- Two classes, 2 hours, of Detroit ballroom dancing last semester in Ashland.
- One hour of basic ballet with my friend Lindsey Grudnicki one time.
That's it, that's all. And here's a little tidbit that might make you chuckle: because of the way my brain works, this makes logical sense to me: I am fairly athletic, as well as strong, fairly flexible, in very good shape, and have very good eye-hand coordination, normal coordination and reflexes therefore dancing, while admittedly not easy, should not be impossible if I apply myself. You know where this train lets off.
I honestly have a tough time getting an objective understanding of whether or not I have any rhythm. That might be my attempt to let myself down easy. I like dancing, I really do. I actually think a lot about what I could have been good at if I had applied the same intensity and hours towards skills other than baseball. I doubt I'd be close to Caleb's talent level; you all know how easily some of these things seem to come to him. But I do always, always, constantly wish I could breakdance or throw some hip hop out there whenever I felt like it. Ramblings aside though I loved this class. The Sevillanas are difficult to categorize. They are not flamenco simply, more of a gazpacho of flamenco and much more ancient and localized folk dances. (gazpacho is pretty much the famous cuisine of Andalusia or southern Spain, a delicious mix not unlike tomato soup but thicker, usually with vegetables and any number of meats mixed it. When you dip hot fresh bread in it it's delicious. It's name is also a colloquial term for anything mixed, especially for those of mixed heritage. I'm not entirely certain if being called gazpacho is considered an insult) The dance consists of four Sevillanas, each broken down into three or four copas or groupings of steps. After two hours Victor had those of us who were really making an effort moving comfortably through the movements of the first two Sevillanas, quite the feat. The dancing room was too small for the 25 or so of us, and (typical) the only fresh air came from one window high on the wall and a standing fan in the back. It's a good measure of how intrigued and entertained I was that I only remember these trifling details upon thinking back hard on the class. I am excited to go back tomorrow night for an hour to reinforce the first two Sevillanas in my mind and hopefully move at full speed. Tennis shoes stick much too much but I don't have any shoes without a rubber sole, so I may just dance in my socks.
Secondly, Eddie and I got to do our first hour of volunteering with little Spanish kids today. It was enjoyable enough, but the guy we were working with spent most of the hour trying to settle the group down and get them excited about playing Spanish bingo. We thought we were going to be helping with playing sports, soccer and basketball etc. We may do so in the future but today we sat in a circle for an hour going over names etc. It was beneficial in the sense that the kids speak very simply and directly so our understanding of spanish was more than adequate to get by with them. Marta, the girl who runs these after-school programs if you will, said later we could help with classes trying to learn english and other different stuff. We only do two hours a week, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons but hopefully it will be good for us and fun for the children.
I go to southern Portugal this weekend with a travel company here in Sevilla and Eddie and I are stoked for it. We also booked a flight to Alicante, a beach town on the eastern coast of Spain for five days at the end of October for 25E, or roughly 35$ roundtrip. all in all we might pay 100E for the whole trip, food and all. And Eddie hit it off with two girls from Alicante a week or so ago and they have been helping us find a good hostel and agreed to show us around etc. Sweeeeet. All in all it's looking like a very busy month.
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