Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Some People

Tonight a friend of D's invited us to go English Country Dancing (think Pride and Prejudice).  It was held at a local Anglican church near where D and I live.  There were probably about 40 people there and 34 of them were 45+.  Moving on.

Having never been English Country Dancing, or line dancing for that matter, I was 100% unfamiliar with the dance moves.  But they start each dance by "teaching" you the steps.  You also switch partners every dance and the "newbies" (that'd be us) might as well have had big scarlet N's on our clothes we were so easy to spot.

So the experts paired up with us and we were off.  My first few dances went really well!  I am far from a "dancer" but I have a fair amount of rhythm.  Generally speaking, if you teach me dance moves, or show me, I can learn them.  How well I did on a dance really rested on who my teacher was!

Case in point: the fourth or fifth dance this woman P offered to be my partner.  Now usually there is a male and female partner and the male leads.  Since I am new, she would be the male (no surprise that the number of women was greater than the number of men so many women had to be men!).  She warned me she wasn't great at being the guy but would try.  She was a dear but could NEVER get the steps correct herself, let alone lead me.  At the end, I figured out part of it because other people guided me.

After the break, it was time for another dance.  This time I was paired with a tall woman whose hair looks similar to D (look at pics on the side panel).  She didn't really help me learn anything but before we started it for real she looked at me and says, "got it?".  I said yes but then made a face.  OBVIOUSLY I didn't get it!  I had no idea.  But I tried.  And the woman (who looked like a stereotypical gym teacher) couldn't have been meaner.

Seriously.  This is a 50+ year old woman who was treating me like a high school kid.  Ok.  Now I may be "young" compared to her.  But I am by no means a child!

Now for most of the dances, you need to swap places with your partner and wind up dancing with another partner.  When it was time for her to switch and go with someone else for a second I actually heard this woman (D and I nicknamed her "gym teacher") say "she doesn't know the moves."  About me?!!?!?

Tons of people all night kept telling me how good I was doing.  And you are going to gossip about me like I am beneath you in high school?  REALLY? Really?  Grow up!

Then after we were done she kept saying "this is a more intuitive dance and not as easy as some of the straight forward ones." Um yea .... bull! This was a very technical dance and you needed to pay attention to learn the steps and she wouldn't shut her trap.  Mind you, without her help, I did manage to master it in the end.

The best part? We were in groups of four for parts of the dance and the other couple kept changing.  At one point, D and his partner were the couple.  Now for all of D's great qualities, an inner rhythm is not one of them.  That is NOT to say he is a bad dancer.  He's just not a natural.  So why would she want him to be her partner?  Lord only knows.

All in all we had a great time and would love to go again.  2.5 hours of dancing = guilt-free cookie consumption.

10 comments:

  1. Sounds interesting. I'm always up for trying new things too.

    Thanks for stopping by, I'm following back!

    Jess
    quinsmomma.blogspot.com

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  2. Visiting from #CommentHour. Wish I had more time to read it all.

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  3. Haha, I love how you describe it as Pride & Prejudice!! I used to take part in country dancing as a kid (a UK tradition, it seems) and I loved it - definitely keeps you in shape!

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  4. Hello from the SITS Comment hour! :-) Love your wedding pics.

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  5. Helo from SITS! Hold up, I've never heard of English Country Dancing and, of course, now I totally want to try it out. I am always trying to get my husband to take ballroom classes with me...

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  6. stopping by from SITs Comment hour - sounds fun. Very brave to give it a go. Don't know if I am.

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  7. Yessss! I've never had the pleasure of participating in English Country Dancing, but I'm sure it's a fabulous way to burn off calories and stress. Congrats on trying something new. Sharing some SITS Comment Love!

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  8. I always hated dancing where they made you switch partners. Just when I'd get to know my partner, and my husband is the best, they'd change me to someone and I was so awkward. I'm not a good dancer anyway.

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  9. Sounds like you had a wonderful time! (Even with the gym teacher there.)

    Stopping by from SITS Comment Hour!
    Toqua of Toqua's Crafts
    http://toquascrafts.blogspot.com/search/label/pine%20needle%20baskets

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  10. Learning to dance in a group is hard. I recently went with my mom to her line dancing class. I thought I was pretty coordinated but a few mintues showed me how far I had to go before I could audition for So You Think You Can Dance.

    Visiting from #commenthour

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