Square-dancers Anonymous

“Honey, do you mind teaching my friends and me to dance?” Asked my grandmother in a thoughtful tone.

“Ok, no problem,” I answered without a second thought. Confident in my experiences, I became a dancing instructor in her “elderly dancers’ community.”

At the little square alongside the Gan River near my neighborhood, I found myself standing in front of a group of people in their sixties or seventies, with outdated stereos blasting loud and old-fashioned music. At that moment, as a life-long dancer and a cheerleader, I felt all my past experiences of performing useless.

Every day, my “students” welcomed me in the same way– “Oh, here comes our teacher!”And every day, I silently walked to the front, turned on the music and got into position. Already familiar with the routine, I demonstrated movements to them much as I had when practicing with my cheerleading team. Then, I deconstructed the movements one by one to help them digest quickly. They did their best to follow, but their age forbad smooth movements and their dances often ended up awkwardly. Although they learned diligently and passionately, I still sometimes felt a bit frustrated caused by the distortion of their dance from the original choreography. Regardless, facing...