JP and I are taking beginner swing dancing lessons at our local dance studio, and it is a strange combination of both fun and weird times. It is fun because I like to dance, and I’m enjoying picking up some new skills. It also makes me feel like I’ll be more prepared for dance auditions when this whole wedding business is behind us and I can be in shows again. Also, the instructor is festive. She’s approximately five feet tall with a raspy smoker’s voice and is very sassy. AND, she keeps giving us “dance rules” that she says could also be considered “life rules”, e.g. “The closer your partner is to you, the easier they are for you to control.” Hmm...weird but great.
The classes are weird because—and I’m not sure why I didn’t realize this beforehand— a number of people attend the class without partners, so instead of dancing with JP the entire time as I would prefer, I dance at least one dance with every guy there. Now, some guys are nice and are clearly there to improve their dance moves; however, some guys are pretty creepy and are mostly there to pick up ladies. Last night, for example, a balding gentleman with glasses strolls in 20 minutes late but is ready to jump right in to dancing. When it was my turn to dance with him, he would spin me in and out with excessive gusto and then laugh loudly at my startled expression. Then he would bring me close in to his side for the cuddle step, which I haven’t learned. When I tried to tell him to stop trying to get me to do that step, that I didn’t know it, he replied: “I just can’t help but pull you close to me.” BARF. It turns out he’s been swing dancing for most of his life, and he “just wanted an opportunity to practice [his] moves.” Not with lines like that, sir. Not with lines like that.
Additionally, one of the weirdest things about the whole evening is that the instructor played the same song THE ENTIRE TIME. Just when I thought it was over and that the CD would move on to the next track, the same song would start again, right from the beginning. Did she have an entire CD of only that song? Was the song itself just on loop?! It was nuts.
So for today’s installment, I’d like to give you a little taste of Beginner Swing with Elisabeth and JP. Just hit repeat and let it loop for the next hour.
We signed up for all of March, so we have three lessons to go. If we continue to like it, we may stick with it in April. I think JP’s favorite part is that Hines Ward is filming his training sessions for Dancing with the Stars at our studio, and occasionally he gets to see the football star. To that I say, whatever it takes to get him to dance with me!
What about you? Have you ever taken a dance class like this?
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