Just Dance

Andrew and I have decided to take a leisure skills swing dancing class this semester. Well, technically I decided and begged him to take it with me, my main argument being that it's useless if I am the only one who knows how to do it since the guy is supposed to lead. I also pointed out that we can actually learn how to do the aerial moves, maybe even throw in a flip or two as well. You see, Andrew always wants to try to do flips whenever we go to a dance. I am sure it would be cool if we did it, but we have never actually learned how to do one, we have only seen them done. I am sure you understand why I refuse to participate in such acts of foolishness with him.

Last semester Andrew and I took a basic shag class with my roommate and her boyfriend. It was nice to learn, but I am not going to lie, the class itself is very awkward at times, and I will explain more in a minute. However, if you take basic shag, you can go straight into intermediate swing, which brings us to the present. Let's get back to the awkwardness. You see, the classes are not set up to where you dance with one person the whole time. Instead, the girls stand in a line facing the boys and switch partners every song. Now this is an ideal set up for the person who wants to take the class but doesn't have anyone to take it with, which is the majority of the people enrolled. However, it is not so ideal for the few couples who are taking the class so that they can learn with each other.  We had some very awkward people in our shag class.  I'm not saying the people were awkward outside of shag, but dancing with them was awkward. Like the guy who completely made up his own footwork whenever he began a conversation with you. No multitasking for him. How are you supposed to follow that? There was also the guy that was at least five inches shorter than me. No offense to him, but it's not always easy being tall in this kind of situation. I will point out that it was much worse when my 6'2" roommate danced with him.

When Andrew and I walked into our first swing class last week, we quickly discovered the dynamic of the class was much different than our shag class. It seemed liked everyone knew everyone, and everyone dances at EVERY possible moment that they can including before, during, and after class. Except me and Andrew. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy dancing, but like I said the learning process can be very awkward at times. There are many times when I am dancing with someone and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Then I get us off beat and have to apologize. There is one guy in the class who is probably 30 pounds lighter than me, and I know it's not easy for him to lead me. I just don't realize when he is trying to get me to do something because his tug, push, or pull doesn't have much effect on someone that is at least 3 inches taller than him. It doesn't make it any easier that each guy has their own way of leading. But hey, it's good to learn how to dance with a variety of people right?

 I wish you could just watch a class because I feel like you would be pretty entertained. I find myself glancing across the room to Andrew giving him faces that communicate things like "when is this class ever going to be over?" or "this song could not end any sooner." After I do that I normally get us off beat again.

Don't get me wrong, we do enjoy dancing. I just think we will enjoy it more once we get through with this class and can do it on our own. Maybe one day we will be able to dance like this. But probably not, because there are only so many awkward classes one can take.