Dear Friends,
All live classes will be paused through August 16th!
In just a few hours, my daughters and I will be flying out from San Francisco and literally traveling around the world over the next month! If you are interested in the details of our itinerary, please keep reading below:
We have a layover in Singapore for 2 nights to break up our long trip before taking the second flight to Johannesburg. From there, we will take the third flight to a smaller town called Durban, and make our way to Soweto.
We are joining a once-in-a-lifetime two-week delegation trip organized through my daughters' school, Mark Day!
Our first week will be visiting eSibonisweni Primary School, which Mark Day has had a partnership with since 2001 and has been providing girls scholarships to their young students. Over the past 20 years, Mark Day has continued to support these students beyond primary school, into secondary and university levels, and in the recent years has watched the first original scholars graduate college!
While there, our delegation will split into various stations such as leading crafts, organizing sports activities, painting buildings, testing kids vision, etc. I volunteered to lead Stop Drop and Dance classes whenever and wherever they need me! Sometimes it will be during recess for the whole school, sometimes it will be for a particular classroom or grade level, and sometimes it will be a spontaneous activity! All I know is that dance is a universal language and I am ready to communicate with these kids through music and movement!
PS Our entire delegation of 100 staff, teachers, students and families will be performing our "Can't Stop The Feeling," routine at the Welcome Assembly on the first day we arrive!
I'm SOOO excited (not sure how everyone else feels haha!).
The second week, we will travel back to Johannesburg where Mark Day School has had a long-standing partnership with Kliptown Youth Program (KYP), our second school visit, and again we will break into different stations and I will be teaching dance! This partnership is very close because every other year, Mark Day School sponsors staff and students from KYP to come to San Rafael for two weeks and integrate into our classes and do home stays with families, and the year in between is when Mark Day brings a delegation to visit South Africa!
Our days will be long but eventful as we also sprinkle in sightseeing such as the Apartheid Museum, Freedom Square, or Mandala's House, as well as Game drives and viewings! I actually don't know the full itinerary but that's part of the adventure!
As you can imagine, this South Africa delegation is very popular and Mark Day School has to hold a lottery to keep it fair for all interested parties. My husband couldn't take that much time off of work so I didn't plan on going, however, on the final day of the deposit deadline, I was out running and halfway through, I took a detour and sprinted to the school to turn in my check at 11:59am (due at noon)!
I had a moment of clarity in that moment and remembered what I learned from the pandemic:
There's never going to be a "perfect' time.
If an opportunity arises, take it.
Decide what's right for you.
Life is too short to wait.
Say yes!
At the tail end of our travels, my girls and I will fly through Paris where my husband will join us for our one week "family" vacation! We will also visit San Sebastian during that week, and I'm sure we'll get to slow down and relax after our busy schedule in South Africa.
I fly back on Wednesday, August 16th afternoon, and although I will be jet-lagged and exhausted, I didn't want to miss any more classes so I WILL be teaching bright and early the next morning!!! Hope to see you at UU Marin - 240 Channing Way, San Rafael!
Save the date for our first class back:
Thursday, August 17th!
75 minute Stop Drop and Dance birthday class for Kathy Green and Lisa Hudson (theme TBD)
Happy Birthday Laura Tollen!
Thank you to everyone who came this past Saturday in "The Garage" to celebrate Laura Tollen's birthday! We had such a wonderful turnout for our final class before our one-month summer break! Laura chose our 70 minute playlist, danced up front the whole time, and even led two of our dance routines wearing her Minnie Mouse shirt!
PS if you missed my story from class, my older daughter made me promise I would wear those ridiculous shorts in exchange for her agreeing to wear our matching Mickey shirts from a Disney cruise in 2019 (which is way too small and uncomfortable for her now). I agreed and kept my promise! =)
Keep each other accountable!
There is an entire month of content on-demand with all the previously-live Stop Drop and Dance, HIIT and Yoga classes since mid-June! Current members will not be charged for the month from July 17th-August 16th, and will have free access as a thank you for your support. Non-members can purchase classes a-la carte just like a drop-in!
Please get together and hike, bike, pickleball (???), or dance in someone’s backyard to an on-demand recording!
Stay connected - after all, you know who's free on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings at 9:30am too! Just like Kathleen Belzer in the photo above, I'd love to see your summer travels wearing our Stop Drop and Dance shirts, or snap a photo being together with someone else in our Power With Grace community, or send a video of you doing a dance with a friend!
I'll try to update all of you as well from time to time during the month if you're on social media:
Personal:
Instagram @gracelingyu or Facebook @gracelingyu
PWG Community:
Instagram @thepowerwithgrace or Facebook @thepowerwithgrace
Stop Drop and Dance Tutorials:
Instagram @stopdropanddanceofficial or Facebook @stopdropanddance
I will miss all of you! Thank you for your support and understanding as I take this month off to embark on a new adventure with my precious girls!
Love,
Grace
