Thursday, October 08, 2009

Dance lesson: first group class

Last night we attended our first group dance lesson. It was for Beginning Foxtrot and Swing. The lesson began at 7:45 and lasted 45 minutes. Chad (who has been our private instructor) was teaching this class also. I would say there were maybe 14-16 other people there.

We started with the Foxtrot with the Left Rock Turn - which we had already learned during our second private lesson. So it was nice to review. The Swing was totally different though; and we learned the East Coast Triple-Step Swing (I found this lesson on YouTube). I had a little trouble with this. It goes: Rock-step, triple-step (left), triple-step (right); rock-step, triple-step, triple-step; etc. I could do the rock-step okay, but I had a hard time with the triple-steps. They're really small steps; and it was wearing me out. I worked up a sweat. I think I finally got the hang of it though.

The weirdest thing about these group lessons - which I wasn't expecting - is... WE HAD TO SWITCH PARTNERS! Everybody had to dance with everybody else. Fortunately there was an equal number of guys and girls. This is supposed to help us learn to lead and follow with other people - for those of us who have partners - but I also think it helps the single people who come there, so they don't get stuck with somebody they don't like. And there were quite a few singles there. So it's probably a good idea.

Once I got over the initial shock it actually wasn't too bad. It was a nice way to meet new people, as you had to introduce yourself, and there were times for chit-chat. And stepping on someone else's toes is a pretty good icebreaker. Even though some people were pretty good, and others were not good at all, everybody seemed to have fun. I would say we were fairly middle-of-the-road; not nearly the best, but definitely not the worst. There was one young girl - maybe in her mid twenties - who drove up from Marion. She was a regular dancer and was much better than the rest of us. A couple ladies were pretty big (or I'm pretty small), and I felt kind of odd with my arms way up in the air. And the one lady just stared at me the whole time we danced. She may have done this to everybody, but it was freakin' me out! And some people just get really sweaty. I didn't really care much for putting my right hand in strange women's sweaty armpits. You definitely want to dress cool for these classes. And it was always nice to come back around to my 'regular' partner. Even still, I have to admit that it was kinda fun.

When we got there the lady whose butt was hanging out of her dress the last time, was there again... with the same dress on. She was practicing with a guy, and there was also a couple there practicing with a guy. I am guessing these people do competitive dance. They were pretty good.

I think the next group lesson we're going to is the Waltz. Then we have one more private lesson. What I want to know is: what kind of dance do we do to a song like "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton? That's usually the only song I dance to.

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