Michele Rene Munz is a Health Reporter for the Saint Louis Post Dispatch – and a Hip Hop Dancer. Add Mom to this and you’ve got quite a powerful combination. What really inspires me is that she somehow manages to do all three.
Michele started out taking Dance at three years of age and grew up listening to Michael Jackson. Apparently – she could actually do the Moonwalk. Something I still want to see her do! She remembers hours spent rehearsing in the mirror – and the enjoyment that dance has brought to her over the years.
When she went to college, she moved away from Dance and into track and field. This experience brought her many good things – including her husband! However, it left little room for dance and it wasn’t until the birth of her first child that she decided again to reconnect to the old world.
Now it was time to find Dance classes for grown ups. Having tried to do this myself – I can tell you it takes some work. Eventually she found Kari James, now at Technique Studios, and started moving again. And, most importantly, she found kindred spirits. Great Dancers without a competitive attitude – that still manage to push each other to be better – to advance.
Whether Michele was talking about running or dancing – there was a consistent theme. She was always finding a way to get better – and I admire that. I also admire that she has taken risks and time to herself in order to pursue her dream. She has gone to LA and taken classes at famous Edge and Millennium dance studios. She has also gone to New York to study at The Broadway Dance Center. She is doing all of this - at an age when most people quit. Instead she works to make herself better. And her husband watches the kids!
One of the things many Moms ask me is - “How do you find the time?” I think this question is about the guilt we all feel for taking time for ourselves. The answer is – “First you find support, then you don’t try to find time - you create it! “ I think Michele’s dance experience shows this. When I asked her about making time for dance and being away from her kids, she said she thinks dance – actually makes her a better mother. It recharges her batteries.
What I like is that Michele doesn’t let her fears, or old-fashioned notions of who can dance - get in the way. She knows that happy moms are better moms! So make time for you kids by being an example to them. It’s time to get out and Dance! I know I am going to really enjoy a little Hip Hop. (Just ask my family- LOL)
