The Wandering Monkey

Dang, I almost forgot the most important part.

Several times I have seen people dancing out in public parks in the evenings, like around 9pm. I saw this on my first visit to China and several times on this trip. I always wanted to join in on one of them. This evening as we left Hot Chocolate, there were some people sitting around the park, perhaps six of them. There was Chinese music playing, but no one was dancing. Kellian and I walked past thought, "Hey let's do a swingout."

We stepped up and did some east coast swing. The music was so odd, even 'cheesy', but it fit in OK with east coast swing, balboa, and charleston. We danced one song, and afterwards usually we get some sort of reaction. Most people just sat there, but some guys by the radio clapped. "Again!" one of them said and put another song on. So we went again, practicing a few moves we had been working on.

Afterwards, and man from the radio and a woman came up to us. The man asked Kellian to dance and the lady asked myself. We danced in their dance style. It looked a little like tango, but it had a simple three-step movement. It also looked and felt a bit like waltz.

The woman dancing with me strongly backlead until I got the hang of it. Finally I took over the lead. A significant crowd gathered. From time to time I saw Kellian, and her partner was very good because she definitely looked like she knew what she was doing. I wondered if I did.

"Dui bu dui?" I asked my partner (Correct or not correct?)

"Dui," she answered, confirming.

We finished the song and exchanged plesantries with our hosts. "This is Chinese style dancing," the man said. "We are here every night. You are welcome here any time."