Um… jazz hands?

I stepped out of my shell a bit tonight and went to two dance classes: belly dancing and hip-hop. Belly dancing was a hoot — the instructor was hilarious and everyone was there for a good time. I was, of course, absolutely awful at it, but I got the gist of it pretty quickly and I’ll do a lot better next week.

Hip-hop, on the other hand… Whoo. I went in knowing it wasn’t going to be club dancing, and that’s what I wanted: a “real” dance class. Unfortunately, there were a few things that complicated my ability to judge whether I want to take the class:

1. Biggest of all: the instructor was a sub, and professed that she was really more “jazz” than “hip-hop”. Alright, so what’s the class really like?
2. There were fewer than 10 people in the class, so I could see myself in the mirror at all times.
3. The music was kinda lame. Some Jay Sean feat. Sean Paul mess. I wasn’t expecting Royce da 5’9″ or Tech N9ne or anything, but still.
4. …That shit was fucking advanced.

Since it was a sub, she just sort of choreographed a song on the fly for us, but the moves weren’t really beginner moves at the pace the song forced, though.

Also: I often forget how incredibly damn physically awkward I can be. I dance fine when I don’t have to move my feet much other than a two-step, but have me twirling and tapping and sweeping my legs and arms and shit, and I’m going to be all over the place. And I was. Coulda been fun, but the instructor was definitely looking past and around me as she offered critique to the class. I was that bad.

Didn’t help that no one else participating in the class was new. The other person considering joining did exactly what I would have done 3 months ago — sit in a chair and watch.

One thing I (luckily) neglected to think about when deciding to go was the fact that dance rooms have big ass walls of mirrors in them. Ugh. Two major motivators for me to get in shape and lose weight — 1) ease of movement, 2) not looking like a fat-ass in a wall of mirrors. Vanity, y’all. Way better motivator than fear of the ‘betes.

Anyway, I think I’ll do both classes this month, although it essentially nixes my Monday evenings. It’s only 4 classes of each, and both have the potential to be awesome.