Hello Internet! This site has been pretty quiet in 2018. I've been unbelievably busy with school, a second job, and choreographic gigs on top of all that. There are many many things I would love to write about, but time conspires against us all, and here we are at the turn of the calendar. If [...]
Blog
On Pain
Hi Internet, I'm having a rough time, and I'm also having a hard time unpacking it all, so here we are on the blog. Let's give it a go. Here's the basics: I've been having steadily worsening lower back pain for several months. I finally started the doctor's visit/what's-actually-wrong-with-me train a few weeks ago, but [...]
A Reading Re-cap: 2017
Hi Internet! It's that time of year again. I'm pleased to report that even with moving, traveling, and starting school again, I still managed to read 53 books in 2017. Not as many as last year, but given the chaos my life has been through in the last 12 months I am not in the [...]
Choreographing CANDIDE
Rare and valuable are the projects, where, in their midst, one is aware of how much they are learning and growing. My recent experience as the choreographer on the FSU Opera CANDIDE has been one such project. I became involved with the Opera through a classic case of "you know a guy who knows a [...]
How Long is Too Long?
Hi Internet. It's been a while, I know. The life highlight is this: so long Syracuse, bye bye Boston, felicitations Florida. More to follow. Let's move on to something I've been tossing around in my brain for the past couple weeks. Before I left Syracuse, I had a conversation with a couple dancer friends about [...]
Vampire Video!
So once upon a time I directed and produced a Showcase. And in that process I had the pleasure to collaborate with a Michigan-turned-Syracuse fellow by the name of Andrew Banas. The story of how we came to work together is convoluted, but needless to say it was a good time and resulted in that [...]
A Day at Jacob’s Pillow
HI Internet--it's been a while, eh? Long story short --> Vermont, New Hampshire, Boston, Syracuse, back to Boston. Leaving for Florida in less than a week. (!) More on that later. Yesterday I voyaged across Massachusetts to see dance haven and curatorial powerhouse Jacob's Pillow in real life. Long I have heard tell of this [...]
Things I Have Learned About the Corporate World
Well, this is it. The last day of Holly as an OfficePerson for the foreseeable future. For those of you who don't know, I've worked in Big Pharma for 2.5 years, but now I am leaving. I have learned a lot of things in my time as a bonefide OfficePerson, and I am here today [...]
Why NaturalOpposite?
Hi Internet-- Now that this site has gotten a bit of a make-over, I thought we could have a little chat about the title. Why NaturalOpposite? It's a reference to a common turn of phrase in ballroom--the follower and leader often perform the "natural opposite" steps from one another. For example, the leader could step [...]
Glamour Addiction
Dear Dr. McMains, I recently read your book Glamour Addiction. It took me all of a few paragraphs for my eyebrows to go up, and all of five pages to grab a pencil, defacing the margins with comments like “YAASSS” and “yes this!” Allow me to explain. We have similar back-stories, Dr. McMains. I started [...]
naturalopposite 