Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody!

When I was still in Sacramento, my dancer friend Jamie told me all about how she was going to South Korea to teach English as a second language. I am definitely thankful for her because without her knowledge and courage (and being my human guinea pig), I may have never decided to teach English here... because I would have had my doubts. And now, since she has been here longer than I have, she is my swing sansei. She knows where to go, who to talk to, where to get the information... she's just got it.

So I've been out swing dancing a total of three times and let me tell you something, Koreans definitely know what's up! I would have gone out more, but I've been kinda sick :( Anywho, my theory on why Koreans are so good at swing dancing is the mechanics of it all. Koreans know how to execute a move that is taught to them. It's like a math problem, you input one two triple step and out comes Lindy. Also, practice makes perfect and Koreans know how to work. I actually learned recently that Korea works the most out of any other country in the world. True fact.

If I go out on the dance floor and ask any random Korean to dance, they will not only know how to lead, but lead the moves they know very well. Probably 75% of the time. If I go out on the dance floor and ask any random Korean to freestyle, that would kinda be like throwing a wrench into the works. See, all Koreans can regurgitate moves, the really great dancers have musicality as well.

Then it comes to me dancing with Koreans. I'm about 75% musicality aka I do what I want! So there is tension (haha get it? get it?) at times. Also, I'm a lot bigger than most Korean woman... and I'm not just saying height (there are actually a lot of Koreans taller than me), but frame. The women are petite and on average weigh 100 pounds (if that). I found out this past weekend that my shoe size is one size bigger than the biggest shoe they carry for women here. So you could imagine that dancing with me might be a little different then what the leads are use to here.

Nevertheless that doesn't stop them from asking me to dance! Jamie told me on our first night out to not be surprised if nobody asks me to dance because most of the time Korean men are really shy. So I was prepared not to get asked to dance. But luckily that wasn't the case... we were both asked to dance a lot.

All the dancing bars are in the Seoul area, so from the first step out of my apartment to the first step into the dance it takes about two hours. I have to take a bus to the subway, then transfer subways, then walk to the venue. It sounds like a long time, but for some reason time flies on the subway. It never seems like two hours.

All in all, I can't wait to go out dancing again. It's amazing. Not only because of the dancing, but because of the interaction. I don't get to interact with a lot of Koreans because for one, I don't speak Korean and two, even if a Korean knows how to speak English, they are usually too shy to speak English to me... they are afraid to be incorrect. Also, they have this family/group mentality which makes it difficult for an outsider like me to make new friends, because I'm not a part of any group yet. Hopefully I can be part of the Lindy family/group. Once someone has danced with me they usually open up more, and I like it. I want to get to know as many Koreans as I possibly can. They are good people :)

Video Time!

The Tranky Doo, Korean Style.
Lindy Hop at Happy Bar


If you are someone in Korea looking for a good night of swing dancing, check these blogs out:

Nalla's: Lindy Explorer

Adamas': Social Dance - Swing Dance in Korea

And it's also nice to know the metro website:

Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation