“More Flair, Less Fear” 

Changing Lives through Dancing by David Woodbury                                      

Arthur Murray Santa Monica

I hesitated in writing this blog. The Palisades Fires were just an 8 minute drive from my home, and a 10 minute drive from our Arthur Murray Dance Center.

The smoke and flames were fully visible from the ridge ½ mile from us. The fires began and became unstoppable with 100-mile wind guests. Unbelievable.

Tuesday after the fires began, we slept fully clothed in the living room with the cats in their carriers. Then on Wednesday, a frantic alert was issued to leave immediately. Our street was patrolled by police bullhorns saying: “Mandatory Evacuation” “You Must Leave Now”. People were running and piling their cars full. It was frightening and chaotic.

The smoke and fires were so close to us. We fled with two cars packed and two kitties. An unbelievably kind family took us in and gave us a private basement apartment for us and for the two kitties for as long as we needed to be away. It had a kitchenette, bath, private entrance and we had a place to park on the street. I still cry thinking of their kindness. We evacuated for 5 days.

As the fires raged, first we knew that some of our student’s homes had burned. Also, if the wind had shifted, Santa Monica could have had the same fate as the Palisades. I’ll never forget looking at the sun over the ocean, red from all the fire and flames. Even the sun looked like it was on fire. All that separated us from the inferno was a small valley between the two cities.

Finally, on Sunday, we were cleared to return home. Our house smelled as if a family of smokers had lived inside. Soot and ash were everywhere outside, and ash was still falling from the air. We were so fortunate that we had a home to return to and that our business was safe, although closed for a while. Our hearts go out to our lovely students who lost everything, everything.

So how to you keep on going? Well, we knew that our students needed us to be open, so we resumed our normal schedule and many students started returning to their dancing.

Earlier this week, I heard this phrase “More Flair…Less Fear”. It made me realize that we had all been in fear from the fires and that we had been living in a horrible uncertainty for many days due to the unpredictability of what had happened and could still happen before we had heavy rain this past weekend.

Our studio has quickly become busy again. We are even having a show on February 7^th, Showstoppers. There is nothing like a dance show to clear out the mind and sooth the spirit and rejuvenate the body.

So now, I am adding much more flair each day to all that I do, and I am focusing on joy rather than fear.

My prayer for you who are reading this blog, is live in hope and joy, and add more flair and passion to your life. The Tuesday of the fires started as a normal day that ended up changed the lives of thousands of people in just a few hours. I won’t live in fear. I cannot control earthquakes and fires, but I can control how I feel and how I think.

As Kathryn Murray always said, “Put a little fun in your life…Try Dancing”. What a great way to live!

Thank you for reading and Keep on Dancing (with flair)!

“Dance & Thrive in ‘25”

David Woodbury