In the meantime... I started taking ballroom dancing lessons at our local Arthur Murray in June. I'm at the dance studio almost every day, when I'm not traveling. Dancing at Arthur Murray is magic. Here's how it works: There's a group class every night. The men all stand in a row and the women all stand in another row in front of them. The instructor shows us the steps we're going to do...and then we dance those steps with the man in front of us. "Rotate!" the teacher yells, and each woman moves to the next man down, and practices the steps again. "Rotate!" and again...In 10 minutes, everyone has danced with everyone...and we've also basically gotten that set of steps down, and the instructor teaches us something new.Nothing particularly magical there, you say. Ah...but wait. There is magic. Everyone starts out not knowing something, and a few minutes later everyone knows something. That's pretty cool, I think. But the real magic lies in how close we are forced to be to someone we don't know, how much we touch and how often we laugh.
People don't touch, really. We touch our significant others some, if we're not single. We touch our small children, but touch our older children less. We touch at arrivals and departures, but not a whole lot in between. We don't touch co-workers and we don't touch bank tellers (shoot...most of the time we don't get out of the car at a bank anymore!) and we don't touch strangers.Not that I'm advocating that we should. I'm just saying that when you have to, and you get over the initial fear/embarrassment/awkwardness/wariness....it is magic. People smile. People laugh. People warm to you and you warm back. (or is that sweat? The cha-cha can be pretty strenuous!) Suddenly, you are dancing. You are in someone's arms and you are twirling and turning and gliding. Hips come alive and ankles show off and it's all magic. It feels like nothing short of a celebration of health and vigor and life and of the music we usually hide too deeply in our muscles and hearts and souls...
I love dance.
4 comments:
Boy does that bring back memories. Your last comments about the music and dance could not describe it better.
I have to share an experience I had at the age of 18.
One night I was working late at work, and this was a very large organization in a 5 story building in Portland Maine.
Anyway, I was working late and so was a company accountant.
The music was playing and for some reason, we got to talking about music and dance. He mentioned he had taken ball room dancing and had learned the tango. He asked if I wanted a demonstration, and of course being 18 and full of it, I said sure.
If you know anyting about the tango, it requires close contact, so I think I did sweat and do remember giggling a bit, but we proceeded to dance and it was wonderful.
I can't believe I did that, but I will always remember it. Little did I know though, that the Vice-president had walked in and stopped at the doorway watching us and applauded as we turned for the dramatic move of the tango. I think my face turned all shades of purple, but I did not get called on the carpet about it, so I guess all was cool.
I was pretty daring at 18 and very naive, I don't think I would do that today, with the same circumstances.
Forgot, one more comment. I used to go to dance almost twice a week when I was young. Loved to dance and when you get really close to the partner, you can feel the next move. It got to the point, I was able to follow any guy who would ask me to dance and got to have regular partners for certain dances. It was heaven, especially when we ended up going all around the hall in our own little world. It is magical. Janice(Priscille)
Hello Priscille,
So glad my post jogged some wonderful memories for you. I loved your Tango story...I can just see you dancing.
It's funny....the Tango so far is one of my least favorite dances because it is so serious....and dancing always makes me smile, so it's hard to be serious!
I am slowly learning to follow...and I also have favorite partners for certain dances. There is one older gentleman at our studio who is nearly a professional dancer. One night, at our weekly Friday night Dance Party, he asked me for a waltz. It was an absolutely sublime dance - his beautiful firm frame, his strong lead, his perfect, elegant, smooth movements. I was actually moved deeply by that dance. A few days later, I told him how much that dance had touched me...and ever since then, we always have at least one waltz together at the Friday night dance. It is always heavenly.... Lowers my blood pressure just thinking about it!
Yes, it is serious, but that is why I feel like giggling when I think about how serious it is. I find it sexy and alluring and somehow never know who is the conqueror, the man or the woman. Of course in ballroom dancing, it is very serious. I think the one I did was less structured.
Did you ever see the movie with Richard Geer, in which he takes up ballroom dancing? I loved that movie, not to heavy, but I found it to be romantic and delightful. Get it if you get a chance.
The waltz is my favorite and when you have the right partner, it is pure magic. When my husband asks me to have this dance, as he puts it, my heart still beats quite fast and I just get lost. Janice(Priscille)
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