The Story of Why We Danced "All Day, All Day"

TrainLikeTaylor

Aug 3, 20186 min read

Saturday, July 28, 2018

We’d been counting down the days and collecting donations since March while anxiously awaiting a reunion with our Connecticut dance friends. Since neither Ashley nor myself would be able to attend the annual Wigs & Wishes event in November, we had instantly made the commitment to put everything we had into giving back and participating in the Dance-A-Thon fundraiser event at the Wall Street Theater in Norwalk, CT.

Now, I’ve shared with you all about Wigs & Wishes, why we were dancing, and how you could donate. Several people did, and we are so very grateful and appreciative. It’s time to share with you about all of the excitement, sweat, and inspiration that went down!

Thankfully, Ashley and I had one of our smoothest rides to Connecticut yet. We’ve learned well enough to leave ourselves more than an extra hour or two which came in handy when an accident rerouted us off the highway, and we drove in a circle for maybe half an hour trying to determine another route to our destination. It was a fairly beautiful day for a road trip, nonetheless.

And, despite the fact that we were too early to check into our hotel before the event, our shameless and inventive selves managed to get ready between a Starbucks bathroom and the car. We’re pros at this, I can tell you that.

After a few more miles, we arrived at our destination. This was our second visit to the stunning Wall Street Theater where our friend Billy is the Artistic Director. Ashley and I have witnessed a little bit of the refurbishment of this piece of history as it took place over the last couple years, and it’s blossomed into success, becoming an extraordinary space for entertainment of all sorts.

After saying warm hellos to the beautiful friends we’ve made over our many adventures here, we warmed ourselves up and Ash put up with me making a complete fool of myself without a care in the world. I was about to be in my happiest place. Dancing with my favorite people. Feeling free and careless and sweating all the worries away. Despite our complete lack of caffeine all day, my energy was unstoppable.

When the time hit, Billy came out with fantastic energy and a glowing grin to welcome the crowd and warm up the group. Soon we were virtually dancing with people from around the world! Los Angeles, San Diego, Mexico, Japan, and Italy were participating in the same event to raise money for Wigs & Wishes.

The next few hours were a mixture of Dance It Out with Billy, Zumba with Ruth Elizabeth, Samurai FT with Francisco Sanchez, a salsa lesson from Arthur Murray Greenwich and more! I barely made it halfway through before changing my sweat catching bandana. Thankfully, as you can see in the video below from one of our breaks, we had come well prepared.

Unique moments throughout the event included piling everyone onto the stage to create clips for James Maslow’s music video for All Day. A couple of exquisitely talented dancers from Arthur Murray in Greenwich came by to teach us a salsa number which was recorded and will hopefully air on So You Think You Can Dance along with groups from all over the world! Ashley and I even made it to the stage to Zumba with Ruth, and being up there was, as always, complete heaven for me.

You can see videos of all of this and more at the end of this post!

Out of all of the hours of dancing with a face-consuming, open-mouthed smile plastered on my face, my real badass self showed up during the martial arts segments. Although I consider myself fairly comfortable and confident with these movements, what really had me showing up and giving my all with fiery energy was what Billy said when he introduced these Samurai FT pros.

The reason why I’m doing this is we are here fighting for people today. We are fighting for people. And the purpose for this- I want him to come out and make us sweat ’cause when you wanna quit, our whole purpose is to tell people “don’t quit.”

As I had previously mentioned in regard to this event, attendees were dancing to collect donations benefitting women and children with cancer by improving their quality of life as they continue their fight. So, what is a five minute, high-energy, comfort zone exceeding challenge compared to an every minute of everyday fight with an unknown ending? None. There’s no comparison.

In the moments my legs burning from squatting or the times I wasn’t sure I could breathe through another punch or when I wasn’t sure I could push through another jump in the advanced modifications, I did it. I did all of it every time because I knew it would be over in another minute. I didn’t do it for my health or my ego ( because I’m telling you, this workout was bad.ass.). I did it from the gratitude that I physically could and for those fighting warriors pushing through their own battles.

This perception didn’t just stay with me through this five-minute sweat session nor did it end when the dancing was done and we left the theater. The motivation is still with me through all aspects of daily life, and it’s reminding me to be grateful for my health every day.

Another subject Billy spoke of which touched on my emotions was the fact that it’s so difficult to get other people on board with a cause you feel so strongly about. It’s hard to make everyone see why this is so important and to make them understand what parting with their hard earned money could accomplish.

It’s always a little difficult to ask for donations for that reason. Everyone is touched and attached to different causes for different reasons, and donating to every.single.one. can get overwhelming.

However, attending Wigs & Wishes year after year has always been refreshing knowing there were people out there as passionate and hard working to help these women, children and families in need of support and joyful moments. With the Dance-A-Thon, it was the same way. Beautiful people, wonderful energy, fun music and a big impact made at the end of the day.

With that said, Ashley and I want to thank everyone who donated from the absolute bottom of our hearts. Many of you did more than we could ever ask for, and we managed to more than double our goal by raising $420!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Every penny is going directly to change a life in some way. And, if you want to read more about what Wigs & Wishes is about and how Friends Are By Your Side works, I wrote a post about it a little while back titled, Dancing for a Cause.

Lastly, I want to mention how this experience ties into personal health real quick. For obvious reasons, the three hours worth of dancing made for a tremendous impact on physical health. It came with all of the wonderful benefits of physical activity and getting a sweat on like getting the heart pumping and blood circulating. On top of that, physical activity- especially something as exciting and stress-reducing as DANCE- can completely transform mental health within moments. Those endorphins taking over and the beautiful energy from being around good quality people contributes a generous amount to overall happiness. Now, let’s add all of that to making a lasting impact in the lives of others.

An experience such as this is absolutely Cloud 9 for all areas of health and wellness. When I talk about taking care of your health in a well-rounded way, this is a prime example of what I’m referring to. Finding something that moves you physically, mentally and emotionally. By pairing physical movement with energy that is good for your soul, you can then spread that energy outward and work towards your best self.

And that, friends, should always be your highest priority.

Below are highlight clips from the two-hour live stream via the Wall Street Theater’s facebook page and more!

The Official Recap Video