Most days are pretty routine for me, with a tight schedule and a lot of structure. I wake up between 9 and 10am, depending on if I need to run any errands, like picking up dry cleaning or shopping for food for the Friday night Practice Sessions.

My morning routine includes an ab workout, a hot shower, breakfast, and packing work clothes and anything else I might need for the day.

I’m out the door around 10:45am to make it to practice by 11:30am. Lance and I go through our basic routines, technique, and open professional routines every day. One day a week, our normal practice is replaced by rounds led by Nuria. We work out with all of the other competing professionals and practice like we’re in an actual competition. We all get feedback, a small amount of time to practice, and then we do it again. It’s a sweaty event.

After practice, we change and prep for the rest of the day. During the day, we teach lessons and group classes, have training meetings and dance sessions, and practice for our next exams. We are all here from 1 to 10pm with an hour break in the middle of the day for dinner.

When we get close to competitions, we stay for a bit after work to run through our routines again before going home. I get home around 11pm, cook dinner, catch up with the roommates and the news, and head to bed around 12:30.

Weekends aren’t a huge break from the busy week. Some Saturdays I am at the studio teaching in the morning, and I teach yoga at 8am on Sundays (which means no serious partying Saturday night). The rest of the weekend includes laundry, errands, sleeping, watching home improvement and cooking shows, and everything else that comes up.

Some weekends are competitions and dance events. Others are comic shows, sewing and rhinestoning, time with the roommates, cleaning the studio, going out social dancing, and hanging out with friends.

It’s a very busy life, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.