Showing posts with label why I dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label why I dance. Show all posts

Thursday 24 May 2012

A Proper Introduction

Hello, world! Since this is supposed to be my first blogpost, I should introduce myself, but firstly, thanks for stopping by to read my blog at the first place!

I'm a relatively new salsera and west coast swinger. I started salsa on February and West Coast Swing on April. However, the world of dance isn't a stranger to me, as you can read in my dance background page above.

So why am I blogging?

Don't I have some dancing to do? Of course I do, but my dancing takes up my weekends by a few hours only, which leaves plenty of time to do my second favourite thing - to write!

This blog would consist of my journey through salsa and west coast swing - as of October 2012, this blog would document every dance genre that I'm trying out from my dance scholarship with Jitterbugs which will include ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and definitely not forgetting tap dance! - which includes tips I learnt from class, browsing and sharing videos, online products to purchase and wear, and my blood, sweat and tears.

It's good to know I'm probably not the only dancer that jots down their progress. David Wilson of DaveTriesBallet documents his ballet progress, so why not do one for partner dancing? After all, the dynamics of partner work in social dances differ greatly from theatrical dances as they are improvisational in nature rather than choreographed.

What inspired me to take up salsa and west coast swing?

Many of my classmates in my first salsa class commented saying I'm too young to pick up salsa and left comments like, "Aren't people your age taking up hip hop or stuff like that?" I saved them from my sob story of being in a really disorganised street dance club in my high school and just said, "I just wanted something different."

I knew a few friends to does ballroom dancing too. Back then I thought to myself, "There isn't a need to look so flamboyant to appear attractive as a girl, I'll just keep on being my quirky artistic self." However, after a while, I had to give my stubborn mindset a revamp. Plus, watching videos of my friends' performances in school made me even more curious. Excitedly, after my International Baccalaureate exams are over, I inquired about the start dates for salsa dancing at Jitterbugs Swingapore. Even though I was initially deterred from the fact that they needed to postpone classes because of the lack of signups, I got hooked after staying on my first night of socials.

I remember coming home around 11 pm gushing to my mom, "OMG there are university students on social dances and I even managed to catch up to patterns that wasn't shown in class before and there's this cute guy can I stay late on Fridays?" in which she promptly commented on my excited state and that I need to calm down so I don't scare people, and then granted me permission to stay late.

Thus begins my perilous journey through the complexities of social dancing.

What about west coast swing?

West coast swing socials would happen concurrently with salsa dance socials, so after much coaxing from a salsero to give west coast swing a shot, I decided what the heck, there's nothing to lose. So I tried it and I am loving it so far. However, I am tuning in especially around this time when I'm just beginning. My dance teacher made an observation during socials that there are swingers who attempt complex patterns, but completely dismiss the fundamentals of swing dancing, thus appearing really messy. So it is vital that I pay extra attention during the intro classes so that I don't lose the basics as I go into more advanced partner work.

Stay tuned to see more of what I can collect so far. Until then, keep dancing!