by Louweeze

Created on: November 27, 2007

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. So much of human dissatisfaction is not responding to these urges. This urge I fully took to heart.

One day, in the mail I received our local community center's class offerings for the winter season. It listed a short 8-week class in ballroom dance. The class covered very basic steps in the Waltz and 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. And it was in that capacity I found myself at the majority of dances throughout my young life - always wishing things had been different.

Anyway, 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 many of us still very timid and half-terrified.

The steps were difficult at first for me. Our teacher brought in a local dance-class instructor one night. As his instruction was more detailed and broke down the steps into smaller portions, we got our first taste of technique. Doing the moves in rote mode, in repetition, committed the moves to memory. But if you truly enjoy dancing, becoming aware of the correct way to dance is essential. Someone who has performed the correct technique is absolutely wonderful to watch.

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 discovered a ballroom 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 would 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, rumba, samba, salsa,

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