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The Dance Off

A little while back, the Mild Girlfriend and I started taking dance classes. It was just one of those things we decided to for a date night, and we've both been enjoying it quite a bit. I'm not exactly a stranger to dancing, and I even have a war story or two to tell about salsa class. Still, it's been many, many years since I've done any kind of ballroom dancing, and I was legitimately worried about rust. After all, much of the guy's part is about timing and thinking ahead to make sure things work out well.

Luckily for us, we had a good instructor, and the timing started to come back after a couple of lessons. Now, these classes involved a combination of dances, so I was learning quite a bit (look, Ma, I can sort of cha cha now). In hindsight, learning the different styles all at once was actually kind of helpful; it forced me to focus on both the similarities and differences. In its own way, it taught me what was important, almost by contrast, so I was able to pick up on a few nuances a little bit more.

In the process, my engineering brain reared its head yet again. Every time we do something that doesn't quite click for me, I ask questions. A lot of them. Some of them are simple ones ("should I start the turn on 3? Or on the 4?"), but the more common, and more interesting, ones are of the very technical variety. If I notice that a turn isn't working very well, I start to worry about things like my hand placement. Am I holding my hand high enough? Should I turn my left hand so that it's parallel to the ground instead of perpendicular? When the turn is over, how should I be holding my partner's hand? Our instructor has been quite amused by this, largely because that's not how she thinks. However, she has patiently answered all of my questions, and it's helped out quite a bit.

Of course, none of the training is quite the same as actual, live dancing. That's why this particular dance studio has a group lesson/dance party thing every so often. Well, we decided to give it a shot. We were in the beginner group, but it was still fun. We managed to get the hang of our dance, and even hung out and learned a few more things on the fly (apparently, you can pick out the footwork for a basic waltz if you stare hard enough). We were having an enjoyable night, and we figured we sort of understood the basic idea of these dance parties.

Alas, no. I have no idea if it's a common thing, but the instructors decided that the men all had to have a dance off. Yes, a dance off. And I was in the beginner's group at the beginning of the night, so I was seriously outmatched. Dammit.

Luckily, they just played some music and let us all kind of move in a large group. It's not like I had to step forward by myself or anything, so I just kind of did my thing. I knew I wasn't going to impress anyone with my ballroom dancing, and I figured I probably shouldn't two-step or do any kind of casual, hip-hop type dancing. So, I resigned myself to being a bit of a wallflower during this whole ordeal. A minute or so later, after the clapping had subsided, I figured it was over.

Nope.

A couple of the instructors and some of the other students seemed to notice that a couple of us had hung back during the group dance off. They decided that they weren't having that. THAT'S when they decided that I needed a spotlight, so it was a one-on-one dance off between me and another guy. They even gave us back up dancers behind us to really put on a show. Great. Just great.

At that point, though, they just happened to be playing something with a pretty defined bass line. I could pick it out, and it had a bit of a tempo. I remember thinking, "well, hell. All right, I guess anything goes, then. Casual hip hop it is, then." I'm guessing that part of the reason why they picked us for this second, mini dance off was that they wanted us to get into it. And as soon as I mentally flipped the switch, I did precisely that. There was a lot of laughter, whooping, and hollering. One of the other instructors told me that she heard the commotion from all the way in another room.

So, yeah. Dance classes have been a ton of fun. Also, beware group dance lessons, and definitely keep an eye out for anything resembling a dance off. You may have to bust out your trusty two step.

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