Dancing Lessons

At night, many of the squares, plazas and other public spaces in Beijing turn into mini ballrooms where people gather to dance. I have run across a few of these on my evening walks and they are enthralling. Generally there is a small motorbike strapped down with speakers and audio equipment playing a range of ballroom-type music, though there are a few more modern pop-sounding songs here and there. The crowd is mostly a bit older, but there are a few younger couples here and there, and everyone seems to be having a great time.

Walking around Ho Hai after dinner the other night Peter, Jenny, Guillermo, Monica and I ran into one of these dancing events. After watching on the sidelines long enough, I decided it would be fun to try and was able to convince Monica to try with me. We must have looked lost (we were) because an older couple quickly cut in. Monica was swept away by an adorable gentleman, and I was suddenly whisked away by an equally adorable woman (whom I presume was his wife).



My dance partner and I did a pretty good job, though we were hindered on the twirling movements because of our difference in height. (I think the photo below highlights this well). She even pantomimed that the twirling was hard because I was so tall (gestured by reaching way up and over her head and pointing to mine).



Our one dance with the couple was lots of fun, and Monica and I decided that we couldn’t really top that, so we decided that was enough dancing for one evening and returned to our crew.