Thank you, Teacher!

I promised my Cha Cha instructor that I'd honour him in my blog, and announce that he's my first latin dance instructor.  So here goes...

My Cha Cha instructor is Mr Ryu.

Was that good enough?  Nope.  He deserves more honour than this, and I mean it in my heart.

You see, I started taking Cha Cha in November or December and during the first few weeks I stumbled a lot.  I hardly remember the steps, and I had the tendency to knock my neighbours.  So naturally I wasn't the most well-liked person.  Not that I care.  I was more concerned about not remembering the steps.

A couple of months later, I have improved.  Not I-can-enroll-in-competition improved, but I'm now able to remember most of the steps.  And when the instructor mentions a name, I would know which steps he's talking about.  And I've gotten used to my heels, I think.  Although my 'poses' are still belly-dance like, I think I'm blending in with the Cha Cha hand and hip gestures (need to work on my New York hand, though).

The instructor calls out my name less now, that's gotta be a good sign, right?  He used to always say, "Hani wrong turn, Hani wrong leg, Hani this, Hani that... Hani, Hani, Hani...".  Oh, dear.  Actually, I quite liked that -- means he pays attention to his students.  And he really wanted me to improve.  But what got me was when one of the students scowled at me when I got called out.  I wasn't sure because she was upset that the synch was not perfect or because she was sick to hear my name!  Again, I didn't care and I still don't care.

Ok, before I start with a different story, let me just finish this one.

This Mr Ryu has been very patient with my 'disabilities' and has never discouraged me.  Once, I almost burst into tears because the routine was very complicated -- we did a lot of turnings and it felt like you have to do different technique for each turn.  I apologized to him and all he said was, "It's ok, you're still learning".  That's what got me into tears.  Well, almost.  (Could be the hormones...)

Last weekend, we did this routine non-stop for at least 15 minutes.  I got most of it -- stilll stumbled a bit here and there, but I could quickly pick up and continue.  Man, that was a personal achievement!

So thank you very much Ryu, for your patience and for believing that I can actually Cha Cha.  And like I said, I might go away to learn with other teachers but you're my first latin dance teacher!  Also, I'm still gonna get you one black sock!