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Finally! The summer session has drawn to a close, which means no more teaching for me for the next 6 weeks. While I'm certainly overdue and eager for some good r&r, I would also like to say that working with these students has been a true pleasure. Once again, I managed to be blessed with a vibrant, energetic, creative and witty group of students. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and getting to watch them get to know and bond with each other over the course of the summer.
For anyone who might be curious to see some of what I did with the students and to see what they're capable of, you can check out the website I set up for our class at myspace.com/room712. (If you're curious to see the article I wrote for the blog, you'll have to go through the older blog archives - I believe mine was the very first post.) There are also some class pics on there, as well as a rather embarrassing video of me.
This is Cannon, my star swing student. He originally came to swing class because his roommate, who was supposed to come but didn't really want to, sent Cannon in his place. Well, Cannon picked up the steps quickly and really took to the dance in general, blossoming into a good, clear lead. In addition to being a good dancer, Cannon proved to be a priceless member of my little swing group, often helping explain the moves to others in class, staying after class to continue to practice with people and even meeting up with people outside of class to help them work on steps. Before I knew it, I found myself reaching for him whenever I needed a demonstration partner in class.
However, Cannon was a senior this past year, which meant that he'd be graduating and therefore would likely be unable to continue with swing. So, you can imagine my delight when he told me he'd been accepted into a master's program at NTUST - that meant two more years of dancing with Cannon! I was thrilled at the prospect of him sticking around, thinking I could cultivate him into a real dance partner. So, you can perhaps also imagine my extreme disappointment when he recently informed me he'd be doing his military service before starting his graduate studies (all males are required to do a year's military service here in Taiwan). Even though I know he'll be back after a year, he will be greatly missed in the interim :-( So, here's a big salute to Cannon for all of his help and enthusiasm - we'll miss you, Cannon!
Seems I just can't stop these feet from dancing! This summer I stayed true to my mission of bringing swing dance to the peoples of Asia and ran some beginner classes during the summer session. The downfall was that I had different students coming each week, so it was difficult to build on anything and had to stick to single step the whole time. But the upside is each week I had a decent turnout and may have found a handful of kids who'll keep coming back for more once the semester starts up again. Plus, those who did come had fun!
Okay, so it's taken me until the throes of the humid Taipei summer to get this going, but finally here it is! My time here in Taipei has gone by rather quickly, most likely due to the constant demands on my time from my job. But now that summer is here, I've finally had a chance to get out and about a bit more.
For starters, a couple of weeks ago I went out on a class outing with my summer students. Our fantastic entertainment coordinator, Ariel, arranged for us to lunch at a place called Modern Toilet - a fun restaurant in which the decor and even the serving plates all revolve around a bathroom theme. We then went on to the National Palace Museum where I was eager to see Taiwan's version of the crown jewels - a cabbage. That's right, Taiwan's prized possession in their national museum is a piece of green and white jade carved into the shape of a bok choy cabbage. While cute, I can't say the cabbage was nearly as impressive as the excessively intricate ivory carvings. Though in the end, I think I may have been the only one truly interested in any of the exhibits at the museum, as the students were all eager to head out for a night of dancing on the sofas at a karaoke joint.
