Swinging

Among the numerous activities I have decided to jump into since coming here, one in particular has grabbed a hold of me. It makes me feel the same way I felt when I made my first jump shot and played my first Squash game.

Swing Dancing.

2 times a week every week I trek an hour to swing dance. The lessons are held at a relatively new Swing bar called Ringopop bar The dance instructor knows little English but is very helpful and very patient. The language barrier was never really an issue. Dancing is itself it's own language and all you need to do is allow yourself to understand it. It's not impossible and not nearly as hard as French was and is for me.

The beginning level class was called Jitterbug Swing. My first class was probably the most difficult one. It was my first dance class ever and I came late and I missed the previous class. I was really really behind and I could tell that the women there were getting annoyed at my inadequacies. I felt like crap and after the break I said to myself I would never do this again.

Now, during each dance class the men rotate through each female partner until everyone has danced with everyone. This helps us get used to each other and also allows us to adjust to everyone's different dancing styles. In my case it also meant that I would irritate every woman in the class one by one for the whole evening.

Until I met the one who made this experience an Experience. She is an American woman from Philly, a professional Salsa dancer and a fellow English teacher. Her words of wisdom were as follows:

"Just channel Chris Brown..."

Now, those that know me, know that I absolutely hate Chris Brown. This hatred comes WAY before he beat Rhianna with an Umbrella--L-uh--L-uh--L-uh---aye. I don't like him because of his silly music videos, especially the first one he made...

But, it worked. After her words of "wisdom" I started to emulate Chris Brown. I am embarrassed to say that Chris Brown is my inspiration but it's truth. Because of him I am now a decent Swing Dancer....this is my confession. Sorry Jesus.

Fast Forward 2 months later and I have graduated from the intro Jitterbug Swing dancing class and I have an excellent partner. We both have the same drive for perfection and success. The video below is of our final graduation performance. We practiced really hard for it albeit last minute but I think it turned out alright...


Enjoy!!