Hello world!
So…
As I mentioned before, I was planning to try west coast swing again at an event along with bachata.
We had rehearsal for Midsummer on Sunday. Husband was practicing the fighting and action scenes after rehearsal, and I was talking costumes with people. He was still rehearsing, but I had costume stuff I wanted to shop for so I decided to go early. Off I went to the Nippori area which is (hahahahahaha, I knew this already and totally forgot) closed on Sundays!
So, I decided to head to Roppongi early, before the dance thing and wander a bit, because I don’t know Roppongi at all. It felt like a whole different country.
I went to find where the event I'd planned on attending was, and walked past it to hang around Roppongi station, and read my book and drink some wine by myself while I waited for the thing to start. Then, I headed back and paid the fee to enter. I saw the cool West Coast swing couple I'd met, and got checked in by another guy I didn't know, who I later learned was the bachata teacher.
I was super shy at first, but the West Coast Swing lesson was the super basics that I'd already known, so I felt better. After that was a basic bachata lesson, which I also felt pretty ok with. I don't know much bachata, but it weirdly feels really comfortable and easy for me to pick up. We learned a kind of complicated move after the basics, and he moved quickly with the lesson which was fine with me.
Then the social dance began! Lots of people joined by that point, and the majority of the dance music was bachata, with a bit of west coast swing thrown in. I danced maybe my first successful west coast swing dance this night probably XD There was some merengue also thrown in, but I didn't remember what I'd learned of it as a kid, so I skipped it. Also a few salsa songs were thrown in too! I was excited and asked someone to dance right away, and they asked me "1 or 2?" and I was like "...Huh?" and they said "New York or LA?", which I misunderstood as like a "where are you from" question, so I was like NY because that's where I was born, buuuut then he started leading something I did not at all understand, so that's how I learned that there are 2 types of salsa.
I danced with an Australian guy and mentioned that I was an English teacher, and he said there's a whole group of English teachers there, and he introduced me. One girl was super excited to see that I also have a tooth gap! I have a love/hate relationship with this little feature I was born with, but she made me feel happy to have it. Also, on the topic of my natural features that I have love/hate relationships with, my hair was a star this night.
I mentioned that I was half Dominican, and they all got excited and introduced me to their Dominican friend, and then I found out that the bachata teacher also is Dominican! They told him, and he lit up and asked me, in Spanish, if I could speak Spanish, which I could understand what he was asking me, but my natural reaction was to respond in Japanese to tell him that I didn't know Spanish, and everyone laughed XD
Anyway, I danced nonstop, met many amazing people, fell even more in love with bachata, and am planning to go again this Sunday (and maybe swing too if rehearsal lets me)! Then on Monday, I plan to go to the salsa place I went to in Ebisu again!
My work life is a crazy hectic mess, but I'm looking forward to the days I can dance to get me through the week.
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