Hello, long time no post. Ahhhhhh, where to begin! There's a lot on my mind and I need to get it in order. I'm not sure how much of this I will actually post for the world to see, but for now I'll type it all out for my own benefit.
I guess let's start from today, and work my way back?
8/31/2023
Anyway, today I've just returned home from the first opening social dance of a big bachata workshop event thing in Tokyo. The Bachata Media Japan Sensual Festival Summer 2023. It's 4 days long, I believe, but I'm only attending this portion, because the full pass is expensive, and I have to work. 😭
It started with an hour-long lesson from this really good dancer guy Masahiro who I have been following on Instagram, and I had been wanting to try dancing with him. He is Japanese but he is living and dancing in Spain. I saw that this event was happening and was on the fence about actually coming. Usually Thursday's are my regular HTDC dance class, but they didn't happen this week, and Alisa asked me about coming here, so I decided yes!
I danced with Masahiro, and even though I have no video proof, it was super fun! His lead was great, he smiled brightly and his fun energy was contagious. I would love to have some more dances together to learn his lead more, because I think even if you dance with the best dancer ever, you need to dance a few times to get used to their lead and really know how it is to dance with that person. Dance chemistry, skill level, and natural talent, there's so much that factors in, in my experiences on the dance floor. I danced with some of my favorite dancers I know well in the Tokyo dance scene, and then danced a few new dances with dancers from Korea and Taiwan, and they were SOOOO good, probably my favorite dances of the night!
There was a tiny bit of salsa thrown in occasionally, and the first salsa song that happened, all of my HTDC dance classmates - current, ex, and from before my time - paired up and took over the dance floor 😆 It was fun, totally unplanned, but we all paired up with each other and danced in a group together.
I felt really weirdly nervous at the beginning of this event. I know and have danced with so many of the bachata dancers of Tokyo. I knew dancers who are amazing, experienced, beginner, and everything in between would probably be here today.
It was disgustingly hot, sweaty, and crowded! I got to dance with some great dancers, and some that I didn't have as much chemistry with 😅 And even the dancers I knew well, it was so crowded that it was hard to dance well. But, my main problem of the night was that I kept getting into my own head. I've had a lot on my mind work-wise, and it's bleeding over into my happy place of dancing too much lately. I'll go into that more maybe...
Let's go to last night now, 8/30/23
I went to a salsa on 1 dance event in Akihabara. I work in Kinshicho on Wednesdays, and there's a few random dance events in the area that also happen to be on Wednesdays. This one was at a place called Egoland that I think is fairly new. I walked in and didn't know what to expect. It was a really nice cafe on the first floor, and the second floor was the bar and dance floor. The lesson was almost over by the time I came, which I'd expected as I came after work. But also, I don't think I need any more salsa lessons besides Hirotaku's anyway 😆 Sometimes, I like to go to the lessons before socials to see what the other dancers are like and what levels they are at though. But anyway, I jumped right into the dance floor, and got lots of compliments on my dancing right away 😁 The teachers of the lessons' compliments meant a lot to me. The girl teacher said that by the way I walked in, she knew I was a dancer because of the way I moved and my confidence. The guy teacher, after we danced, asked me if I'd done performances before because of the way I danced. Basically, my Leo self was super happy to get this much attention and a reminder that I am a great dancer 😊 I was feeling a bit not-great about my dancing lately.
And then, I was thinking on the train ride home how thankful I am to Hiro and Taku for making me become such a great dancer! Actually, I think this a lot when I am at social dances and I can do something I couldn't do before, because learned from them.
But, anyway, I think I'll end this one here
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