Just because I'm training, does not mean I'm going to jettison my social life. But it means I've had to be more creative when I hang with my friends, ie: less booze/greasy food, more cross training. So one of my best friends, Victor, and I enrolled in a fun beginning hip hop class to stretch out those leg muscles. Now, I don't claim to be a fantastic dancer. My formal dance training has been limited to Hula. But that at least prepared me to connect beats to movement. Apparently, alcohol-induced booty shaking doesn't qualify as true hip-hop training. Who would've thought?!
Our teacher's style does not incorporate, as he likes to put it: "skanky Britney Spears booty popping" . While I personally find that style wildly entertaining, I opted for his more sedate approach because I feel it adds more personality. His style is specifically "Urban Hip Hop", which is the same style as his friends, the Jabbawockeez (the amazing dancers in the video above). With the proper execution, I think it appears phenomenally clean and precise. But for novices like me, it looks like I have ants down my shirt. Luckily, Victor and I don't take it too seriously and we're in it to have fun; ultimately enticing our friend, Noel, to join us last night. Boy, was he in for a surprise...
Instead of our normal easy-going beginner class, our teacher brought his dancer friends; launching us into the intermediate realm. It was akin to leaping from the first stage to the last stage of Dance Dance Revolution (not that I've ever played). They twirled, leaped, and bounced like there was no tomorrow. And not to be outdone, Victor and I threw it down with everything we had. Now I'd like to tell you that this played out like a spectacular dance movie, with the underdog, us, winning the showdown. But, let's face it folks, Janet Jackson, I am not.
In the end though, we still danced better than we ever have before. My friends and I were beaming and giggling, despite the sweat. So naturally, that merited a well-deserved meal afterwards. To me, dance is an art form that benefits not only the audience, but the dancer himself/herself. And if I'm smiling at the end, that was a dance well danced.
Note: Check back in with Victor and me in a couple of months though, and we'll tear up the dance floor with those people, Step Up 2 style!! Accept defeat? NEVER!!!
2 comments:
Yay! No defeat!
I haven't ever played Dance Dance Revolution either. Do you feel like that makes us bad Asian-Americans? I am sort of afraid that admitting this online will result in someone demanding we turn in our memberships.
uh oh...lookout, the Asian American police is going to show up at our doors tomorrow morning. Make sure you've cooked a pot of rice at least.
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