Heal & Grow with Nickie
Join your host, Nickie Kromminga Hill, and her guests on a journey of personal stories and insights into healing and growth from past and current trauma. The focus is on fostering true connections through conversations centered around vulnerability and authenticity. The goal is to collectively heal and find opportunities for growth, promoting a sense of togetherness.
Heal & Grow with Nickie
55. Shorty Got Low
Dance has always been a part of my life, and as I got closer to turning 50, I had my eye on something new and exciting: auditioning for the Minnesota Timberwolves Senior Dance Team. I’d been counting down the years until I hit the minimum age, inspired by a theater friend who was having the time of her life performing with this NBA crew.
When audition day finally rolled around, I walked into a room packed with nearly 100 dancers—twice as many as the year before. Old doubts could have easily crept in: Am I good enough? Do I look the part? But instead of going down that road, I made a choice. I told myself, You’re here to have fun. Think of it as a free dance class, and soak up the inspiration from everyone brave enough to be here today.
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I recently tried out for the Minnesota Timberwolves senior dance team. Did you think I was going to say that I tried out for the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team? That's silly. Of course I wouldn't do that. I do not know how to play basketball. Anyway, I auditioned for the Minnesota Timberwolves senior dance team and I want to tell you all about it because it was a really great experience for me.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to Heal and Grow with Nikki. I'm your host, nikki Kraminga-Hill. Here we explore anything and everything that might support us on the journey to mental wellness.
Speaker 1:From hope to grief, possibilities to challenges, joy to heartache nothing is off limits.
Speaker 2:Let's reflect on our lives and discover ways to heal and grow together. I'm so glad you're here with me to heal and grow together.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you're here with me, hey. Hey, if you like my work and would like to support me, one way to do that is through buy me a coffee. I have a link to buy me a coffee in this episode's notes. You just click on that link and then you can donate $5 or, you know, $500, and that money goes to me and helps support my business. So thank you so much for considering. Hey y'all, I am recording in my mother-in-law's basement today, so just in case it sounds I don't know different or sounds like her house, although I don't think any of you have ever been here before. That's why I'm just recording in a different spot.
Speaker 1:Okay, so on to the Minnesota Timberwolves Senior Dancer Auditions. It was so much fun and I am really, really glad and really proud of myself for even showing up. So for a little bit of context, I have a really good friend who has been dancing with the Timberwolves senior dancers for a few years now and she loves it and she cannot say enough great things about the organization. Like the Timberwolves as a whole. She's essentially working for the NBA, which I think is really, really cool, and I always love talking to her about it. She and I are friends from years gone by, theater friends. My very first professional show she was in and we've done many shows together since and she winded down Is that a word? Winded? She wound, she wound down her theater career and is now dancing for the Timberwolves, which I just think is really freaking great, and she's just so happy with it. And I just I was like, oh my gosh, I really want to audition for this. I really want to, except that the minimum age is 50. So for like two years I've been like okay, I'm excited to turn 50, because when I turn 50, I'm going to audition for the Timberwolves Senior Dance Line. So the minimum age is 50 to whatever. I have no idea how old their current team is, but they're, they're really fun, they're so fun to watch and anyway. Anyway, I just I really couldn't wait to audition. I've been looking forward to it for literally like two years.
Speaker 1:So I kept my eyes peeled for when the auditions would be and as soon as I found the info I registered and had to wait about a month for the audition and I was so excited for that day. I was so excited and I went with a couple of my friends, which was really fun for us to just be there together and to dance together. And we walk in to get our number. You get a um instead of like calling you by your name or anything like that. You just get a number that we all put on our right leg, sort of like a like if you're in a race like a marathon or running or something like that. So I was number 85.
Speaker 1:And there were 100 people there and I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't 100 people. I think there's only 19 or 20 spots on the team and I thought, oh gosh, there are just a lot more people here than I was expecting. And there was a current member of the senior dance team standing right in front of me and then there was another current member standing right behind my friend. So we all started talking and got a little bit of the hubbub from these current members, who I just have to pause and say all of the current members that we met were so fun and kind and just welcoming and and in fact that I never actually met the coach who was teaching our choreography to us, but she was fantastic and she had like a panel of people there that I she introduced who they were, but I don't really know who they were, but I think the person in charge of Timberwolves entertainment was there.
Speaker 1:All these people work for the NBA and it and that didn't really hit me until I got there. I was like I'm just going to go to this fun little dance audition. And then I got there and I was like, oh, this is sort of the NBA, like that's so cool but also a little bit intimidating, and I had to get that out of my brain immediately. I just I had to get it out of my brain. Anyway. So, standing in line, waiting to go in, talking to these current members, and they said, um, wow, this is like double the amount of people we had last year. And I had watched the video from the auditions the year before and there were maybe 50 or 60 people there, and so word is getting out that this is a great space to be in, which is like, yay, good for you Timberwolves senior dancers.
Speaker 1:But also a little bit like as someone who's auditioning was like, oh yeah, there's just a lot more people than I was expecting. And I had to for myself, because I know myself now better than I did the last time I was auditioning for anything. I know myself pretty well and I just had a quick chat with my brain and I was like you are here to have a great time, you are here to dance, you are here to be inspired and empowered by the rest of the people that actually got up today to do this. So look at this like a free dance class instead of an audition and just do the best you can, because that's all I can do. That's all I can do is the best that I can, and I would not allow myself to get all wrapped up in how many people were there and if they were quote unquote good dancers or not, and you know, I just I had to say you have to stop it. Like, don't, don't keep going down this competitive path, which is exactly what it was, you know, because we're all competing for the same thing and I was like, and just look at this as how can I have fun today and how can I meet some really cool people? And that 100 percent helped me have like, just an incredible time. I wasn't worried about am I good enough? Am I cute enough? Am I thin enough? Am I? You know, all the stuff that I've always worried about in the past and have had to in my defense I've had to worry about those things. Um, and just like, look around the room and see all the people that were there and just be so thrilled and happy about that. Um, so, okay, blah, blah, blah, shwa, shwa, shwa.
Speaker 1:What happened at the audition? We all learned three counts of eights to that song. I think it's called low and I don't know who it's by, but you know the song is like should've got them bottom jeans, jeans, boots with the fur with the fur, the whole club looking at her. She hit the floor. She hit the floor. Next thing. You know, should've got low, low that one the floor. She hit the floor. Next thing, you know, shorty got low, low that one. Yeah, so just a really really fun song Like great pick, great pick, coach Kayla, that was a really fun song for us to dance to. So we learned three counts of eight and she went over it and over it and over it and over it, like she was a great teacher, her choreography was really fun. I think she's the one that choreographed it, I don't really know, but she was a great teacher and she was really patient. So we learn it and then we break up into groups of six according to the number that we were given, and we do the dance in groups of six. And so I got to wait around quite a bit, since I was number 85, and my friends were also, you know, they were like 86, 87.
Speaker 1:And I have this rule for myself when I'm at an audition is that until it's my turn to go, I'm practicing I always stop and clap for the group that has just danced, because that is the polite and kind thing to do. Plus, it's just etiquette, is you? You? You applaud for the group who has already gone. So I stopped and I applauded for everybody. But I ran that thing, you know upside down, you know sideways, you know just so that I would know it. Because if I'm sitting there, if I'm in the actual audition and I'm thinking about what comes next, then I'm not in the moment. And so I rehearsed it every single time that I could until it got to my number. I rehearsed it facing every single direction in that room.
Speaker 1:Because that's another tactic that I like to do for myself and for my students is, once I've learned something, okay, let's mess it up and let's change which direction we're facing and let's change where we're standing in our alliance. And anyway, it got to my group and and I just remember it being fun, I think that I well not, I think I didn't make a mistake, which I don't super care about that, because I think that, like, go ahead and make mistakes as much as you want, how fun are you to watch? So I think I did. Well, I felt really great about it and I had so much fun and I thought, if this is it, if this is all that happens, that's fine with me, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1:And then they said we're going to take a break because when we come back, we're going to make a cut, which means that they're going to ask some people to stay and do either something else or repeat the thing that you just saw, or repeat the thing that you just saw, um, or repeat the repeat the dance that you just did. They just they want to see more from you, um. And so they the team of people that were adjudicating us, which was like four or five people left and we just sat around and talked to people for like 40 minutes and it was. It was very fun and a bit nerve-wracking because it took 40 minutes and the previous slash, current Timberwolves senior dancer, said oh, they've never made a cut before. I think it was smart that they made a cut, because 98 people is just a lot of people to be looking at at once. But I also took note like, oh, they've never done it like this before, so this is a change for everybody.
Speaker 1:And then they came back and they take a picture with everybody and then they say OK, we're going to call your number, and if we call your number, we want you to stay, and if we don't, thank you so much, you are allowed to go today and you want your number to be called because you want to stay. And my number was called and I was with two girlfriends. One of them was also asked to stay and one of them was told that they could go, which was just a bummer. Hey, timberwolves, that was a dumb idea because she totally killed it, but anyway. So those of us that were asked to stay learned three more counts of eight, for a total of six counts of eight learned. And then we divided up into groups of four, and then that was it, and then that was it, and then that was it. They. Let us all go after that.
Speaker 1:Um, they did say that the current team has two more games to dance at, and so they're going to wait to announce the next, the next year, next season's team, until after the current team is done. The current team's last performance, last game, is September 11th, so I'm not going to find out for a while and and that is okay, right now, at this exact second, I would really, I really want it. I have other work booked, um, so, as I write the second with the information I have, I would love to do it, um, and if I don't get it, then I would love to audition for them again in the future. It was such a positive experience and they were just, it was so the whole thing was just really well run and organized and I really appreciate that. Yeah, so I would audition for them again, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:And but overall, regardless of whether I am offered the gig and I can take it, or I'm offered the gig and I can't take it, or I'm not offered the gig, my huge takeaway from this was, well, multiple things. Yay, yay, yay, hooray, hooray, hooray was the first thing. First thing, I'm so proud of myself for showing up, because, if you've listened to any of these podcasts or if you're a personal friend of mine, you know that it's just difficult for me to show up, for multiple reasons. I showed up, I danced my heart out. I was really proud of that too, as someone who used to be dancing every day, who now the only time I dance really is when I'm choreographing, and I'm still not dancing very much because I'm creating movement and putting it on other people and they are the ones that are dancing it. So I would say I'm still moving quite a bit, but I'm not dancing very much, and I danced my booty off that day.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, everyone. I don't know what happened to my recording, but the last three minutes that I've recorded have completely vanished into thin air, and I don't even remember what I was saying. So I guess that we will just end it here for this week. If you haven't checked out Smorgasbord Arts yet on Facebook or Instagram, please do so, and if you haven't signed up for the Smorgasbord Arts monthly newsletter, please do so. All of those links are in this episode's notes. We would love to stay in touch with you and let you know what's going on with Paul and I and Smorgasbord Arts, but mostly and as always, thank you so much for healing and growing with me today. Bye.
Speaker 2:This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, health or professional advice. I am not responsible for any losses, damages or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.
