“And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: The ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.” -Michael Jackson

So, this has nothing to do with NKOTB.

But it has everything to do with me.

And since this is my blog,

this is where I have chosen to share it!

So, if you've been following this blog,

or if you know me at all,

you already know that, since I was a small child,

I have absolutely ADORED Michael Jackson.

When he passed away last year,

I felt a drive from deep within to choreograph and perform in

a tribute to my dancing idol.

Since January, I have been working on this piece.

And this past weekend, it came to fruition.

I, along with 16 talented dancers,

performed in my 2010 remake of

Smooth Criminal.

So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it, and

I truly hope it adequately pays homage to

the one and only King of Pop,

Mr. Michael Jackson.

First her hips don't lie... and now they don't know what they're doing!

So, I've been seeing Shakira perform lately on

lots of awards shows, talk shows, etc.

I still stand my ground that she was 

MUCH better as a 

Spanish language singer

than she is an English one.

(Suddenly, she started singing in English,

and her lyrics didn't quite make sense,

while her voice sounded a bit like she was 

gargling dirty bath water.)

Anyway.

I saw Shakira perform

"Hips Don't Lie"

on every awards show 

for at least 3 years straight.

I promise.

It's true.

And now, I'm not quite sure what she's singing, 

but every performance is exactly the same.

Doesn't she realize

the same people will be watching her?

But what I really want to talk about...

are her new dance moves.

See, Shakira's latest performances look like this:

Ummm. What was that?!

Correct me if I'm wrong, 

but after her transition from Spanish to English,

and the consequent dirty bath water, nonsense lyric singing....

weren't her bellydance moves the 

only thing she had going for her?!

Like I said before,

when Shakira likes something, 

she sticks with it.

So, I've seen this performance 

at least three or four times now.

(Seriously. VMA's. MTV Europe. Letterman. I could go on....)

But I've been trying to figure out 

where she came up with this crazy new dance style

that is frankly just AWFUL.

And here's the recipe I've come up with.

Shakira has taken a little bit of this....

(Go to 0:36 to see what I'm speaking of)

Threw in a dash of this...

(again... just a dash.)

Maybe a touch of this for seasoning....(Go to 0:25)

But what was the main ingredient?

Yes, there were dashes of this,

sprinkles of that,

pinches of whatnot...

But what was I missing?

And then it hit me.

I give you... the main ingredient.

Yep! That's it.

Glad I figured it out!

So... what do you think?

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Yee-Haw! Jordan Knight is coming to Nashville!

Jordan Knight

is heading up a talent scouting excursion

that he's calling

Jordan Idol.

So last night, I wasn't on Twitter...

because I was at the 

So You Think You Can Dance concert

in Atlanta!

(Yes, it was amazing!)

But several of my tweeps were 

buzzing about it,

and when I checked my phone, my girl Desiree

(Desir80s on Twitter)

had sent Jordan the following message:

@JordanKnight if you go to nashville..we are the girls u want! @DreaAngel @NerdyBrownie @Kristie1311 

@McRiddlahpants @christy80

(She's very thoughtful... she included me, even though I wasn't Tweeting!)

So of course, I'm like...

"What?! What's going on?!"

And apparently...

Jordan is bringing Jordan Idol

to The Grand Ole' Opry,

my very own state capitol of 

Nashville, Tennessee!

He even confirmed it himself:

@jordanknight: Yeah, Jordan Idol is going to Nashville!!! 

Who's gonna be around next week? I wanna hear you sing!!!

So this morning, when I finallygot wind of all of this...I sent the following to Mr. Knight himself:
christy80 Hey @jordanknight... I can't sing, so this Jordan Idol thing isn't for me. But I can help you judge. Or I could tryout to backup dance. Yes?

So Jordan... if you're reading this...(and I sure hope you are)this could be the shot to help my NKOTB Backup Dancing Dream come true!(Check out my facebook group for this, too.)
And in case you're curious, Jordan, JK, Mr. Knight, Knight Rider, the Dark Knight(or as I like to refer to you... Mr. Bringin' Sexy Back)...Here's a little sample of what I could bringto Jordan Idol! 
HOLLA!

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O-O-O-O-O! A-ha!

So, I've almost been

TOO BUSY

lately to remember that 

Leslie and I are 

missing another NKOTB cruise 

in a few months!

(Sadness.)

And today I remembered.

Even more sadness.

And then...

I had an

A-ha moment!

You see,

we tried reaching out to

all sorts of people....

We wrote lots of e-mails & blogs, 

and even sent 

videos and mail to

Ellen DeGeneres.

We wrote to

Ryan Seacrest.

We e-mailed & Tweeted the ladies of The View

(Sherri Shepherd even Tweeted me back...

but didn't send us cruisin'.)

And of course we hit up

Regis and Kelly!

But we should've known all along...

That we should also hit up OPRAH!

(Not that we hadn't thought of it...

I just don't think we thought of

going for the gusto!

But alas... no mountain is too small!)

I mean, the guys 

(NKOTB... Danny, Donnie, Joey, Jon, & Jordan, that is)

say "O-O-O" in half their songs... 

IT'S A SIGN!!!!

Think about it....

"O-o-o-o-o, Hangin' Tough!"

and

"O-o, o-o-o... The Right Stuff!"

O-O-O... OPRAH!

So, today I sent an e-mail to Oprah Winfrey

(who, by the way, just sent two women on a 

Rose Tours cruise with Rick Springfield...

yet another sign)...

and now...

I will dance with her.

And hope she sees it, loves it, and says,

"I simply MUST meet this girl!"

(And of course... since we're both Tennessee girls...

we will dance a hoedown!)

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"When you dance, things just go away, things don't seem so bad." -Patrick Swayze

I'm so sorry to be so delayed in this... 

It's taken me far too long to get around to doing a 

blog tribute

to the wonderful, the incomparable, 

Mr. Patrick Swayze. 

Like most women my age, I once had a crush on Patrick.

I remember first seeing him with a whole slew of 

80s heartthrobs 

in The Outsiders.

(Yeah, so I was about 4-yrs-old when it came out... but I remember.

Who could forget a movie that had all those sexy men in it?!)

But also like most women my age,

particularly dancers like myself,

Patrick stole my heart as 

Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing.

He was bad.

He was dangerous.

But also... he was kind, and gentle.

And to top it all off...

He could MOVE!

This was my favorite scene:

I wanted to be Baby Houseman. (Who didn't?)

In fact, my cousin and I acted out this scene on Christmas Eve 

at our grandparents' house.

(Of course, we were both Baby. 

And we were both acting it out with an imaginary Johnny.)

I memorized every line, 

every move, 

every wink, 

and every smile

Mr. Patrick Swayze made in that movie.

(And still, to date, stop to watch every time I catch it on tv...

And still quote every line.)

But Patrick Swayze was more than Johnny Castle. 

Yes, he was also Sam Wheat...

(Who didn't want to sign up for pottery classes after this?!)

But who could forget...

He was also Vida Boheme!

And that's part of the charm and the magic

that was uniquely Patrick Swayze.

He was sexy, charming, talented, witty...

but he also didn't take himself too seriously.

For example, in one of my favorite SNL skits of all time, 

he laughed along with us

as he poked fun at his own sex symbol status.

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
Uploaded by tressage. -

But beyond all this...

Patrick the actor...

the dancer...

the singer...

Was Patrick Swayze, 

the husband.

Yes, we all miss him,

but I'm certain his beautiful wife, 

Lisa Niemi,

misses him more.

So in tribute to their long-lasting love

and passion 

and commitment to one another...

My final tribute to Mr. Swayze

is in this... 

a dance with his wife,

and the love of his life.

As Patrick said in Ghost, 

"It's amazing, the love inside...

You take it with you."

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Happy (Belated) Birthday, D-Dub!

Oh. My. God.

I am a TERRIBLE Blockhead!

Why has it taken me this long to get a great big

Happy B-Day, DUB

up on this blog?! 

Yikes.

I can only say that

August 17th 

was my first day of Fall classes, 

but really...

that's no excuse!

(But, you know your birthday celebration

doesn't truly end until the LAST 

birthday wishes come in!)

So, as a tribute to the 

one and only D-Dub 

on his 

birthday...

A dance.

(Yes, with Danny too. Why? 

Well, first... because he can actually breakdance.

And second...

because if there's a chance to dance with Danny...

I'm taking it! Whew!)

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Happiest Birthday to you, 

Mr. Wahlberg!

I hope it was your best one yet...

with many, many more to come!

I can't wait to see what 

you've got up your sleeve for 2010!

Cheers to you!

Christy 

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"Born to amuse, to inspire, to delight. Here one day, gone one night. Like a sunset dying with the rising of the moon-Gone too soon." -Michael Jackson

At four, Michael Jackson was my hero.

At five, I decided I wanted to marry him.

By age six or seven, I had decided that 

even if I didn't marry him,

I would dance with him one day.

(Above, from Captain E0, 1986.)

As a child, I would sneak and watch MTV

to see his videos.

(My secret was discovered when, after the Thriller video came out,

I was scared to pieces every time Vincent Price laughed on my record.)

As I got older, I kept watching his videos.

I memorized his moves.

I tried to imitate them.

When I was 12 or 13, I used the money my dad had given me 

to buy clothes on a shopping trip 

to buy the book Dancing the Dream.

I cried my eyes out when he made me return it.

I taped Live in Bucharest 

(from the Dangerous tour)

and watched and mimicked the dances 

until the tape just about broke in half.

At 15, I enlisted the help of my two closest friends and 

choreographed a dance to Smooth Criminal.

At 17, I performed this same dance for my 

Junior Miss talent portion.

I learned to moonwalk.

I tried to isolate my muscles and move with 

the combination of grace, elegance, power, and badassness 

that only Michael could perfect.

At 23, I choreographed a 

contemporary ballet piece en pointe 

to Beat It.

Yes, we moonwalked... 

en pointe.

You see, Michael Jackson was my inspiration.

As a dancer.

As a writer.

As a peacemaker.

As a dreamer.

He was more to me than I can ever tell you.

He was my King of Pop.

I know he meant a lot to a lot of people, 

and I also know that there will never, 

in the history of the universe,

be another that matches the 

artistry,

integrity,

grace,

talent,

and ingenuity

that was 

uniquely Michael Jackson.

My idol is gone.

And now... 

As I approach 29 years,

I'm more determined than ever

to dance again

in his honor.

Cheers to you, Michael.

Thank you

for all the gifts you have given this world.

You will truly be missed.

I close my eyes 

Just to try and see you smile one more time 

But it's been so long now all I do is cry 

Can't we find some love to take this away 

‘Cause the pain gets stronger every day

~Michael Jackson,

"Don't Walk Away" 

**Please, share your thoughts 

on what Michael meant to you

in the "comments" portion of this blog.**



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