BEYOND IMAGININGS

Two Left Feet?   So what....

Some years ago, something hit a mid-life nerve, and I acted on it.  The need to do something different, and to get me off my duff, was very strong.

In the mail I received our local community center's class offerings.  It listed a short 8-week class in ballroom dance.  The class covered very basic steps in the Waltz and in the Cha Cha, to cover both American and Latin categories.

How many times had I found myself on a dance floor, after much coaxing, and not sure what to do - becoming very self-conscious and wishing to have remained a wall-flower.

The mailing said I didn't need a partner, so...

On the first night, it was heartening to realize that all of my classmates were in the same boat as I was - possessing two left feet.  It didn't seem as though we made much progress after a few classes, but by the time the 8-week session was half over, we all began to feel like we'd actually learned to dance - albeit only a little, and very timidly and half-terrified.

By the last class, we knew that this was just an appetizer.  We knew we'd only touched a drop in the bucket and that there was so much more to this wonderful movement to music.

I never saw any of those classmates again.  And it was a few years later that I again chanced on a class that not only offered an hour-and-a-half class, but also free dance immediately afterwards to practice our newly-learned steps.  Again, no partner needed.  I stuck with this one.  It often seemed like I'd hit a plateau and never leave it.  Then all of a sudden a step would just fall into place.  Each Saturday night we'd advance a little further in that month's dance step.  Each month, we'd start a four to five-week adventure into a new dance:  waltz, cha cha, foxtrot, rhumba, samba, salsa, east and west coast swings, etc.  It was a wonderful night out of dancing and I spent my whole week looking forward to it.

At one point, one of the teaching assistants needed a partner to practice with.  I had the free time on the afternoon each week that he also needed, and I proceeded to embark on a creative self-expression that will never cease to excite me.  If I arrived early enough, I was blessed with the opportunity to watch private lessons - some so advanced I knew they competed around the country.

I learned some basic international dance steps in the waltz and the argentine tango - but what I learned even more significantly were some advanced techniques.  Dance isn't just moving the feet in the right order.  It is also moving them to produce both flowing and exact movement.  Both dances are so absolutely free-spirited and seductive in their dance form and in the music.

When done properly, the connection between partners in ballroom dance is at times just ever so light a touch between fingers - to a firm grasp with both leaning in such a way that it would seem they would topple over.   Toes pointed, heads turned and leaning, hands and arms outstretched...  oh, how the hair would rise on my arms when I'd watch in awe our dance instructor perform a step to perfection with his partner. 

Dancing, like so many art forms and methods of self-expression, allows the mind and especially the body to do what they were meant to do - move in harmony with their surroundings.

I still have two left feet.  I've just learned to let them do what they will... 

... the dance....