For my CIP, I asked to join Kyoto University’s Amateur Dance (ballroom dance) club and they kindly let me participate. Club activities consisted of weekly or bi-weekly practices at local recreational centers, where we learned a variety of dances from tango to cha-cha. The club members were all extremely kind and accommodating despite the frequent language gap, and it became quickly apparent that the regular club members are really invested in the club—not just in improving their dance skills, but in building community. I did roughly a year of ballroom dance in college prior to joining this club (zero dance experience before that), and with this background the practices being held were challenging but somehow manageable. There were some members with similar skill levels as me, but I would say most are better dancers than I am. Some of the members were even taking private lessons outside of club practice.
I was constantly amazed at how kind everyone was to each other. They treated me as a regular member of the club even though I was only to be there for a semester, and I can’t stress enough how incredibly grateful I am for that. Around mid-November I attended one of their bi-annual Dance Parties (formal venue, ~100 guests, dance time), and even though I couldn’t contribute much to planning the event, they kindly welcomed me as a club member and let me celebrate with them after the event.
Some general advice for interested students: the club members are extremely kind and welcoming towards everyone, and that very much includes study abroad students (they told me it isn’t uncommon for short-term study abroad students to join for a while). Having seen the intergenerational ties and motivation of the club members, I highly doubt this inclusivity and positivity is something that will change in the near future, so don’t be afraid to take a first step. Lessons might be particularly challenging for newcomers (notably because fall is second semester in Japan), but this is not a steadfast obstacle. You should definitely feel empowered to reach out and try if it’s something you’re interested in. Be sure to reach out for help, practice to have fun, and (very important) show others a smile even if things are difficult!! It makes a big difference.
Some other one-off tips:
- You can buy cheap dance shoes on Amazon (~$30?). Gentlemen, if you can only get standard or Latin shoes go for the former.
- Go to the post-practice afterparties.
- If you’re interested in private lessons in addition to club practice, reach out to the senior members.
- If you don’t quite understand something, ask! I had a number of times I did something clumsy because I didn’t quite get what was going on.
- Always say please and thank you (aka お願いします、ありがとうございます、お疲れ様です、失礼します、).
Honestly, I hadn’t really known that ballroom dance was an actual type of club. My high school didn’t have one, and when I arrived at Boston University, there wasn’t any reason to look out for the ballroom dance club (I have since looked up the BU DanceSport club and realized I probably wouldn’t have connected it to ballroom dance anyway due to the Sport label). Unfortunately, until I came across the ボールルームへようこそ manga, I remained ignorant.
Therefore, it’s really interesting to hear how you got to have such an interesting CIP! It sounds like you got to be a part of a close-knit community, and that something you enjoyed doing is shared by people all over the world. I can’t help but wonder roughly how many members there were, the Dance Party had 100 guests after all, and also if you were surprised that a primarily Western recreation was popular in Kyoto. I can’t speak much for the difficulty without any personal experience, but were there times you did something clumsy and hadn’t noticed until someone helped out? Were there any differences between the ballroom dance club in your home college compared to this CIP?
Hey Tristan! Yea, I’m actually also not too big a fan of the fact that ballroom has such a strong presence as a competitive sport; I more-so enjoy ballroom as sort of artistic play; being an expressive medium rather than a performative one. This is actually why I found Kyoto University’s circle really compelling. Kyoto University also has a Club, like a DanceSport Club, and so in contrast to that group, this circle is focused on casual, social dance. My ballroom dance club back home is definitely the competitive type, and so it’s nice to take a break from regular competitions and just focus on having fun.
Regular members number around 10 give or take, which is why I was extra surprised to see so many guests at the Dance Party. I realized that ballroom was an international sport/social practice, but I have to say I was shocked at how pervasive it was in Kyoto. Like you definitely wouldn’t see people dancing like that or dressing so exquisitely on most other occasions. Also about the clumsiness: yea, 110%. Reading social situations in this club is just somehow hard for me. I panic sometimes and the number of times I’ve embarrassed myself is honestly too high to count. That’s why I’m super thankful the club members are as nice as they are; if not for that I might’ve dropped my CIP out of embarrassment. I can tell you about it later if you’re interested.
This seems like so much fun; I can’t dance at all, unfortunately, but it’s always so impressive to me to hear about people who started learning it in college and are able to become really good at it. I also think it’s great how much community there seemed to be every week; even though it was a club and not a paid lesson, it seems from your report that the same people tended to show up every week, which I think is really great. Were there any differences between the ballroom dances you learned in America and the ones in Japan, or differences in the amount of time spent focusing on certain dances? I’m curious as to how similar you felt your experience was here compared to the experience that you had back at the University of Chicago, and whether you felt that largely continued learning the same stuff that you would have at your home club.
This seems like so much fun; I can’t dance at all, unfortunately, but it’s always so impressive to me to hear about people who started learning it in college and are able to become really good at it. I also think it’s great how much community there seemed to be every week; even though it was a club and not a paid lesson, it seems from your report that the same people tended to show up every week, which I think is really great. Were there any differences between the ballroom dances you learned in America and the ones in Japan, or differences in the amount of time spent focusing on certain dances? I’m curious as to how similar you felt your experience was here compared to the experience that you had back at the University of Chicago, and whether you felt that largely continued learning the same stuff that you would have at your home club.
This seems like so much fun; I can’t dance at all, unfortunately, but it’s always so impressive to me to hear about people who started learning it in college and are able to become really good at it. I also think it’s great how much community there seemed to be every week; even though it was a club and not a paid lesson, it seems from your report that the same people tended to show up every week, which I think is really great. Were there any differences between the ballroom dances you learned in America and the ones in Japan, or differences in the amount of time spent focusing on certain dances? I’m curious as to how similar you felt your experience was here compared to the experience that you had back at the University of Chicago, and whether you felt that largely continued learning the same stuff that you would have at your home club.
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoyed your CIP and were received so kindly by the other members of the club!
You mentioned that the regular members were invested within building community within the club. I’m curious about the club’s dynamics–how did the members interact with each other? Did it have some degree of senpai-kouhai relationships? For example, were the most skilled and experienced members in charge regardless of their age, or were younger members not supposed to give advice to elder members, even if they had better technique?
I’ve done ballet since I was little, and throughout my experience our school had an almost comically different proportion of guys to girls. From what I’ve gathered through talking to the few guys who do dance, within America in particular, dancing has such a “girly” image associated with it that many men would be too embarrassed to try. I’m really curious to know–is there a similar stigma within Japan?
This is the sort of thing I’m too shy to do, and now I wish I’d had! Dancing is hard enough in general, its admirable that you took initiative to try it within a foreign country and be an engaged member of the club’s community; I’m glad you had a rewarding experience with your CIP!
Hey Chloe! Good questions. I’d say the hierarchical 上下関係 were mainly between student and peer teacher, but even then things were pretty relaxed. At this club, the most skilled fourth-years ran the lessons and I think that worked really well. Most interactions during practice are casual conversations and jokes between learning routines, both as we’re doing separated lead/follow practice and during partner practice.
Regarding the stigma surrounding dance, it’s hard for me to tell firstly because I don’t fully understand the full social context in which a lot of things happen within the club and secondly because ballroom dance is inherently a partner dance so guys being involved is taken basically as a given. I will say though that ballroom actually has a history of being a sort of…hmm…activity tied to masculinity? Like there are ideas about guys being the lead and dancing to show confidence and poise, ensuring that girls enjoy their time dancing. It’s a world within dance altogether because while some elements I think are actually really sweet and productive, others are still rooted in traditional ideas of dominant masculinity. That said, I hardly saw these negative influences in this club, and in this sense I think the club takes the brighter side of ballroom and fosters it as much as possible.
I definitely recommend trying ballroom if you have the chance!