More Than Dance

Beginner dancers are rich in so much: opportunity, experiences, progress, and all of the things they get to discover for the very first time.

Think about how much you have to gain when you’re learning something new. One class can completely change the way you move. One correction can make something click. And something that felt impossible a few weeks ago can suddenly become something you know how to do!

We talk about being rich in FIRSTS, rich in PROGRESS, and rich in PERMISSION. Permission to not know, to ask questions, make mistakes, and try things without feeling like you should already have the answers.

There’s something really exciting about being brand new to dance and thinking, “I’ve never done this before. Teach me EVERYTHING!” You haven’t decided what you’re good at, what you’re not good at, or even what styles of dance you love yet. There is SO much available to you!

What if instead of focusing on everything you don’t know, you started looking at everything you GET to learn?

There is so much opportunity in being a beginner!

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode is all about being effective and efficient when it comes to learning dance and understanding that sometimes doing MORE isn’t necessarily going to make you a better dancer.

We talk about technique, practicing, and how much you’re actually asking your brain and body to do when you’re learning something new. You’re trying to remember everything you’re learning while also figuring out how to execute it, and that can be HARD.

I talk about how important it is to embrace the learning process and how the way you think about that process can actually affect the dancer you’re becoming. If you’re constantly thinking something is too hard or that you’re not getting it, that’s going to change your experience.

We also get into the difference between practicing effectively and practicing efficiently. You can do something over and over again, but what if you’re doing it wrong? Now you’re getting all of those repetitions in, but they aren't efficient. 

Sometimes it’s not about doing more. It’s about the QUALITY of what you’re doing, the strategy you’re using, and even finding a dance teacher who knows how to help you learn in a way that works for you.

And then there’s everything else that goes into it. Are you feeling shy? Are you in your head? Are you actually allowing yourself to learn, or are you so focused on what you’re doing wrong that it’s getting in the way?

This episode is about looking a little deeper at HOW you’re learning, not just WHAT you’re learning, and understanding that you can be efficient without necessarily being effective.

Getting better isn’t about working harder. It’s about understanding what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

Do you ever get stuck in that all or nothing thinking where something either has to be 100% or you’re not doing it at all?

This episode is all about embracing messy action and learning how to keep moving forward even when things aren’t going exactly the way you planned.

I talk about how easy it is to get caught up in wanting everything to be perfect, wanting things to be within our control, and waiting for the circumstances to be exactly what we need them to be before we do something.

Plans change and sometimes we have to figure out how to do the thing anyway, even if it’s going to be messy.

Messy action can be uncomfortable, especially when you’re used to wanting things to be a certain way. Embracing that messiness is actually the secret to getting things completed.

This episode is about getting out of that all or nothing mindset, allowing yourself to do things imperfectly, and recognizing that sometimes the best thing you can do is keep going, even when it’s messy.

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode goes into ALL the reasons why I think dance is one of the best forms of exercise you can possibly do.

Dance is all encompassing.

Your body is working with gravity, you’re using spatial awareness, balance, agility, coordination, weight transfers, reaction and timing. Your brain is processing SO much information while your body is trying to actually execute it. You’re training endurance, but you’re also invested in the song, the choreography and what you’re trying to express.

And then there’s this whole other part of dance that you don’t necessarily get from a workout.

You get to express anger, sexiness, joy, power, emotion. You learn things about yourself. You find your weaknesses. You work through them. You’re practicing confidence throughout the entire process, not only waiting to feel confident once you get a certain result or your body looks a certain way.

It takes confidence to even LOOK at yourself in the mirror and work with the reflection you see.

Then there’s the social part. You’re meeting people. You’re laughing together, learning together, being vulnerable together and building relationships with people through dance.

And maybe one of the biggest differences is that you actually WANT to do it.

There’s a difference between saying, “I have to go work out,” and wanting to go to dance. You show up differently when you’re there because you want to receive something from the experience instead of showing up to check something off a list.

It’s not three sets of this, three sets of that and okay, workout done.

You’re exercising. You’re learning. You’re thinking. You’re feeling. You’re connecting. You’re creating.

Dance is the BEST

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode is all about reminding yourself that you are a bomb a** b*tch.

Because sometimes we forget.

Sometimes you’re having a tough day, something isn’t going the way you wanted it to, or you’re questioning whether you can do something. And yes, you can call your friend and have them remind you who you are OR you can be that person for yourself.

You can be the one who says, “I’m a bomb a** b*tch. I can do this.”

I also talk about how I use this at the dance studio because when you’re dancing and something is HARD, sometimes you need to change the way you’re talking to yourself. Instead of immediately going to “I can’t do this” or deciding you’re not good at it, remind yourself who you are. You're a  bomb a** b*tch


You don’t always need someone else to convince you that you can do something and you can be your own hype person..

Remember that you’re a bomb a** b*tch and then act accordingly.

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode is all about positivity and how positivity is one of the secrets to becoming a better dancer.

I talk about what you’re feeding your brain when you’re in class because your brain is listening to you. If you keep telling yourself all the things you’re doing wrong, eventually you’re going to believe that. But the same thing can happen when you start pointing out the things you’re doing RIGHT.

Dance is interesting because we’re constantly thinking about everything we want to be better at. What didn’t I get? What do I need to work on? Why can’t I do that yet? So in a way, we’re almost training ourselves to look for everything that’s wrong.

And then we leave dance class and somehow remember the three things we didn’t do instead of the 25 things we DID.

In this episode, I talk about finding the positive facts too. What DID you get? What felt better? What did you remember? What did you do today that you couldn’t do before?

Recognizing these things creates momentum. You feel better about dancing, so you dance more. You get more reps. You keep showing up. And ultimately, that helps you become a better dancer.

We also talk about how positivity spreads. It’s an energy in the room and something that we can give to each other.

You can still want to get better without making everything you’re not good at yet the only thing you see.

Follow:

Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode is all about finding your community of people and how dance can help you do that.

The dance studio is such a great place to become part of something that is SO much more than dance. You’re around like minded women, you’re seeing the same people every week, you’re learning together, and you’re going through a lot of the same things together.

And I talk about this from my own perspective too and recognizing the times when I’m isolating myself and maybe I actually need MORE relationships and more connection in my life.

Because the more relationships you have, the more opportunities you have to find people you connect with over different things. Maybe one person understands one part of you and someone else understands another. And when you dance together, you already have this thing that connects you.

You’re going through similar things. You understand what it feels like to learn something new, be uncomfortable, struggle with choreography, finally get something you’ve been working on, or walk into class after having a crappy day.

And maybe you’ve been feeling lonely or like you haven’t found your people yet.

Make your community what you want it to be. Call people in. Put yourself in places where connection can actually happen. aka go take the dance class!

Because there might be people waiting for you that you haven’t even met yet.

And dance might be the thing that brings you together.

Follow:

Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

This episode is all about shifting your goals and giving yourself permission to change them.

When you set a goal, you can have every intention of doing it, but you also don’t necessarily know what’s going to be realistic for you that year. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. You don’t even know if you’re going to want the same thing six months from now.

Goals shift because WE shift. Life shifts. Things happen.

And the same thing happens in dance.

You might walk into dance class thinking, “Today I’m really going to work on my facials.” And then you get there and you’re in a sh*tty mood and you don’t want to work on your facials. Maybe the goal for that class becomes being present. Maybe it becomes moving your body. Maybe it becomes staying in the room and taking class.

That doesn’t mean you failed at the original goal. You got new information and you adjusted.

This episode is permission to change the goal. 

Shift it. Adjust it. Make it fit where you actually are now instead of forcing yourself to stick to something you decided when your life looked different and do it without the guilt.

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

Remembering that dance is athletic is really helpful because when you dance, at some point, you’re probably going to experience some kind of pain.

In this episode, I go through the steps of working through what’s happening in your body and figuring out what to do with it.

There are different kinds of pain, different reasons for it, and different ways we need to respond to it. The idea isn’t that you should expect to dance and NEVER have pain. It’s learning how to dance with pain when you can and understanding what your body is actually telling you.

I talk about defining the pain, doing the research to understand what might be going on, and how learning even a little bit about anatomy can be SO helpful when something hurts.

The automatic thought of , “I’m in pain, so I can’t dance" doesnt have to be the only thought, you can have something going on in your body and still find ways to dance.

Maybe something needs to be modified. Maybe you need to move differently. Maybe you need more information about what’s actually hurting before deciding what you can and can’t do.

This episode is about knowing your body better, understanding the pain instead of immediately being afraid of it, and figuring out how dance can still exist while you work through it.

*I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. I am not a physical therapist and this is not physical therapy advice. Consult your doctor for your pain. This is not a substitute for that. 

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Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio

In this episode I talk about declaring that something is worth celebrating.

I talk about my journey with celebrating the studio’s anniversaries and how every year I would create a party and a theme, but I don’t know that I ever really felt like anyone could understand the magnitude of what I was actually accomplishing.

And it got me thinking about celebration and validation and why sometimes something feels even bigger when somebody ELSE sees it too.

There’s a reason words of affirmation are one of the five love languages. It feels good when someone recognizes something you did. It feels good to get the compliment. It feels different when somebody else sees what you’ve accomplished too.

Nothing is automatically going to be celebrated unless you decide to celebrate it and make it a big deal.

People will celebrate something however big you decide to make it.

I talk about DJing weddings and how I’m not DJing for just one person in the room. I’m helping create the energy for ALL of the people in that room to celebrate. Someone decided this day was a big deal, planned the celebration, invited everybody, and now everyone is there treating it like the big deal that it is.

And sometimes we hit these really big milestones and they don’t FEEL as big as we thought they would.

We accomplish A LOT and sometimes we actually need to create the moment that allows us to recognize it.

Things feel more special when you make them special.

I challenge you to plan the celebration.... I am going to too!

Happy 15th Birthday to my dance studio

Follow:

Krissy: @krissyphillipino

KDFSTUDIO: @kdfstudio