A Day in the Life of Kevin

The day starts early, he likes the quiet that you find first thing in the morning it helps him prepare for the day ahead. It’s still dark when the alarm goes off and it’s usually a struggle to get out of bed. But by the time he’s showered and brewing coffee he’s glad he made the effort. Given his status Kevin could choose to sleep in all morning, but that’s not his style. You don’t get to be the king without doing the hard work. Now he’s made it to the top he feels a duty to keep sharp; he’s not one to rest on his laurels.

After his coffee and a light breakfast he might skim the newspaper for a while. Then it’s time to get down to business, being the king does allow certain privileges and Kevin is lucky enough to have a dance floor right there in his castle. It’s downstairs right behind the entrance hall where he receives official guests and performs other duties incumbent on the king of the dance floor. He skips down the long curving marble staircase. The walk to the dancing room is a kind of warm up, it helps him to get into the groove so to speak. He loosens up as he makes that trip.

Once he’s in the dancing room he selects a few favorite tunes for his first dance of the day. Usually a playlist that lasts about two hours, although on some days he’ll cut it short. It’s important not to overdo it in the mornings you see. For the morning dance he’ll stick to music he’s familiar with and he’ll run through all of his favorite dance moves. This isn’t a session that’s for innovation or perseverance, this is more about holding on to the joy of dancing. The morning dance is just about fun.

After the morning session Kevin usually showers, it’s normally getting close to ten by the time he’s clean and refreshed. A snack on some fruit helps him keep his energy up. Kevin feels that a big part of maintaining his reign is the diet he tries to adhere to. Mostly fresh foods, a lot of fruit and vegetables and only a little meat. Plenty of water is important too, so he takes the opportunity of the mid morning break to rehydrate. Sometimes another coffee as well but he’s conscious on the dehydrating effects of caffeine so it depends on the intensity of session he’s just had.

Late morning is a busy time mentally for Kevin. He concentrates on research over this period, finding new music, watching online videos of other dancers and generally trying to keep up with the latest trends. Or spotting what is about to be a trend. To a point this is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, if Kevin spots an emerging trend that he likes, it will inevitably blow up. Not necessarily because Kevin was particularly prescient, but it will become popular because it’s what the king has begun dancing to, or the new dance style he’s adopted. Of course not every trend in music and dance is attributable to Kevin, he takes no responsibility at all for dubstep, in fact he distances himself from it as much as possible.

After the morning of research it’s time for Kevin to take his lunch. This meal he usually has prepared for him, it’ll tend to be very salad centric with maybe some freshly baked bread as well. He’ll take his time over lunch, it’s an opportunity for him to relax and digest all of the research that he’s been doing in the late morning. The learning isn’t forced, he tries not to adopt things deliberately. It’s more of an osmosis by which these new trends and fresh ideas naturally make their way into his repertoire. He’ll sometimes read a book or do something else not related to dancing as his lunch settles, this is his pause in the day.

Once the meal and the fresh ideas have settled, Kevin heads back to the dancing room. This session starts with a long stretching session, not that Kevin gets particularly tight or sore. It’s more of a way to keep his body as tuned as he can and to keep in close connection with his body. This will be a much longer dance so he wants to be prepared. When he’s feeling limber he’ll ease his way into the day’s main dance. The playlist for this session will usually incorporate some newer music, things he’s found and listened to over the last few days. It’s a constant process of finding new things and trying them out. The dance innovations usually come from things he’s seen or improvised, added to some new music or a different setting.

In some of these sessions he’ll invite other people to his dance floor. While he often likes to work alone, particularly if he’s working on a new move or style, it’s important to keep his skills tuned in the context of a crowded dance floor. It isn’t difficult to fill the floor when he requires it. Who wouldn’t want to dance with the king on his own private dance floor, right here at Boogie Castle.

The main dance session of the day can sometimes roll on for hours, especially on the days when Kevin isn’t alone. The dance floor takes on a life of it’s own and Kevin is just the vehicle for the music and movement to travel through. It all depends on the day, the magic isn’t always there but if it isn’t, Kevin will persevere for as long as possible. He can’t force the magic but he can force practice. And practice is the only way he can keep raising the bar and pushing the level of dance across the kingdom.

Once the time comes that Kevin feels he’s done his dancing for the day he’ll thank any guests that might’ve been there. Have a debrief with his royal DJ, maybe asking him to flag particular tunes that he enjoyed or point out any that aren’t working and take them off future playlists. He’ll keep drinking water to rehydrate again, this is normally the hottest sweatiest session of the day and he knows the importance of recovery.

Another shower before he heads to the main dining hall for his dinner. Over the last few hours Kevin will have worked up quite and appetite so dinner will be a large meal. This is sometimes a time when the king will entertain guests, although with his flexible afternoon schedule there can be notoriously long waits for his guest to be received. On the occasions where he is entertaining, Kevin will have some wine with his guests. He tries to keep the alcohol to a minimum on normal working days. It’s a different story of course when it gets to the weekend. After an official dance session on a Saturday night, Kevin will open the champagne and enjoy a few drinks with his friends. On these nights he’ll socialise and talk with friends and subjects long into the night. But on most days it’s a quiet affair in the castle. After dinner he’ll retire to his bedroom, maybe watch a movie or read for a while. But he never stays awake for too long. He’s already thinking about waking up tomorrow and starting again.

He loves the dance and he loves the process of perfecting and progressing it and working on it every day. Tomorrow is always another day to work on his dancing and to discover more music to dance to. Even if he’s tired when he wakes up, or if he isn’t inspired when he starts to dance. Kevin has come to understand that he has to dance regardless.