Dear Friends,
Celebrate Anna, Erin & Jen Tomorrow!
I flew back from Korea yesterday and there's no better way to fight off jet lag than to dance with all of you tomorrow, Tuesday, to welcome the first day of July!
Join us at 9:30am @UUMarin for a 75 minute Stop Drop and Dance class as we dance for Anna Carr, Erin Meyers, and Jen Gonzalez' birthdays with a SPARKLY LIKE FIREWORKS theme! Remember that all our classes are available in-person, on Zoom, or are recorded for on-demand viewing, and your children are always free when they come dance with you!
All our classes are back in session and I can't wait to see you!
Soul Sharing
If you haven't seen it yet, we had the opportunity of being filmed during our retreat at Soulshine Bali in April for their marketing materials, and they released the short video highlighting our group!
It was quite an unexpected "go with the flow" moment on our last morning dancing together, as a cameraman was filming us, and a drone was flying over our heads. We happened to be wearing our 2025 matching LOVE shirts and we danced to all of our Michael Franti songs, especially his newest "Rise Up" song (at least 5x over and over). After our sweaty dancing, they asked us to slide down into the pool wearing our clothes!
Thank you to all of our retreat attendees for being flexible and saying yes to this unexpected experience!
Seoul My Soul!
Korea was a non-stop, jam-packed schedule filled with restaurants, shopping, treatments and bonding time with 4 other families. Highlights included my girls getting soft S perms, eating bingsu (shaved ice) every chance possible, shopping with my daughter who never usually wants to shop, seeing billboards of all my favorite K-pop stars everywhere, going on new roller coaster rides at Lotte World, visiting the beaches of all 4 sides of Jeju Island, witnessing the Haenyeo divers hard at work, and pausing the responsibilities of life to truly be present with my family.
One experience especially, stood out.
We randomly met a pitcher of a Korean baseball team at a speakeasy bar one night, and we found out that baseball games in Korea are a very unique experience, and a must-do. So, we booked tickets a few days later to sit on the home team side, the Lotte Busan Giants, versus the Samsung Daegu Lions.
I was SO reluctant about going and I am so glad my husband literally forced me to go.
It was the most electric, organized, and energizing athletic game that I have ever watched. Every person got a jersey when we entered, so 3/4 of the stadium were all matching in baby blue for the home team. The other 1/4 was wearing white for the away team.
Each team had CHEERLEADERS. But it wasn't like how it is here, where only the cheerleaders dance and shout and perform as entertainment for the crowd. Instead, the ENTIRE CROWD stood up when their team was up to bat and for the whole inning, everybody, and I mean everybody, was up on their feet doing synchronized singing and dancing, together. Every single player had his own special song and dance, and for the entire inning, it was dance after dance after dance.
You guys, it was a full on Stop Drop and Dance class PLUS Karaoke, with 25,000 people!
To add to the experience, there was a unique level of respect too, because when the opposing team was up to bat, our side all sat down to watch quietly, and then the opposing cheerleaders and crowd could be seen and heard doing their chants and dances! So for 9 innings, we were sitting, and then we were standing and dancing! My apple watch went from 4,000 steps to 10,000+ by the end of the game. And to make it even more exciting, we were losing until the 7th inning, but then our home team blew it away and we took the lead and won!
One more thing.
When the game ended, and the baseball players bowed and left the field...
No one left the stadium.
The cheerleaders got on the field with a DJ, and they started a karaoke and dance party to popular songs requested by the audience. It was another hour of no baseball, and just people singing and dancing at their seats. I could not believe it. That was so touching for me to witness. Sports combined with dancing combined with singing combined with community combined with so much joy.
If you ever visit Korea, make sure a popular baseball game is on that itinerary.
Love,
Grace
