Year One: When I first heard of swing I honestly thought that it would be the easier dance that I would do in my life. I was wrong. I admit that the amount of physical activity that it requires is ten times harder than it looks. In the first trimester, we learned the basic steps of East Coast swing dance and I was quite surprised by how hard and challenging it was to the right steps in the right moment. Coordination was an important skill that I had to learn in order to overcome my struggles and the intensity of the physical work for the short amount of time was strangely motivating. Another challenge I faced was the transition between being a leader and being a follower in the dance. Because of the lack of interest from the male folks in school, some of the girls had to learn the leader’s part and it was quite funny for me to have feminist thoughts about the names applied and to the partners in terms of gender. Furthermore, it was quite challenging to get out of my comfort zone and learn everything again from the upside down.

The best reward for me was being able to perform in the dance concert in town and realize how happy and excited everyone gets during the performance. I also had to adapt myself to different partners and I learned that we are all responsible for each other and that someone’s fault is everyone’s fault. This way, I understood my own and my partner’s responsibility for the success of any performance.

We also performed for Yule Ball at the song of “In the Mood”, in February to open the dance hall. I have to admit that it made me really happy to perform and being able to see the audience’s satisfaction while we smiled and genuinely wanted to be there. The dance was choreographed by our amazing leaders Simen and Maddie who dedicated their time to conceive that beautiful masterpiece.