One of the best things about travelling is that it allows you to learn more about yourself and others around you.
Being able to social dance, take private lessons, attend workshops and observe how people dance at both the US Open and The After Party (TAP) have me a deeper appreciation of what flight, quality of movement and musicality means. I couldn’t wait to get home and start trying out some new stuff I learnt from Mary Ann Nunez! (It was too cheem to put into use immediately. LOL).
On a non-technical front, I met some really great people on this trip – advance dancers and pros (Joshua Sturgeon, Edwin Li, Kevin Kane, Diego Borges, to name a few) who had no airs and were happy to dance with everyone.
Of course, I had to meet the odd ball who was sore that the Singapore contingent did very well in all the divisions we competed. He bitched to me that he rotated to 2 Singaporean girls during the semi-finals of the Novice Jack & Jill competition at TAP but while the 2 of us made it to the finals, he got eliminated. Duh? That says a lot about your dancing right?
That aside, I also had the pleasure to get to know some truly warm and friendly people of different nationalities – that’s just amazing.
One of the best things I feel was to get to know my first roomie on this trip. I have to admit I didn’t expect to click so well with her but she’s very very considerate and down to earth.
And I also came to the conclusion that I will never be able to deal with people who are princessy or who have inferiority complexes (NB: there’s a difference between someone with an inferiority complex and someone who’s insecure. I can deal with the latter cos they do not have a chip on their shoulder and all they need is some affirmation from time to time).
Another highlight of my trip was getting to know my Strictly partner at TAP. I actually danced with him during the semi-finals at US Open but we couldn’t really communicate because he doesn’t really speak English and I speak no French. Luckily, it turned out that one of my roommates at TAP, this girl from France/Switzerland knew him and was the interpreter cum introducer who suggested we partner up to compete in Novice Strictly. We placed second! So exciting! And so so fun! To be able to dance with someone though you cannot communicate verbally – that’s the true spirit of social dancing!
So that rounded up a fruitful 2 weeks in the US! Lots of things to work on from now till the next trip!
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