Dance Fever

I have a confession. Well, it is not really a confession as I didn’t do anything wrong. It is more in the way of an admission. I am currently taking dancing lessons with my wife. It is not something that I admit freely and once my friends find about this I fully expect them to give me a whole ton of shit. But, it makes my wife happy and that is all that really matters to me.

For a couple of years Joyce has been bugging me to take dancing lessons. I had about as much interest in doing that as a eunuch would have in going to a cathouse. When I am at a wedding and on the dance floor, I need to be unfettered and bust my Travolta moves without any directions or steps. I always had a policy that I won’t dance to anything that required me to follow steps. This got me out of line dancing, the cha-cha slide and any other lame, white, no rhythm required, robot like, automatic gestures.

So, when she suggested we take formal lessons, I acted like she suggested I wear a dress and hand over my nut sack. But she persisted and eventually I caved in. I figured for all that she does for me, if this is what she really wants, what the hell. So, for her birthday this year I agreed to go with her and take an eight week course in social dancing at Moraine Valley.

As the first lesson approached, I was dreading it. As we got there I was encountered with some other guys that were in the same boat as me, in that they were dragged their by their significant others. There was also a nice older couple and a couple of women. I must say after five weeks of lessons they are not as bad as I thought they were going to be. For one thing they are a pretty good workout. The class is an hour and a half and you are moving the whole time.

I am also learning a lot about the art of dancing. One thing I never realized is that all the pressure is on the man. Since the guy leads he is responsible for most of the moves. I have to signal Joyce when we turn and if I forget a step it is over. The instructor has me doing turns and spins and when it is all over I am pretty tired.

Another benefit of the dance lessons is that in some weird way it has brought Joyce and I closer. Dancing is really intimate and you have to work as a team to get in the right step. If we were not able to work together then we would never be able to be in rhythm and if I do say so, I think we are doing rather well in the class.

I guess in the end the experience has been a positive. I mean, now we know at least a couple of basic steps so that if we are on a dance floor we won’t look stupid. With the amount of weddings and parties between our families and friends there will be ample opportunities to shake our money makers. So, the next time Joyce suggests something that seems to be out of left field, I will try to go into it with an open mind.