Background

I did not grow up dancing. It is almost completely foreign to me, with the obvious exception of the times I have been forced due to social norms to awkwardly gyrate in displays of public humiliation. I once tried to fix this… in college I took a couple semesters of modern dance classes to get out of my comfort zone a little, but for your average night out dancing this is not so practical and honestly I’ve long forgotten most of what I learned. So, this month I am being challenged to learn to dance!

The Requirements

In order for this challenge to be a success, I must complete the following tasks:

• Attend three 1-hour dance classes per week.
• Go out and dance at a club once per week.
• Write about my feelings towards dance before the challenge begins and after it is finished.

Before… 01-Jan-2015

I’m not going to lie… I feel uncomfortable dancing. It was never something I did growing up. I never learned the steps, styles, none of it. Oddly enough I used to be a musician and generally have a good sense of rhythm, so you might think dancing would come easier for me, but it definitely does not.

Some people are so natural when it comes to moving their bodies. You can see them light up and come alive the second they begin. I would like to feel that way, too, instead of having dance be such an intimidating and nerve wracking affair for me.

I feel that when it comes to my words and thoughts I am very liberal and carefree (perhaps to a fault), but when it comes to moving my body I am much more conservative and restricted. I like exercises such as lifting weights and swimming where proper technique and strict form are very important to avoid injury and achieve results. When I learned how to play songs I would repeat them methodically until they sounded the way I wanted them to, and this was a very technical process for me. Dancing to me seems like an improvised world where control is lost and I have no idea what to do… which is perhaps why people like doing it so much.

I’m looking forward to pushing myself way out of my comfort zone and generally feeling even more comfortable in my own skin. I hope to have fun, meet new people, and make the best out of this challenge.

I have decided to focus mainly on salsa dancing as there are many opportunities for practicing in Cusco and it looks like it could be fun… 🙂

After… 01-Feb-2015

Well… after a month of salsa dancing I have made some great progress, but I admit that it (and dancing in general) still does not come naturally to me.

I suppose the hardest part of it all was simply getting over my hesitation towards dance and walking into my first salsa class. It honestly was not as bad as I thought it would be. I found that the steps were pretty technical, and this was really good for me because it was something I could practice over-and-over again until I got it right. I’m still very much lacking getting to the point where the steps are a part of me and no longer memorized movements, and I suspect that this will improve with continued practice.

Dancing with a partner was also a new challenge. Learning my own steps was hard enough, and then trying to make them match with the movements of another dancer definitely led to some funny mishaps. As with everything, little by little we were able to put it all together and at the end it kind of looked like we were dancing… kind of, haha! When it worked it was really fun, and it was a nice way to get to know other people, too.

I definitely felt more comfortable in the classes where everyone is about at the same beginner level and learning together than I did at the clubs. In the salsa clubs it’s a whole different world. The music can be fast, and if you miss a step there is no starting over. The nice part is that all of that honestly doesn’t even matter. As long as you are having fun you just keep on dancing, and I guess that is the point of it all… to relax your body and feel comfortable moving in your own skin, which I believe is the deeper challenge underlying my desire to learn how to dance.

Successful?

I successfully completed two out of the three components of my challenge:

• I went to all 12 of my dance classes
• I reflected on my feelings towards dance

However, due to work and illness I only made it out to the clubs twice this month to bust out my new dance moves.

Nevertheless, I consider this challenge a success! I pushed myself to finally do something I´ve always wanted to do, I’ve found that I am starting to enjoy it, and I’ve made new friends in the process. I have already signed up for another month of dance classes and have been challenged to continue dancing in the month of February, 2015; therefore, the Year of the Dance continues…