Dancing Shoes

Word of the Post: Sono stanca (I am tired).

When I was five years old I took ballet. I don't remember much besides the ridiculous outfits or the shoes. Today, I stepped into a dance studio for the first time in fifteen years. I didn't have to wear the shoes...or the ridiculous outfit, but I did have to put my feet to work.

Today consisted of a cultural icebreaker. For the cultural ice breaker, we went to a dance studio to learn a type of dance called Pizzica Pizzica. We danced for NINE hours. Last night we went dancing for four hours. Let's just say in the last 18 hours I have danced my little feet away.

The Pizzica Pizzica is a slow or fast dance that is used in the Italian culture. In Pizzica Pizzica you can't touch other people at all. You must form your own bubble and find your own space. You can then join bubbles with others, so long as nothing touches. We learned how the men appropriately approach the women, how to dance only on the balls of our feet (OUCH), and how to do several different dance moves. I personally learned why Italians are so darn skinny.

The nine hour event began at 9:30 AM. About forty of the seventy members of our AIFS group attended, but by the end of our lunch break only 13 of us remained. The beginning of the day was just basic steps, and everyone was beat from their night out before it seemed. The second half of the day proved to be a lot better when the group was so small and intimiate. During the second half we did more one on one dancing, and talking. We learned that during these dances you must only talk with your eyes. "The eyes are the window of the soul." Regardless of barely being able to talk to one another with our voices, the thirteen of us that were left felt as though we knew eachother better than we could have ever if we sat in a room and talked for nine hours.

The activity itself, though tiresome, was the best experience that I have had so far. It really was my first cultural activity, and I got to learn about a lot of different people in our group. It helped to break the wall that people put up when they get to a new place. When the day started, we were all embarrased and self-conscious but by 6 o clock tonight we were all open with one another and we didn't care how bad we danced or how long we had been there. We all were tired, but those of us that remained pushed through and got the most out of a day that we could have given up. As the dance teacher said --pizzica pizzica will always be a part of us.

Ciao