Let's Dance!

Remember that song by David Bowie? ...Put on your red shoes and dance the blues...to the song they're playing on the radio..while color lights up your face....

Wait, what was I supposed to talk about? Dancing, right. Tonight the Y offered a belly dancing class and then R and I had the ballroom dancing class we signed up for a few weeks ago. It was a full night of dancing. Low impact dancing that was set to music at a reasonable pace for me. Sigh. I miss Zumba.

I have to admit it. I'm so excited that R and I are finally taking a ballroom dance class. We've been talking about it for ages, but this is the first time we've had the time, opportunity, and money when we also had access to a class.

Tonight we learned the basic box step for the waltz and we sort of learned a turn. By sort of, I mean that we were all shown the turn but R and I aren't sure if we are doing it right. And surprise, surprise - I have trouble following. I mean, it's not like we are dancing through a room full of sharp pointy objects, so what is it that I'm so afraid of if I follow someone else's lead? Dunno.

The instructor was really patient with us. There are four couples in the class and two of them have taken a class with him before and know what they are doing. The novice couples? Are R and I and a little old couple that are so cute and tiny I want to put them in my pocket and take them with me everywhere. This instructor? He's got his work cut out for him.

R can be a bit....rhythmically challenged and he's hesitant to take the lead. I have a very hard time not giggling because we look like a couple of third graders dutifully clomp, clomp, clomping through elementary school ballroom dancing in PE. We figured out that it helped if R didn't face the mirrors because either looking at my ass was distracting (doubtful) or watching himself in the mirror mixed him up. He was too polite to say either way.

The instructor came over as we were 1-2-3ing our way through the box step and reversed his prior instructions for R to take smaller steps. Not sure if that was a comment about my non-daintiness or huge feet. I warned him I had huge feet. The instructor was in the process of saying, "You do not have huge feet" and then he looked down. He finished the statement, but his face gave him away. I do have huge feet. But I'm big, so you don't really notice at first. I have incognito big feet. heh.

But clumsiness and leading issues aside, we had so much fun. I can't wait to practice this week to see if we can nail the turn down before class next week and I can't wait to see what we add on next week.

Now we just have to figure out where we can go to practice. For now? I vote our garage.