It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a good Ballroom Dance social. The last really good dance I’ve had was in Boston with the MIT Ballroom Dance Club, when I was still an active 21-dancer. That was in 1999. I was actually quite nervous going to Dance eXpress in Plaza Damas. The moment I heard from James "The Handphone" Quah that Yukiko’s having a studio party, I was psyched! But now, as I walked up the stairs of the Hartamas Shopping Centre, I was a bit edgy.
Getting down from the car, I looked myself in the mirror and to my horror, after less than 1 day of having shaved, I was already stubby! I dropped by Watson’s as Sharie and Aisha waited, wondering what the heck’s wrong with this boy. So there we were, the three of us, all dressed in Purple. I had actually had to make a quick dash after Saturday classes, to go buy this (tasteful) Purple shirt. Finally made it to Dance eXpress at 9pm. The party had already started.
We kinda rang the bell, and beyond the glass doors, I could see dancers on the large laminated flooring moving to a Cha Cha Cha. A flood of memories kinda came to a halt, and I gluped down a large one.
Boon Gan greeted us first. "Hi, Sam, Aisha, Sharie… how are you?"
"Hey, what happened to your purple? You’re all dressed in black and (was it) slightly blue?!?!"
"The closest thing I had, he smiled and waved us in."
Ashley and Annabelle greeted us with super big warm friendly smiles, but it didn’t make it easier. I smiled and saw a whole bunch of people I didn’t know. I was so nervous, I didn’t realize that Ashley stuffed a box in my hands. I didn’t even realize until about 1 or 2 hours later what it was.
We quickly scanned the room, and to the left, the bar of drinks and chairs were packed with people, no place to sit. So we made our way aaaallll the way to the end of the dance floor, into a quiet little corner. We walked and walked and walked what I think, more realistically speaking, was for about a minute and a half, and the three of us plopped down. Safe little corner with shadows.
Then, I heard a familiar sound of Rumba. I looked and Aisha and Sharie, and they stuck to their seats, just looking around. I sat for a while. The next song was another Rumba. And then a Cha Cha Cha. I was not going to come dressed all this way to sit down. So, I got up, walked half way across the room, smiled and held out my left hand, asking Soame to dance.
"Would you like to dance?"
Her eyes lit up, and she took my hand.
"Soame, don’t mind my Cha Cha, it’s quite the street-style and I don’t remember all my syllabus…"
"It’s ok, Sam, I’ll do my own thing, too," she smiled so sweetly, I just started on the Basic Step. 2-3-4-&-1…2-3-4-&-1…It was great. I kinda did a CBLT into a New Yorker, quite a lot earlier, and I just laughed it off. Did some waves, grooves, and kinda whacked away at some footwork during the Fan, and lead Hockey Stick after Hockey Stick. Then, I remember that I could do an Alemana. Then a New Yorker, and things started coming back to me…
Then, it was all over, and I thanked her, and she had a good time too, judging by her smile as she when back to her seat. I actually just pity her a lot, ‘cos I’m so Salsa-fied, I kinda had a lot of different hand changes, and did loads of Salsa styling. But, she’s a great follow, and it’s amazing how she’s one of the few in KL who can just take my different moves.
Next was the Foxtrot, so I asked Sharie, and we were laughing all the way to the dance floor… actually, it was just a few steps away from our safe corner. Slow, Slow, Quick-Quick, Slow… I think they call this Rhythm here. Back in Boston, we used to call is "Basic Smooth," or American-style Bronze Foxtrot. After a while I think Sharie got a bit edgy, ‘cos we kinda moved down line of dance (counter-clockwise) all the way to the other end of the floor, where the bar and *huuuuge* crowd (who obviously all knew each other) sat and danced. I almost stepped on her a couple of times, but we managed to make one big circle and she literally pulled me back to our seats after the song was over. There was another Foxtrot.
And then there was another Cha Cha Cha, and Irene was talking with us. I asked her to dance, but I think my leads were either not strong enough, or she just refused to follow my extra spins in between basic syllabus. At that point in time, I had some major issues with my own leads. Was it me?
I sat down and pondered for quite a while. And then, Ashley came up to me and asked me to dance. It was the Waltz. I think it was a good 2 seconds (swear to god, it felt like longer then…) and I smiled and stood up, "I don’t remember a single thing, but sure, I’d love to dance!"
So, I raised my left hand, invited her in, and she came in straight to 4th Position Contact. Sheesh! Thank god for her incredible frame. She kinds helped me keep my posture, and I had to ask, "Do I start… do you start with your left or right foot?"
"You can do a preparation with your Left," she said, all the way over from the right, her side of the frame. And my mind was racing. Whoa! 3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3… I kept doing really basic stuff. Natural Turn, Basic, Reverse Turn, Basic, Natural Turn, and every time I panicked, I lead a Natural Spin Turn. At some point, I figured, hey why not a Whisk. And Chasse. Oh, another NST. Wow, it was fantastic. And before I knew it, it was all over. I think her and smiled and apologised. She said, after a short pause, "Not too bad, you still remember your stuff, eh?!"
I look bewildered, "Actually, thanks to you, you made it very easy, and some of what I used to do came back!"
About 10 mins later, I was shaking my head, thinking, "Oh Lord! What the hell else is there I can do…" And then, Annabelle was upon me, the sweet thing, so encouraging.
"Hey, Ashley came over and was raving about you…"
"What…?! Really?" I said incredulously.
"Yeah," she said. "Would you like to dance?"
"I actually don’t remember much, but some stuff’s coming back to me… I’d love to dance!"
I actually asked her, again, which foot to start with and she said, any foot. "Ok," so I held out my left hand, took a preparation, and this time, went down starting Diagonal Centre with a Reverse, Natural, to Spin Turn… it was amazing. In between this and the next Waltz, I asked her, "hey, what else can I do?"
"What about a Double Reverse?"
"Oh you mean like this?" and tried it, making sure first there was no other couple nearby I would smash into. We stopped and she said, what a sweetheart, "yeah, that was pretty good!"
I actually said, "Really? Hmmm, what else" … and so there we were, Annabelle and I dancing another Waltz, then a Quickstep, and then the Viennese Waltz. Oh my lord!
Before I knew it, more than two hours had passed and I was thinking to myself, I’m going to practice and come back next month, and dance some more! Finally found my box of goodies, it turned out to be the most delicious small piece of chicken I’ve tasted in months! Hmmm, actually, last week I had almost 7 and a half pieces of Chicken and this Sunway Pyramid chicken-buffet place.. but it tasted so good!
That’s it, I’m going to revise my Standard and Argentinian Tango. I can’t wait for next month!
