Starting Latin DanceSport as an adult: A guide to your first competition
How to start Latin DanceSport as an adult and prepare for your first competition, from classes and rules to costumes, rounds and what to bring.
Latest
Making my marks in a year of Latin dance competitions (2025β2026)
A year of Latin dance competitions and lessons from 2025 to 2026, from making the cut to working on technique, performance and confidence.
Glints of the sea and starlight
Performance done, preparing for my next Latin dance competition, and unexpectedly discovering Yokohama Mary on a zen Sunday.
Dance update: "Have a little practice"
Update on my 2026 dance roadmap, from Latin ballroom and ballet training to completing my first STOTT Pilates required course.
What I've learned after ten years in the wild
What would you tell yourself ten years after graduation? Hereβs what Iβd tell my younger self and what Iβm still figuring out.
How I get ChatGPT to create consistent feature images
My blogβs feature images used to be a jumble of stock photographs. Now, I use ChatGPT to create images tailored to each article, giving the blog a more consistent visual style. Here's how!
The tiger lily I never expected anyone to choose
What I learnt after my four-flower oil pastel was chosen as a gift for a sister school.
Just practise more and dance better
The difference between being handed a purpose and having one. Be joyful in adversity.
Book Notes | In the Waves by Rachel Lance
Rachel Lanceβs In the Waves investigates the mystery of the H. L. Hunley, combining Civil War history, underwater blast physics and forensic science.
π Detailed version | Book Notes | In the Waves by Rachel Lance
Personal, detailed book notes on Rachel Lanceβs In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine
Lifeβs marrow: My 2026 H1
A review of the first half of 2026. I wrapped up an eight-month-long endeavour, suffered a loss, learnt AI and product craft, read books, did Pilates and ballet. Here are my plans for the rest of the year.
About staying relevant alongside AI
Inspired by enduring craft and service to others, this is a reflection on staying useful as AI accelerates.
π Members-only
What beautiful strangers taught me
The beautiful strangers whose acts of grace became a reference point for who I want to be. On choosing between staying the course or taking a small detour.
Dance
How I used AI to study my dancing
I used screenshots, video review and ChatGPT to understand corrections, identify movement problems and build focused training plans.
Business
How Hyrox created a new sports category and scaled it through community (Credit: CNBC video)
How Hyrox grew into a global fitness-racing business. (CNBC video) Moritz FΓΌrste and Christian Toetzke created a standardised sporting experience, work with gyms and local communities as trusted distribution partners, and built a category around competition, achievement and joy.
Diaries
Eight years of Grammarly, 24.8 million words later
A Grammarly email led me to reflect on a decision I made nearly ten years ago: taking a pay cut to pursue writing. Millions of words later, I'm looking back at where that choice led, and wondering where the next thread might go.
Dance
Dance stocktake: What I'll start, stop, and continue five months into 2026
Five months into 2026, I reflect on competitions, recovery, ballet and ballroom, what I've learned and let go of, and the priorities emerging for the months ahead.
Book notes
Book Notes | Open by Andre Agassi
At one point, Andre Agassi fell from world No. 1 to No. 141. Years later, he returned to world No. 1 again. I picked up Open during a strange month of milestones, grief, stress and reflection. Rather than a book summary, these are simply a few thoughts and quotes that found me at the right time.
Book notes
Book Notes | Greek and Roman Art by Susan Woodford
On iteration, art, and a brief moment in history
Diaries
My letter to me, before I become a bird.
As I reflected on βmemento moriβ, my letter to the world became a letter to myself.
Dance
Noticing the water: A season in dance
Paying attention to a season in Latin ballroom, from technical gaps and competition results to what actually improved, what didnβt, and what Iβll do next.
Dance
Stumbling back into the studio: What dance practice taught me
A reflection on learning dance, and how training, volume, and intention shape the gradual progress from movement to dance.
Dance
Why I dance
On my personal purpose in dance, as of 2026.
Dance
A rΓ©vΓ©rence to dance teachers
Before writing about dance, I wanted to begin with a small act of reverence for all the teachers who make progress possible.