Best Dance Class Ever (Week 5 at Bon Air)

I am so sad that we’re done going to Bon Air. This experience has really given me a new perspective on life and made me connect to a someone I am not that different from but would never have thought so. In our brief opening conversation, we talked mostly about our week and our time together and what our next steps would be in terms of our final project.

Soon after, we broke off to get stories from our partners which would be part of the final project. My partner and I decided that we wanted to tell happy stories. He suggested we go off the prompts of “the best day of our lives”. He told the story rather quickly, but I chose to dig a little deeper. I asked him about the feelings he felt on his happiest day, what happened before and after that moment and who he remembered being with. I think in general he was trying to show to me how his family dynamic has changed a lot and how there were people in his life that he valued that he feels differently about today. I told him the story about my greatest day and that I too had different values and people in my life that has since changed.

What happened next really made me laugh harder than ever. When we reconvened as a group, the conversation soon became about dancing. I’m really not sure how it came up or what it had to do with our conversation but soon all the guys were telling us about the different dance moves they new and the songs they had made up. Before we knew it they were all dancing and showing us their moves. We all joined in and we were all laughing and having an awesome time. In that moment I couldn’t help but to get a little sentimental. These guys are some of the funniest and positive people and never gave us a reason to complain. They were polite and respectful and were eager to participate in the activities. I look forward to reflecting on my time with Shanard and working on his voice through the project. He was worried I would forget about him and the stories he told me, but I assured him I never would.