But DO YOU LIKE FOOD? DO YOU LIKE CHEAP, BUT AWESOME, LOCALLY-RAISED FOOD? ABLMS stands for Andrew Boss Laboratory of Meat Science, located on the "farm campus" [ahem, St. Paul] at the…

  • What is Dancing?

    Recently, we went out dancing with a gang of our students to a long-standing swing joint, the Wabasha Street Caves.  It's an old mob hangout in a cave along the Mississippi River, which now legitimately hosts weekly swing dances with live big bands. While obviously the setting is amazing and atmospheric and nearly everyone had…

  • Reasons I’d Be A Great Mom

    I have a full time job as a familial manager.  I also have a part time job as a ballroom dance instructor.  While many days, I'd love to drop that first title and go all in as a dance teacher, I don't think my young offspring are too great at cooking and driving… yet. Some…

  • Hats for Everyone

    'Round about 5 years ago, I found a post on Purl Soho's blog for a simple knitted hat.   I did not know how to knit at all, but I wanted to make that damn hat. Super Soft Merino Hats for Everyone pattern from Purl Soho I figured my years of crocheting would somehow power me through…