Dancing the Blues

The Blues Swing lesson and dancing after last night was incredible. When I watched the instructors demonstrate what we were going to learn that night, I thought that I was going to fail so miserably out of my league. As they performed a jump into promenade and launched into pivots, my heart just dropped into my stomach.


Oh well, I thought. I'll just try my best. After 15 minutes of review, we were taken through some exercises to prepare us for the sultry walk in closed position forward and backward across the floor. Having been taught proper compression, and constrained to my tight skirt, it actually wasn't too terribly difficult to wait for the lead's legs to lead mine as he took me backward, and to be drawn by the void trying to keep compression on his right shoulder as he stepped backward, leading me forward.


We rotated fast through the class, so that I wound up dancing with several guys twice during the lesson. The promenade kick turn was manageable, and before I knew it, we were doing pivots, which I have to say seems more difficult for the leads. When we put the whole thing together, everything felt so perfectly right. I had done it! I hadn't embarassingly failed after all!


I got my dances from my usuals, but in double and triple dose this time. No one was embarassed to dance closed with me.


When I had left one dance partner on the dance floor, saw adorable Dan dodging around the crowd looking for a new partner, turned and walked toward my seat with my back toward him, he coyly came around my left side and sprang into my path putting his hand out for a dance with the cutest grin on his face.


Sly Jim had already led me through blues swing without telling me when he took me to the floor over the last few months, which became ever so obvious as he snagged me for the last dance after I changed my shoes to go home.


For the first time that night, during intermittent East Coast Swing, I not only nailed the double outside turn, but I also got that left knee up on the dip.


Tomorrow night is the second half of my weekly two-fer. Dan's teaching lesson number two of basic East Coast Swing. As I take the formal classes after so much floor time, I'm finding that it pays off in a smoother dance.


Tonight is for solitude. I have a few contacts to make to try to get two more greeters on the schedule, send out the hospitality reminder for this Sunday's team and maybe get past page 50 of Five Quarters of the Orange.


Hugs and God Bless,
Sophie