Afro-beat Dance Class Review

Spoiler: I survived

In my last newsletter, I mentioned my latest self-made problem: the need to utilize a large exercise class package within a month's time. For a bit of context, there may have been an exercise class package I purchased over the summer in which only 1/15 classes were attended.  Thus the pressure was on, especially when my husband texted me, “remember what happened last time you bought an exercise package?”

You have to understand that my husband is very logic minded and this was simply him trying to lead me, a slightly optimistic dreamer, back to reality.  But at the same time, how dare he?

Thankfully, you all came through on voting to help me pick which class I should try as sort-of-a personal adventure. 

The choices were: aerial yoga, Afro-beat dance class and bungee fly.  Afro-beat dance won (by almost double the amount of votes of the other two), and as promised, I went.

Even a blurry picture can say a thousand words

Now when you all voted on the class, you did not specify the conditions of the class, ie. sober.  So when my friend suggested that the three of us going should all get mimosas beforehand, that felt right.   Except that Lagos traffic delayed us and we only had about 7 minutes to drink (or chug) our mimosas.

Regardless, we arrived at Afro-beat dance class promptly on time at 10 AM.  Our teacher’s name was Praise, which seemed like all the credentials one should need to be teaching an Afro-beat dance class, thus I trusted him implicitly.  (Yes, Praise is a male name in Nigeria.  I could tell you more about Nigerian names, but it’ll have to be another day.)

Upon arriving to class in my post-mimosa state I was both immediately impressed and disappointed. 

The room the class was being held in was the impressive part.  It was the cycle room and it was lit with only black lights and disco ball lights, which felt like we immediately walked into a party.  However, I was disappointed that the class was only made up of myself, my two American friends, and one Asian lady.  I thought we would surely be shown up by some Nigerians, but perhaps they are born knowing Afro-beat dance and have no reason to take a class to learn it.

Praise lived up to his name’s hype and led the class with tons of positive energy, which made the class super fun.  He taught us short choreography before each song and then we attempted it with the music.

Here is a real clip from class sped up a bit (for the sake of pride):

One thing that surprised me was how much I sweat and what a great workout the class was.  I’m still sore as I type this.  After the class was over, I asked Praise to rate me honestly as a first time Afro-beat dancer.  

“You did well.” He said, “you didn’t always get the steps right but you did a good job catching back up.  I give you a 7.”

Considering Nigerians are very frank as a culture, I’m freakin proud of my 7.  It's a gold metal in my book.  Admittedly, I credit the mimosa for at least 3 of those 7 points. If I had to do it over, I’d probably chase the mimosa with a shot of tequila, because then I might be able to achieve an 8 or 8.5. Hindsight is always 20/20, though.

I also asked Praise what is something he wished Americans knew about Afro-beat dance.  He said,

“I wish they understood that it’s more about having fun than if you are doing the right moves.  Don’t get caught up in doing every move right, just enjoy it.”

I thought this was pretty good life advice in general.

Currently, I have 3 reformer classes and 1 fitness class to use before October 1.  May you all be witnesses that I'm on track to use them all.  

Here is Praise showing us what Afro-beat dance should really look like. Be amazed:

P.S.

You’ve just read the first publication of a new segment I’m adding to the RHN Newsletter called, “A Day in the life.” This segment will be published in the middle of each month, in addition to the regular monthly newsletters that arrive at the beginning of each month. They will be a little shorter, maybe funnier and will feature something simple that I do in a regular day in my life in Lagos (exercise class, grocery shopping, traffic, camp events, ect).

Do you have ideas for next month’s “Day in the Life” post? Let me know in the comments. Let’s have some fun with this segment!