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Back to the "Swing" of Things

By Hannah Alyea

Not long ago I was halfway around the world surrounded by a completely different culture, language, food, and people and the one thing I missed most was dancing.

I recently came back from Japan where I took a language intensive course in Japanese and was able to experience many new and wonderful things while I was there. Devoting myself to my studies, I ended up taking the entire two months off of dancing. Maybe not by choice, but when I had to decide between dancing for an hour, or possibly getting lost on a train in a place where I hardly knew the language, I ended up sticking closer to home.

Since I've been back in the states I have had no greater joy than seeing all my friends and being able to dance again. The one problem? I felt very rusty after two months without. "Did my hips move like that before I left?", "wait, where am I supposed to be in closed dance frame?", "wow, I haven't done that move for a while", etc....

One thing I have learned is that I need to be patient with myself to get back to where I was. Learning how to move your body is a hard task ,and we should always be patient with ourselves. Mastering a specific move or technique takes more than one day, and whether it's two months or two days, give yourself some leeway to let things soak into your muscles. Patience is something I have and continue to learn every day. Be patient, kind to your body, and never give up on dancing!

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