SWING DANCE!

Okay, so on Friday I had to find shoes so that I could go swing dancing last night. Anyone who knows me in real life probably knows that I am not a dancer. Not even a little bit of a dancer. Yes, I've got rhythm, but I can't really figure out how to get that rhythm to move all the way down to my feet. So this was a really big deal for me to do, and since I told friends I would go and since my loyal dozen readers have been waiting in a state of unfulfilled agitation since Friday night, I knew I had to go and keep my promises.

This dance was in a church gym in Nashville. It was their Christmas Ball- the big event of the year- and hundreds of people were there. They did two 45 minute lessons before the dance started. The first was the waltz, which I really REALLY sucked at. I was always wanting to move my left foot when it was supposed to be my right, and then that would screw up my partner's feet, but oh well. They started by putting all of the women in a long line, and then all of the men in a long line and we all did footwork. Then eventually the women chose a partner, and we'd go over steps again. And then we'd change partners. We did that for a while and I still sucked but at least it was all kind of making sense.

The next lesson was swing dance, and that was WAY more fun and a lot easier. Until I tried to do turns, also easy, but it was hard to figure out how to jump back into the beat. We did the same thing with changing partners, and then the dance really started.

Mostly I sat with one of my friends and giggled at the slutty dresses some women chose to wear (the fashions ran the gamut from seriously dressed up for Christmas to jeans and t-shirts to middle aged women in too-short skirts and backless numbers that were just inappropriate) and watched the guys who were really good throw around 80 lb girls. This was in a church, so there was absolutely no drinking or smoking allowed. That was fine, but I think a drink or two would have seriously helped out my dance moves. My friends introduced me to some guys to dance with who all happened to be either REALLY good or actual paid dance instructors, and they knew it was my first time there so they were very helpful with just counting out the beat and telling me what my feet should do (right left together right left together and one two back step one two back step over and over and over). Awesome! I didn't feel like the klutziest person out there. But it should come as no surprise that I am terrible at following some guy's lead.

So, my thoughts on dancing? Confusing hard work but I wasn't terrible. And I think I'll try it again because I had a really good time and I know that with practice I will get to the point where I'm not perfect maybe, but also not awful. The live music was great, the people were extremely nice, and it's good for me to try out new stuff. So there you have it, my first excursion into ballroom/swing dance.