"Stifling an urge to dance is
bad for your health — it rusts your spirit and your hips." ~Terri
Guillemets.
That being said, we've been keeping our hips "rust free" for a few months now. Why did we embark on this journey? What made us decide to forgo any sense of rational thought?
Because we wanted to!!
Rick and I have always loved to dance. We both come from families that love to dance. Maybe we weren't the snazziest couple on the dancefloor, but we always had fun. When the "happy feet" urge would strike, we'd head out to find a place that played music we could dance to. Not the grinding, dance club type music, but the classics. You know, Frank, Bing, 40's style big band. It suited us just fine. We used to joke, while dancing on a crowded dance floor, that we had to watch out for the movers and shakers. Those couples that had obviously taken ballroom dance classes. The ones that would run you over if you got in their way. We would laugh and move away accordingly, all the while thinking "That could be us".
So, for Christmas, our son Josh gave us a gift of ballroom dance classes at the local Fred Astaire studio. Fred Astaire.....they must be good, right? Wow. Little did we know the first time we walked into the studio that we would be having so much fun.
Has it been easy? Not always. Many is the evening when our brain is overflowing with new dance moves. The hardest part is remembering which dance those steps go to! Was the "grapevine" in the foxtrot or was that the rumba? Do we do a "twinkle" in the waltz? Does this dance have a heel lead or are we on the balls of our feet?
"Muscle memory" is the term our instructors use. Eventually, it will become second nature. For now we practice, practice, practice.
The classes are private, meaning it's us and our instructor for 45 minutes. That's not to say that there's no one else in the ballroom. Sometimes it's a bit like 690 at rush hour! But that's part of learning. How to be a mover & shaker without any major crashes!
We
have seen our dancing improve. We have watched while friends of ours
have made great strides in the ballroom. (No pun intended!)
Bottom line? If you enjoy dancing, go dance! There's no need to take lessons, just go dance. If you want to learn more, find a class. It can be a locally sponsored class, like at the "Just Dance" studio in Chittenango. Those classes give you a taste for all different dances and is fun. I'm sure wherever you are, there are classes like that available.
But if you want to take it to the next level, find a Fred Astaire Studio near you. the instructors are phenomenal. They make you the best dancer you can be, all while you're having fun! And for us, fun is the bottom line.
The photo on this blog says it all...dance is enormously entertaining, irresistible, we give it two thumbs up and when we dance, it can be a charming comedy!
Will we ever be as good as the professionals you see on Dancing with the Stars? Ummmmm....probably not. But, that's okay! I could hold my own if Maks or Tristan ever shows up and ask me to dance. And since the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim, I'm not too worried.
