Dance Lessons

Picture in your mind....Ryan and me on the dance floor at the local YWCA. It is Thursday night and there are about 23 people awkwardly standing about, preparing to learn new steps to the East Coast Swing. We have learned several lessons throughout this experience...and not just about dancing.

Lesson Number 1 - Look at your partner
Thursday we learned a move where the leader (Ryan) lifts up both dancers arms and lays them behind the head to do a "slide" down the arm. Our instructor explicitly mentioned that both dance partners should be looking at one another in this maneuver. We practiced this move a few times standing still and then put our steps along with the arm movement.

Ryan smacked me square in the head, which caused quite a lot of laughter from me, especially when he said "I guess that's why I'm supposed to look at you?"

If you want to get an idea of the move I'm describing (I know it is hard to visualize) you can watch this video on YouTube....the move I'm talking about occurs roughly 57-60 seconds into the video. (You can watch the time expire on the bottom of the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL3u-d8STmA

Lesson Number 2 - Keep your eyes open
There is one guy in the class who is somewhat tall and lanky, and if he didn't have so much facial hair, I'd say he looked a little bit like "Shaggy" from the Scooby Doo Show. He stood next to us in the opening demonstrations and often stretched his arms, legs, rib cage, etc. to warm up....with his eyes closed. Then, as the instructor demonstrated moves for the Leaders....he followed along with the movements, again with his eyes closed. I'm glad he is isn't my partner or I might get hit in the head more often.

Lesson Number 3 - Rabbits do not necessarily have the best moves
We learned another new move on Thursday - a 45 degree turn where the dancers' arms make a motion that looks like they are pulling back a bow to shoot at something. Of course the two dancers are holding hands and doing this maneuver at the same time and some how it still looks pretty good. But apparently one of us (me) was turning the move into a rabbit pose. I didn't even realize I was doing it, but at the end of each arm maneuver I'd whack our hands together in the dead center creating what Ryan described as a Rabbit Pose. I guess it looked a little bit like this:
I'm still finding it hard to believe, but I don't think he'd lie to me. I just hope I don't look as startled as this rabbit.

At any rate we're having fun with our lessons and will soon start to learn the Fox Trot. Watch out Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Y'all ain't seen nothing yet.