For the past few weeks I’ve spent countless hours watching some of my favorite movies in preparation for the release of the third part in one of the greatest film franchises in my world. No, not Star Wars, The Godfather or Lord of the Rings. Today I watched Step Up 3D. This was the first movie I’ve seen where I can honestly say that it wouldn’t have been the same without the 3D experience. And that wasn’t just the quarter bottle of tequila on a nearly empty stomach talking.
I don’t know what it is but I have always loved cheesy dance movies. I’m not a huge fans of the older classics such as Footloose, Dirty Dancing or Fame but rather the new batch like Step Up, Honey, Center Stage (even the second one) and Save the Last Dance. If it has group choreographed dancing I’ll watch it and learn the steps. In the case of the original Step Up, I watched it 5 times … in theaters.
Ever since 3rd grade when I joined the Drama & Dance Club, I realized that I had a knack for picking up choreography steps really, really quick. Now I can’t always do them as there are some things that my extra pounds make me incapable of doing but I do pick up on the mechanics of them very quickly. When I was younger I always wanted to be a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, Madonna or Britney. I still remember the breakdown of Janet Jackson’s “If” video and that came out when I was in Jr. high. In high school, I’d spend hours in my room learning the steps to “…Baby, One More Time” and *Nsync’s “Tearin’ Up My Heart”. It took me all of 20 minutes of watching the Pussycat Dolls workout DVD, while sitting on my couch and not participating, to learn the chorus to “Don’t Cha” and be able to do it step-by-step the following day in the parking lot at work. What can I say? It’s a gift. I guess it’s one of the only good things I inherited from my dad. I was never witness to it but at his funeral they spoke about how even though he was a “large” man, he was completely light on his feet. Well thanks for that one, pops.
A few weeks ago I finally completed one of my “Before I’m 30″ Bucket List items. I mastered one move on a pole. No, not a “fitness” pole, but a stripper pole. I can now fully spin around twice. Maybe it was the 8 weeks of doing push-ups on P90X or the fact that I was pretty buzzed or maybe it was just a certain something in the air but I grabbed a hold of that pole, lifted myself up and spun around twice with my knees up at my chest. I did it three times just to make sure the first one wasn’t just some sort of fluke. It was truly a sight to behold. And before you ask, no, there are no pics or videos to speak of. If you want to see it, you’ve gotta make it rain just like everybody else.
