July 31, 2013

Slow, Quick, Quick, Slow (or Why Dancing with the Stars won't be calling anytime soon)


For the past couple days, I have found myself repeating this little phrase in my head: slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick....You get the picture. 

I'm not going crazy, although I can see how it seems that way. 

The reason I've got the phrase in my head is because earlier this week my southern beau and I had a dancing lesson. It was all his doing as a surprise for me and we were actually supposed to have the lesson last week, but then life (in the form of a burst hot water heater) got in the way. 

There's a dance studio in my neighborhood, next to the fancy grocery store where we sometimes go for gourmet chocolate and free coffee samples. I had peered in the window at the elegant couples moving gracefully around the floor and remarked how we should go dancing sometime...although it was mainly just wishful thinking. 

Apparently my wishful thinking worked because this week, I found myself being trotted around the same dance floor by my beau. 

Before we actually got to the dancing, we had to fill out a form for the instructor. One of the questions on the form was "Why do you want to learn to dance?" and my beau wrote "I don't." And that pretty much sums up his excitement level prior to the lesson. 

But he knew it was special for me and once we got on the floor, he kind of got into it. 

We attempted to learn the rumba and some beginner swing dance steps. Since neither of us has much dancing experience, it was mostly basic things...I doubt we'll be joining a professional dance circuit anytime soon. 

Mainly we just had fun. I've always heard that how you dance can be representative of how you approach life. Here are a few of our dancing experiences that demonstrate this: 
  • I kept trying to lead (what can I say, I like to be in charge)
  • When I didn't do a turn quickly enough, my beau would give me a little push (alas, he also likes to be in charge) 
  • He also got really frustrated when he couldn't get it perfect after one try. 
The best part was just doing something together where we could laugh at ourselves and feel a little bit silly. It was a nice way to spend an evening. I highly recommend a dancing lesson if you are looking for something fun to do with your sweetie, a good friend or even by yourself. 

Just remember this: a rumba is a dance, a Roomba is a vacuum cleaner and Zumba is some kind of exercise. We kept getting them confused!