The rainbow after the rain

In September 2013, I signed up for the Salsa Dance Club not knowing what I was getting myself into. I had no idea what I was even doing there; I didn't know anybody, and just decided to go along with what was about to come. Then I auditioned to be a part of the UW Salsa Dance Team.

The night I found out I passed the audition, and was going to be part of the team, I freaked out big time, and smiled so widely that my cheeks hurt.

I thanked God profusely.

The night I found out I was elected to be a dance instructor for the coming school year, I felt so overwhelmed that I couldn't stop crying from joy.

I thanked God profusely.

Because of dance I have been able to meet some of the most amazing people who share the same passion as I do, and I cannot thank God enough for that. He has blessed me beyond measures, and has given me more than what I asked for. My dance family makes me happy; they make my days a lot brighter, and give me strength to continue pursuing my lifelong dream and passion.

I continue to thank God profusely.

Where God leads, He will provide

It's been a long time since I last posted—8 months to be exact. A lot of things have happened since I moved from Jakarta to Seattle. I've definitely gone through the ups and downs of living away from home in another continent with nothing familiar to me, but I'm not going to go into that too much. Overall, I've had such a tremendous experience living here, and I cannot thank God enough for that.

One of the things that has helped me cope and adapt to life in Seattle is dance. I know it sounds cheesy and clichéd, but I honestly don't know what I would have done or where I would have gone had I not found the UW Salsa Dance Club. It started out with me walking around campus, trying to find a club activity or an organization that sounds fun enough to join, and I just chanced upon seeing the Salsa club. I didn't think much about it at first because I wasn't into Latin dance that much at that point, but I thought that I'd pick it up again since I had learned multiple styles of Latin and ballroom dances back in Indonesia.

Little did I know that my joining the club would eventually snowball to a myriad of amazing opportunities and blessings.

To keep things short and simple, I joined the club, auditioned for the UW Salsa Team and got in, and I am now to be a dance instructor for the UW Salsa Dance Club starting in the Fall 2014 quarter. I'm not kidding when I say that I felt like the most blessed human being on earth when I found out I got into the team, and when the current batch of instructors unanimously voted for me to be one of them! The president of the club said she'd had me in mind! I cried tears of joy that night.

With my fellow dancers at the UW Salsa Dance Team, I feel like I can truly be myself. They can always make me laugh at a drop of a hat until I'm literally on the ground laughing with tears in my eyes! I practice, go to socials, and perform with them—while it's supposed to sound like I have a professional connection with my team, I feel like I finally belong in a community after months of trying to find myself, and who I truly connect with, in this country. I love my team, and I'm super duper grateful that God has blessed me so abundantly ♥

My thoughts on dancing "solo"

Ever since I started dancing, I've always danced in groups or partners at the very least; this past year definitely marks the first time I danced on my own, meaning that I am no longer a part of a dance team, or do I even have a dance partner. Why is that so? It's simply because most of my dancer friends have moved away to go to university, while I stayed back to take a gap year and pursue my lifelong dream. Only two of my fellow dancers go to a local university, but they're still very busy with school, so I don't get to see them that much.

My dance team members (a.k.a. my best friends forever) and I after a late dance rehearsal

Transitioning from dancing with a partner/team to suddenly being on my own was somewhat disheartening because I no longer had anyone to share all of my worries (for dance) with—I no longer had fellow dancers to lean on when I needed support. Now, let me get something straight, I do have friends, but only a select few of them love dancing as much as I do, and they've all gone away to university as I said before. 

I enrolled in a dance instructor training program shortly after my high school graduation in 2012, and even though there were other girls who were in the course, we were essentially somewhat competing against each other because we had exams to prepare for—well, at least that's how I thought of it. I still went to normal dance classes, but at the end of the day, I was a "trainee" who was being graded based on my performance in class. Being the youngest trainee was not that easy for me as well, there were older students who were kind of belittling me just because I was younger (flashbacks to my ballet years), and it just felt more difficult for me to prove myself as a dance instructor-to-be. To top it all off, I no longer had a dance partner, let alone a dance team whom I could connect with, so yeah.......

All is well in that area now, as I am currently working as a dance instructor/choreographer, and things have been continuously looking up for me. I just feel super blessed! :D I still feel lonely sometimes, especially when I see all of the other dancers who have a super close-knit bond with their team. At those times, I always end up really missing my fellow dancers from the dance academy, and my high school. I really want to have a "partner in crime" again, you know.....

My certificate of completion of the dance instructor training program!
I graduated with a "Highly Commendable Pass"

Even with everything I've said, I still don't think that "dancing solo" (as I like to call it) is all that bad—there are ups and downs in everything—because I get to experience so many things that wouldn't have happened to me otherwise, and I can say that I've matured so much more from working alone than when I was still a part of a team. I've learned how to deal with students, parents, and employers all by myself without losing my temper; before this, I usually ended up hiding behind my team members whenever I got into something I didn't want to deal with, so I think I've matured in that aspect.

I taught my very first workshop on Saturday, 20 April 2013
I used Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" ♥

Choreographing without the help of my team members was also something I found to be quite a deterrent in my dancing. Even though I contributed to the dance performances my dance team and I had, my friends always had their share in creating the choreography as well. When I first realized I had to do everything on my own, I was kind of scared and really nervous because I didn't know if I would do a good job choreographing on my own. However, flash forward to almost a year later, I now have no problems with that, aside from trying to get that first spark of inspiration. 

The very first video I put up on Youtube—my original choreography to "Just Give Me a Reason" by Pink feat. Nate Ruess

The bottom line is, there will always be a positive and negative side to everything, but you can't let that stop you from moving forward in your life and having brand new experiences. The things you once thought to be daunting and impossible to do, might just bring you the most blessings and life lessons. So don't be afraid to take some chances, and just go for it!

Love,

Jennifer.