Lanuza, Allen Lois Y.

2018 – 03712
PE 2 SD WFD

Social Dance Reflection Paper

Waltz
Before the semester starts, I am really embarrassed because the PE class that was given to me
during the pre – enlistment is social dance. I don’t really perform well when it comes to dancing
and I have a mediocre bodily – kinesthetic skill. I thought that I will be a shame to my future social
dance partner because I might cause her to obtain a lower grade. I am absolutely nervous before
this class starts!

Well, as the class started and we were taught of different dances, I learned that it is alright not to
have a very good dancing skill in the class because most of us can be classified as beginners or in
slang term, a “noob”. I really enjoyed the preliminary lecture (e.g. appropriate walk, posture, etc.)
before the different type of social dance because I learned how to stand and to walk confidently. I
also enjoyed interacting with my partners during the class.

The first dance that was taught to us is the waltz. For me, waltz is like a dance that we usually do
in ball or in any formal event. I like this dance because the tempo is slow to average only. In my
opinion, I really perform well in this area because whenever I dance my partner, I am imagining
that I am holding my crush and we’re enjoying the moment, so basically you can see me
daydreaming when I am performing the waltz.

The only thing that I found difficult in this dance is to synchronize my steps to the music beat. In
order for a certain dancer to perform well in waltz, he or she must follow the beat of the music to
dance her partner well. Some of my partners are taller than me so I found it difficult to lead them
in every step.
Lanuza, Allen Lois Y.
2018 – 03712
PE 2 SD WFD

Social Dance Reflection Paper

Cha – cha
The second dance that was taught to us is the cha – cha or cha – cha – cha. Actually out of the
five dances that we have learned, the dance I have enjoyed the most is the cha – cha because of
the upbeat music and the different steps incorporated in this dance. The technique while dancing
the cha – cha is you must follow the music and just groove! That’s it! You must be enthusiastic
while dancing the cha – cha because it will be too weird if you’re showing a poker face to your
partner while dancing.

Most of the girls had improved in cha – cha compared to waltz. I am so glad as well to see most
of us performing well and really enjoying the dance. I just go with the beat of the music and smile
while dancing my partner so they can infer that I am interested dancing with them.

For me the most difficult part here is the swift movements. Sometimes, I cannot follow those very
fast movements and I cannot execute them well with music simultaneously. Fortunately, I had
those partners that know the steps very well so instead of me leading them, they are the one who
lead the dance.

In my opinion, I had performed better in cha – cha compared to waltz but I still obtained a lower
score than the previous dance.
Lanuza, Allen Lois Y.
2018 – 03712
PE 2 SD WFD

Social Dance Reflection Paper

Tango
Social dance class is just a piece of cake and can be learned in just a short period of time? Well,
you haven’t tried tango. This is the start of the social dance calvary and you might question your
intelligence while you’re learning this dance.

I somewhat enjoyed tango though it is a bit difficult to learn. The music’s tempo can be fast but
most of the time, it is slow. However, there are so many steps that requires navigation from one
space to another and there are a lot of turns. You must carry your partner very well so you won’t
be lost while dancing. Additionally, the footsteps are somewhat confusing and I am afraid that I
might turn my two feet into a knot because I cannot follow the step.

The difficult part here in tango is you must have enough strength to pull and to carry your partner
especially when you are making a circular turn. There are so many girls that are a lot taller and
heavier than me but luckily, I still managed to pull and to carry them while dancing. My most
favorite part here is the gliding part because it involves just a little amount of effort.

I had a very poor performance on the best – partner exam of waltz and I thought that I might obtain
a grade lower than 2.25 but I was surprised that I managed to get a mark higher than the previous
best partner exam.
Lanuza, Allen Lois Y.
2018 – 03712
PE 2 SD WFD

Social Dance Reflection Paper

Boogie
Tango is the most difficult dance huh? Well it’s my own opinion before I learned boogie. Doing
boogie is more difficult than doing your problem sets in Calculus because it’s very hard! Most of
the students in our class cannot follow the steps very well so we ended up not doing further steps
in boogie.

At first, I thought boogie is very easy because of the simple feet movement and swaying of hands.
I was wrong. When some of the difficult steps were taught, I was really lost and I just asked my
partners what are the steps and how to execute to them. Learning the basic footsteps is absolutely
important because it is the foundation of boogie but as the lecture goes by, I sometimes forgot the
basic foot movement so I ended up with a mediocre performance. I was also offended with some
of the girls because some of them seems like they do not want pairing with me because I am such
a foolish in this dance.

During the best partner exam, I don’t know what to do and how to execute the steps because it’s
been a long time since we had class in PE. What I just did is to just enjoy the best partner exam
and show enthusiasm to my partner regardless if I am making the appropriate steps or not. My
partners forgot as well some of the steps so what I did is told them to just enjoy the moment, be
exaggerated, and be confident in order to obtain higher marks.
Lanuza, Allen Lois Y.
2018 – 03712
PE 2 SD WFD

Social Dance Reflection Paper

Manila Swing
This is the last dance that were taught to us and unfortunately I was able to attend one meeting for
it because of some commitments. Some of the steps in Manila Swing are just like of those in
boogies. Most of the steps are also familiar to me because I already saw them in the television
shows and some live performances.

I am so proud of myself while learning this dance because I always get the steps appropriately.
Most of my classmates were asking me how to do the steps and I was so glad because I am doing
the right thing! Ma’am Aguilar told us that the Manila Swing is just a simpler version of the foreign
– based swing and I’m fine with that because for sure it will be difficult for me to learn the more
advance movements in swing.

The interesting part of this dance was the Filipino songs that were used. In the previous dances,
we rarely used OPM songs but in this part, we utilized some of them and it really feels good
listening to some old OPM songs while dancing with your partner.

The same with cha – cha, the key in order to perform very well in Manila Swing is to be energetic,
alive, and enthusiastic. The music’s beat is a bit fast so it will be better if you’re also enjoying the
moment while dancing but be careful not to be overacting.