Humbled on Wednesday, Happy Today

Well, I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with BYU's Folk Dance program (probably not many of you), but it's something that I was introduced to this semester, and have grown to love. It was no surprise that I got onto one of the teams considering I'm a guy that tried out. Trying out was one of the main qualifying factors for guys to get on a team. Basically every guy who tried out made it to one team or another. Not to brag, but I have always considered myself a fairly good dancer. It's a talent for which I'm very grateful and enjoy very much. With that being said, the best Folk Dance Team at BYU is the Performing Arts Company (or PAC). To even try out for PAC, you have to have a special invitation. To my surprise, I was invited to try out! Now, keep in mind, there are only about 8 spots to be filled for guys and there were probably 25, maybe 30 guys there, many of which have been folk dancing for years and have lots of experience in other types of dance. All I have is a little bit of Social Dance background and a fairly quick learning curve.

Well, Wednesday evening was the first part of tryouts. They taught us four different types of dance: Ballet, Slovakian, Bollywood and Clogging. The Ballet wasn't hard, it was mostly just controlling yourself and your movement. We did a little bit of Slovakian in my class this semester, so it was halfway familiar, but still hard. The Bollywood was tons of fun, but also very hard. Wednesday when we were learning it, I wasn't getting it and was getting rather frustrated. Then we did Clogging... ha ha... I have never done anything even remotely like Clogging. About 10 min into the Clogging, I found myself wishing we would just go back to Bollywood, it was that bad. I was finally able to sympathise with the guys who just can't get dancing down. I had a nice big piece of humble pie for dessert that night.

Friday after dance class was over, my teacher came up to me and had to tell me that Edd (the man in charge of PAC and SPAC, Spring Performing Arts Company) on multiple occasions commented on how good I was doing and wanted to know who I was. That made me feel much better about Wednesday night.

This morning we finished tryouts. Not having really practiced much since Wednesday night, I didn't really feel too much better than on Wednesday. However, I did realize that my chances of making it on PAC are pretty darn slim, so I aught to just have fun and enjoy the fact that I even had the opportunity to tryout. So that's what I did.

Today was setup somewhat different than before. We all practiced together at first then went out of the room. We were called in by our numbers to dance in small groups so Edd could see us better. In each of the dances, I was called in in the first group to go in to dance. After attempting to just get the rhythm somewhat down for Clogging, Edd pulled me aside and asked how much Clogging I have done. Zero. Zilch. None. He said that I'm a natural dancer, but I really need to learn the actual steps. Wow, that was quite the confidence boost! After everything was over, we had an opportunity to show some of the other things we know besides what they taught us. So I went in and did a coffee grinder and a few flips. They once again asked how much dance I have done. Just a little bit of Social Dance. "Well, we had better see you next year" he replied.

I won't know until June ish if I made PAC or not. But I'm not holding my breath. I plan on taking some clogging this Fall. Perhaps I can make it onto SPAC for next year or possibly even PAC! Who knows. All I know is that I love dancing and it would appear that I at least have some potential in Folk Dance. So all I can do is keep dancing and doing my best and we'll see where it takes me!