Ceroc Dancing

Since late last year, I’ve been taking some dance classes in a style called Ceroc.  It’s been a great opportunity to meet a few people, learn to dance, and have a fun evening out that’s not sitting at home!

As can only be expected, the dance class is mostly women, but we have a good few men in the class who are learning as well.  I’m surprised at the ages of the different classes – I’ve seen people from about 20 all the way up to their 60’s learning to dance.  I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s because of shows like “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing” that some people are in the class – but I have to say whatever the reason, its been fun to dance with multiple partners – and even more so, to have partners that actually WANT to dance and are enjoying themselves too.

So, you ask me, what is Ceroc?

Well, it’s a male led dance that is a combination of modern swing, jive, salsa, and merengue.  It also has steps from the Tango and Rhumba, but not necessarily all the complex footwork.  It’s fairly easy to learn – and in a single class, you learn enough moves for most guys to actually “look” like you know what you’re doing on the dance floor. 🙂 Oh – and the best part? It can be danced to almost any type of music you want. There’s over 250 steps by the time you make it through the highest level advanced levels – with the beginners learning about 18 or so in the first 6 weeks. They’re done in any combination (as led by the man) and it’s always a treat to see the different styles of the people on the floor – in combination.

I don’t have any videos or pictures of myself dancing (I’ll see what I can do), but I can give you a few samples, thanks to youtube. The one at the top of the page is an intro to one of the mid-level classes, and the one below is as well. The bottom one is a guy teaching some modern jive – but he also teaches ceroc – and you get an idea of how the steps are introduced.

Now, anyone want to dance?

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Swimming at the Schlactensee

Yesterday was my last day of German classes. I had to leave early because I’m getting ready to move to Ireland in the next 2 weeks. It’s been a great class, despite this June and July being the hottest month in Germany in 110 years (Nearly 3 weeks of over 100 F temperatures), and I’ve made many friends from around the world through my classmates.

On Thursday, after learning the Dative tense and prepositions galore, it seemed like we all were having a headache or not feeling so well in the very hot room. We had lots to drink, but despite it all, we were wiped out. Anke, our awesome teacher suggested that we take a day off and head over to a lake and go swimming as a class. She thought we were doing well enough for a day to relax, cool off, and practice German in the “real” world where we needed it most. We all promptly agreed that it was a great idea – and would rather do that than spend another day in a 122 F classroom trying to make our mind work when all we wanted to do was cool off.

So, we met in the front of the school on Friday, swimsuits on under our clothes, towels and picnic blankets in hand, and headed out.

On the S1, there's no a/c - and at 37C, we're hot!

(William from Cuba, Julian from South Africa, and Yanli from China on the train)

40 minutes later (and one unexpected slam on the breaks stop on the U-bahn that nearly knocked me over – thanks guys for catching me before I fell!) we arrived – still melting from the heat, but looking forward to the lake shore.

Mohammad
Jair thinking about the swimming

Mohammad from Egypt and Jair from Brazil

I was pleasantly surprised – the place was rather large. It had nice terraces for setting up the blankets under pine trees and built-in stairs toward the water. The entry to the water was restricted by bushes spaced out by 3 to 4 foot wide sandy areas, and there were the occasional oak tree dipping down toward the water as well. We looked about for 10 or 15 minutes – because in the heat, the place was quite full. Finally, we settled on a spot one terrace up from the water, one terrace down from the Soccer and Volleyball area. Katlyn and Julian quickly unpacked and settled in, as did the rest of us.

Julian and Katlyn settling in

Mohammad enjoying the shade

William reading a Cuban book

Once we were settled, some folks decided to head off and play volleyball for a bit, while others decided to play badminton.

off to play some soccer

Off to play Volleyball

Anke, our German teacher
(above and below) Anke (from Germany – our teacher) and Terry (from New Zealand – isn’t he supposed to be watching the birdee?) playing Badminton.
Terry on the phone - not watching the birdee

Still others decided to stay behind and chat. Finally, after the others returned – having worked up a sweat in the heat, we all decided to head down to the lake for a swim (or to put our feet in the nice refreshing water!).

Mohammad, Nabil 1
Mohammad (Egypt) and Nabil #1 (Gaza strip, Palestine)

Nabil 2, Yanli, Jair
Nabil #2 (Lebanon/Ireland), Yanli (China), Jair (Brazil)

I joined in playing keep away, monkey in the middle, and bouncing the ball back and forth for a while. Finally, Jair decided to teach the guys how to dive into the water “Brazilian” style.

Jair explaining to Julian

The thing with this conversation is that Jair speaks Portuguese and Spanish. Julian speaks English and Afrikaans (A creole of Dutch, German, English and African languages). They both have had 2 months of German. Thus, the explanation involved tons of hands and mixed languages….After a bit of concern, Jair finally talked the guys into heading to deeper water…

Jair talking the guys into learning Brasilian diving

and showed them how to set up – while he took the first dive (a back flip off of Kai’s Shoulders):

Jair showing how to Brasilian Backflip Dive

Not very long after – Jair convinced Julian and then Kai to do the backflip (Julian at the start, and mid flip):

Julian launching into a back flip 1
Julian launching into backflip 2

Kai (from China) :

Kai learning to Dive Brasilian style

After all that diving, the guys decided they were hungry, so we headed back to the shade and enjoyed chatting and some refreshment.

Just the guys

Yanli and the cola

By 6pm, we were all tired, and decided to head home. It was a fun day, and a fond farewell from classmates who really made a great impression on me. Guys, when you read this, know you’re invited to Ireland – and have a place to stay. Oh, and Katlyn – I love the dirt drawing:

:-/ x 2

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New Hair Cut

After a few months of my long hair becoming rather unruly (ok it was almost to my waist) I got sick and tired of being unable to brush it, put it up (even the big bear claw clips wouldn’t hold it without bobby pins), or do much with it.
Sunday, after posting the blog, I went to lunch with friends and happened to see that a haircutter’s was open. It was windy and my hair was just a complete tangled mess. So…. I went in and the result was:

Day?: New Hair style
Yep, I got almost 12 inches cut off my hair, and I think it’s cute. I can still put it up a bit but it’s not so crazy as to be what it was. What do you think?

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