with two left feet
日本体育大学の集団行動の演技を見た時には、なぜこのような演技ができるのか、不思議に思うほどでございました。マーチングバンド経験者としては、見習いたいところであります。
Japanese university students’ synchronized marching routine is positively mesmerizing
Check out this year’s mind-boggling edition of a now legendary synchronized group marching performance by Tokyo university students.
The annual exhibition showcase by students from Tokyo’s Nippon Sport Science University has become an annual event which people across the country look forward to year after year. Now in its 53rd year, the exhibition was recently held on November 11 at Yokohama Arena and featured live performances such as gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline jumping, as well as the perpetual crowd-favorite–synchronized group marching exercises.
The performance features a large number of students marching perfectly in sync to a highly choreographed, fast-paced 10-minute routine. The students line up in perfectly straight lines, make sharp 90-degree turns, turn their bodies at the exact same step, and effortlessly break into smaller groups, all while swinging their arms and legs in completely harmonized movements.
Perhaps the highlight of the routine is when the smaller tightly-knit groups walk towards each other and indeed pass through each other’s groups, only to stay in perfect formation with not a single crash the entire time. To top it off, they perform this feat not just once, but repeatedly, undoubtedly making the rest of us look like nothing more than a bunch of clumsy, bumbling baboons with two left feet.
with two left feetが気になりました。『アンカーコズミカ英和辞典』（学研教育出版）よると、have two left feetで「【2本とも左足である→】とても不器用である、うまく踊れない」（--“informal to be very clumsy” LDOCE5）という意味です。仮にこの表現の意味が読み取れなくても、clumsyとカンマでつながれておりますのでその言い換えと考えても正解に辿りつきます。確かに、1人でもこのような人が居ると、せっかくの集団行動が台無しなのはご覧のとおりです。
類義表現としては、私が挙げたbuttefingers、『アメリカ口語教本』中級用（新訂版）のレッスン1に出てくるbe all thumbsという表現などがあります。
対義表現としては、以前Inahoさんが取り上げたbe all in the wrist、そして、先生がよく辞書の引き方ガイダンスで，私達学生に説明されるdexterがあります。（Kawada）
