Let's Try: Hip Hop Class

On Tuesday evening, I went to try out a hip hop class. Kathy had originally planned to go with me, but when Tuesday rolled around, she was too sick to go. So I went by myself. I arrived about fifteen minutes early only to find that no one was there. I waited around in the stairwell for a while, and around 7:30, the instructor showed up. She unlocked the studio and started getting things ready for class. While she prepared, she asked me the usual questions about where I'm from and what I'm doing in Kochi. I was happy to find that she was very welcoming, and we were able to understand each other fairly well. Not long after, another student arrived. She seemed very surprised to see me, but was also quite friendly. Her name was Makoto.

After some chatting, class began. The stretching was kind of hilarious and kind of embarrassing for me because I am not nearly as flexible as the other people. While they were doing the splits and leaning forward to rest their forearms on the floor, I was sitting with my legs splayed at an angle of less than ninety degrees and struggling to keep my fingertips on the floor. I couldn't help laughing a little. For a warm up, we worked on isolations (moving one part of your body independently from the rest). I thought I did pretty well. Some of it was familiar from jazz class in Boise, and other movements were definitely specific to hip hop.

During the warm ups, another student arrived. Her name was Kaoru, but she goes by Yoshi. She was also surprised to see me. It was kind of funny how much everyone reacted to my presence. Since it was a small class, a new student would be very noticeable, but a new foreign student is something else entirely. Oh well, maybe I'll fit in a bit more once we all get to know each other.

My timing in joining the class was very convenient as they seemed to be starting to learn a new dance. None of us knew the steps, so we worked on the choreography from the very beginning of the dance. The class moved fairly quickly; I could've used more repetition of each chunk before adding on more. Still, if I watched the teacher, I was mostly able to keep up. The other girls learned a bit faster than I did, but I was satisfied with how I was doing. The steps we learned were pretty fun. I would've liked to practice it on my own during the week, but I didn't learn the choreography well enough to remember the steps by myself.

Class was about an hour and a half long, I think. Afterward, there was a jazz class, but I didn't stay for it. With the shape I'm in, one class per evening is probably my limit. I really enjoyed this class and I'm planning to keep taking it. It interferes a bit with the Tuesday Night Social Club, but I can always drop by Hirome after class ends. And dancing is probably better for me than sitting around drinking on a Tuesday night. Since the hip hop class is fun and fits into my schedule well, I think I'll take it instead of the Monday night jazz class.