Why Did I Come to Japan?

 Ok, so you know how there's that show where they interview foreigners in Japan in airports and ask them what they came to Japan for? Well, they finally got me after 6 years XD But, it was in Shibuya, not an airport. Anyway, I was wearing a red Hell Bunny 50's style dress on my way to a big swing dance event called Mood for Swing during Golden Week, because I hadn't swing danced since just one time in December 2022, since I'd started dancing salsa, and I wanted to see if I could switch between the 2 dances after getting so used to salsa dancing. Also, maybe I would be better at swing after improving so much with salsa and bachata?  Actually, it was really hard to go back to swing at first, I felt like I had to break ALL the salsa rules, and my body wouldn't leave salsa mode XD But, I was able to eventually get it back. It was fun but, man, salsa still has my heart. Salsa is definitely number one for me now.

So, anyway, they stopped me as I was wandering around in circles trying to figure out which bus I needed to catch from Shibuya to get to the hall. I generally avoid taking busses, and even more so from Shibuya.  They asked me about why I was dressed the way I was, so I explained that I was on my way to swing dance, and I guess they thought that was interesting XD I was speaking Japanglish, and then they wanted me to dance for them, but I was like it's a partner dance so I can't really, (and I suck at solo jazz...), and also I hadn't done swing dance for like half a year. So I told them about salsa and how that's the dance I've been into and am good at now. And then he was like, we really wanna see you dance and what's your favorite move so I was like fine, and I taught the interviewer guy basic swing and salsa steps, and then for favorite move, I just did some solo traveling turns cuz I just like spinning! 

I also mentioned as my reasons to live in Japan as I studied abroad in Nagoya and how I just really love daily life in Japan and how my husband is Japanese and a bit about my job and how I love it.

Anyway, this got me thinking more deeply how I should answer this question. It's not like I really have one specific, or simple, or easy of a reason. But also it is kind of is. I just wanted to live in Japan!

I have found (created?) such a perfect unique happy place for me here. It's so specifically perfect for me. I don't think I could ever have found something like this in America. In America, I never felt that I completely fit in anywhere. Like the song, I was always too weird for the normal, too normal for the weird. Even in my friend groups, I'd sometimes just feel distant, lonely, right outside of some secret bubble that I just didn't get. In Japan, no matter what I do, I am automatically gonna stand out as a foreigner, so strangely, though there is always going to be a difference between me and most people, there is no invisible bubble. I mean, sometimes there is that bubble, but it's not secret. I get it, I see it, it's there, and so do they, so it doesn't matter. Or it isn't there at all, and people are interested in me and want to get to know me, then truly like me for who I am. I like to know for sure, yes, there is that bubble or, no, there isn't, and I can do that here.

Then, I've got the bestest husband ever here! I mean, we met in the US, and he isn't the main reason I came to Japan, but I'm glad he wanted to be here, and he chose me to be here with him. He introduced me to a part of Tokyo I didn't know at first, the part that I might not have been able to find on my own that I'd always wanted to get to know. Well, maybe I would have after time, but not as deeply ingrained into the community as I am. He is in a band, and through that, I got to see and meet and learn a lot about Tokyo's underground music scene. I can call so many talented musicians around Tokyo my friends! I can walk around Koenji and recognize the voices of the singers from Nopella or Tekonogenri on the street, and come up and say hi to them. I wrote my name on the wall of an Italian restaurant called Uscita along with the band members who have played live shows there before.

Then there is my job. I literally grew up singing, dancing, and on stage. My major was in Theatre Costuming. Instead of being just an English teacher which I'd assumed and accepted would be my only option as a job here (which actually I found that I truly do enjoy working with kids and teaching once I'd started doing it), I found a job where I get to do that WITH theatre. How is it even possible to find a more perfectly specific job for me?? And, I get to design costumes now for the big yearly production we have! I get to do the thing I actually went to school for, but had given up ever actually doing?! And then I have met 2 people who have become some of the best friends I've ever had through this job, Chloe and Sky, along with dozens of other interesting, fun, talented, people. I don't dread going to work, and they actually like and appreciate me there, and I feel so comfortable with everyone. I've never been so happy and sure about wanting to stay at a job in my life. I'd be lost if I couldn't work here anymore!

And then there is dance. I did a bit of swing dance on and off, but never really fully felt like I was part of the community, though I met another one of my best friends I've ever had, Mo! And a lot of other nice people too. But then covid happened and dance didn't for a while. And then, you all know by now if you read my blog and follow any of my life online, the story of how I got into salsa. Specifically the Hiro Taku dance community, I love them! They are my everything. Yeah, I know I can dance salsa anywhere, literally, the styles of on 1 and on 2 salsa were born in the US, like me. But, this dance company, these teachers, these students are amazing people, really talented and passionate about dance, hard working, but still so much fun. And they like me, accept me, and truly care about me and accept me as I am. And then I also have another little salsa community in Nakano on Saturdays, who quickly accepted me into their community right after I showed up suddenly after work one day. I really love these people, and couldn't even have imagined before, how much salsa would matter to me, and how it would bring me so much love and happiness in my life in Japan! It's especially funny, because I'm half Dominican and didn't really interact much with that side of my family since I was a little kid.

Japan is not just anime, fashion, food, and culture, although I like all those things. I could write whole blog posts about each of those 4 topics alone. But, my main thing is that I just really love my every day life here. 

The interviewer asked what my goals are for the future in Japan, and my answer was simple: to keeping doing everything I'm doing now!

Dancing and Life Lately

 Now that Yes We Dance is over, our dance lessons have calmed down.

I've moved up from the advanced class into the expert class! 😱 But, I'm also still going to the advanced classes, along with the upper, and bachata classes too. Almost all of the students who performed in the upper class for YWD have moved up into advanced and started bachata too!

Anyway, about the EX class! So far, I feel like it's right at the level where I feel that it's hard, but I'm not in over my head. I'm learning new things, and feel the challenge of it, and have moves I want to improve on. I'm at a similar level to the other students in the class, and super passionate and determined 

We are currently doing on 2 salsa, which at first was the BANE of my existence.  I'm sooooo glad I got used to the basic steps already!  Of course, the EX class is reeeaaaallly quick paced and a lot more difficult and strict, but the fact that I got used to how on 2 works has made it way easier for me. We are learning a lot of new turns, and stepping up from double to triple turns, and more! And, we're learning new shines, which are super hard for me. I like partner dancing more than the shines, but shines are gonna be important for me to learn and become better at if I want to advance even further as an HTDC dancer....which I totally plan to do 😁 

Something really fun we started this week was learning the advanced class Yes We Dance routine, but the on 2 version!! I'm not sure if I'm at an advantage or disadvantage as one of 2 students in this class who already learned the on 1 version of this dance 😆 Yuki also performed in the advanced class routine with me (along with EX) in YWD.  I thought that at first, it would be hard to switch between 1 and 2, but actually, we're both getting it pretty quickly 😁 There were 3 minutes left in the class this past Thursday, and I mentioned that, when everyone was winding down and taking off their shoes. Yuki half-jokingly asked me to dance, and I seriously was like, uh yeah! Let's dance until we all the time is up! So, we did the on 2 version of the first part of the routine 2 more times in the last 3 minutes of class 😆

In the advanced class, the class has so many people now! All of the upper students moved up, plus almost all of my classmates from before are still there. It's been mostly a review of things I pretty much know, but I didn't get to learn them as detailed because when I started HTDC salsa, it was right as we already started learning the YWD routines, so it's been nice to have the breakdown of these moves in a more chill atmosphere. Actually, something really cool that happened on a Sunday after the lesson was that I got to be Taku's dance partner for the video part at the end of the lesson! Usually Hiro and Taku demonstrate what we learned and let us have this video time to record what they taught us to practice at home, but Hiro had to leave quickly, so I got to be part of it! Actually, I got to do that before, also. I was used for an example to show how to do moves a few times for the upper/beginner class, but I didn't think I'd get to for advanced and bachata!

Well, anyway, that's probably all for now. I'm loving dancing and my job, and then I come home to my loving husband, and I am happy 💕 Life is good!

Yes!! We Dance 2023

 We did it!! It's done! Yes We Dance 2023 happened and I was a part of it!

I'm feeling so many emotions and don't even know how to put into words how amazing of a day and experience this was for me. 

So, I guess I'll start by going through the day! It was my first day of Saturday classes for the new work school year. I had to get up extra early and do almost my full makeup for the YWD performance in the morning. I packed up my bag with my costumes, makeup, shoes, and camera the night before. 

My first 2 classes are the same class level back-to-back, and all of the students who I was told were a bit difficult ended up leaving the class before the semester started! The first class was supposed to be 10 students, but it went down to 6 sweet girls. The second was only 2 students, but only one came. And my assistant for these 2 classes is really experienced and super nice, helpful, and easy to work with. Actually, all of the people I work with on Saturday are awesome! Then, after those 2 classes, in my schedule there is a writing class but it has 0 students, so I have a long lunch break...which meant finishing touches on makeup, and practicing the shine parts of my dance routines!

My afternoon classes were also all really good kids, and I found out that all the naughty students also left these classes! From 10 rowdy kids to 6 manageable kids. One of the classes has some girls who do dance, so I used stretching as a warm up for the class (and for me XD). Then, I found out that since I'm using the biggest room, and another teacher's class at the end of the day is really big, I actually HAVE to leave my classroom after my last class super quickly, and don't have to worry about cleaning up, so I was out the door at 4:50!

My goal was catching a 5:04 express train, but there was also a 4:56 train...I SPRINTED to the station and I actually got it! Another random bit of luck, as I was about to get off the train, right before the doors opened, my phone strap broke and my phone fell.  If it had broken seconds later, it would have been on the train tracks! 

Shibuya was super crowded, so I wasn't able to make another super early train, but I still caught an earlier train to Toritsu Daigaku station than I would have if I hadn't caught that first earlier express train. I realized about 2 stops away that I had gotten on the wrong end of the train, so I had to get from car 1 to 8. One stop before mine, I got off the train and ran along the platform to get past the people and get to the other side. Actually, my friend Kasumi who was on her way to come see Yes We Dance was on that train, and she thought that I might have made a mistake and gotten off at the wrong stop! She called and messaged me, but I didn't see until I was at the hall XD It was a funny coincidence, and nice that she was ready to help me!

I actually practiced getting to the hall from the station earlier that week so I wouldn't need to check maps or anything, just get off the train and go!  I made it to the hall at 5:44 (audience can enter from 5:45 and my original goal was arrive at about 6, show starting at 6:30).  As soon as I arrived, I found some of my fellow dancers, figured out where the stage was and where I should enter from for each dance, then I grabbed all of my partners and practiced our dance bits and practiced the whole dances in the hallway backstage. At one point, I asked for a red bull, and one of the girls got one for me, and I was soooo thankful, and that specific moment was caught on camera 😆

 Then, it was already go-time! We headed backstage, and one of my 3 dances was the first to go! We all cheered for a video and there were photographers, then we were lining up and the emcee was beginning. I didn't even have much time to be nervous! As soon as my first team was called, "Classically Caliente", I snapped into ready-to-dance mode! I'd never felt that kind of feeling before, I was not dreading going on stage as I usually did, I was ready to put on a show and excited to dance! I did well, but there was one little part where me and my partner messed up the timing but we handled it well, I didn't panic and kept the smile on. It was over so quickly! 

Then, I didn't have time to think, I had to run and change into my next costume for our bachata dance. I was performing in dances number 1, 3, and 5. It was go-time for our team the "Nine Deadly Sins"! I was perfect!  I even got my split back for this dance.  I'm never gonna lose it again! 

Then the last dance was the advanced salsa class, and almost all the same members as bachata. This one was the most challenging dance to learn, but I got so much better at dancing because of it! It also was my favorite out of my 3 dances. And, we nailed it!!!

I'm da leader XD

The only 3 seconds that Benjamin was my partner 🥲

Zawachin, PARTNER we were awesome!!

Look at me spin! This was one of my favorite parts of this dance, and I'm glad Yuki was my partner for it cuz we were PERFECT 💖

And then the walkover, we were the first couple to get it during the lessons, and we were soo ready to show it off 😁

High 5 with Benjamin! I'm so glad this was captured on camera 😃

Then, I was done dancing. It was so fast! I grabbed my camera and then ran to the audience and took on my job as photographer for the rest of the first competition half, and also for the second performance half. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mori who are basically dance legends

Like seriously, they are AMAZING

Beautiful all-girls shine team Egoist

Their facial expressions were on point, and they made me wanna try to learn on 2 salsa more seriously 😍

This was the master class, and I think this song, dance, and costume was my favorite from the first half

Then it was time for the second part, where the teachers, Hiro and Taku, the Egoist all-girls shine group, and the master class dancers performed 4 dances in a row, to music all created by Taku. It was BREATHTAKINGLY awesome!!! They are all amazing dancers and the show was so fun! Like, I'm still in awe that I was sharing the same stage with these people, and that I get to just dance with them normally whenever we have social dances! I really get to dance with these pro-level people, like whenever I want, how lucky am I?? 🥰

The amazing Hiro and Taku!

And Hiro looking right at my camera 🥰

This was pretty magical

This dance was so fun to watch!

Taku apparently sewed this whole sheet thing on his own, and it was worth it cuz look at how cool it looks!! 🌊

The winner of the competition was announced at the end when we all gathered back on stage.....aaaaand Mr and Mrs. Mori won, and they sooooo deserved it! Actually, they were who I thought would win anyway. 😆 I saw them perform when I first came to an HTDC event for Halloween last year. They were so good! It was also a social dance, and I danced with Mr. Mori before they performed and I had no idea he was like a god-level dancer! Even though it was my first salsa/bachata social dance, he danced with me, was patient, and always smiling.  And, he still does now when we get to dance, but at least I suck less, and I'm not so shy because I know him, and actually can dance more salsa and bachata now! XD 

After the show, we could go out into the lobby and meet everyone who came. A bit of a bittersweet moment was that one of my best friends in the world, Chloe, who came to see me is leaving Japan, and this was the last time I'd get to see her. 

And then, the audience began trickling out, we took lots more photos together and got to take some flowers, then it was off to the after-party at the same place we had the bonenkai in Nakameguro! We were grouped by team for each table, so I was back and fourth between the advanced/bachata and upper salsa tables. I've hung out with the advanced/bachata squad a lot outside of lessons, and we're all really good friends. But, I hadn't really gotten to hang out with the upper crowd, and when I went over to talk with them for a bit, I felt so loved, everyone was telling me that I make them happy and so many nice things, I wanted to cry. I love you guys! 😭 We made plans to go dancing together!

Then, we went on for round 2 at a bar that the emcee owns, works at, I'm not really sure, I was just following the party! We danced a bit there, then at almost 4 am, I went to Benjamin's place (thank you 🙏💕) to crash.

Then, on Monday night during the time we'd have our usual social dance, we had the video watching party!  Hiro told me that she was glad that they chose me to be in the front for the salsa shine cuz I was so happy and smiley 😁 Ahhhh, to hear these kind of compliments from such an amazing dancer, like, I just can't believe it!

I did it, Yes, We Dance!! is over, and I did well for the first time!  That was my first of many more performances with Hiro and Taku. I have never felt more happy, or accepted, or more like I'm actually talented at something and have potential and motivation to become better at something, until now.

Thank you, so much, from the bottom of my heart, Hiro and Taku, and all of the wonderful beautiful dancers I have met through you 💕