shallwedance

 

 

I met the FC on the dancefloor at a party (see The Origins of Cooking for Cock.)  and we totally sparked. He said I was the first girl who ever liked dancing with him (before then he was a self-condemned wallflower with two left feet.) Maybe that’s why we decided to enroll in swing dancing classes, to fullfil the promise of that magical evening. The first class was hard and the FC struggled to nail the basic three step. Last night, same problem, and I prayed the teacher would intervene and help the FC figure it out, but instead, the teacher focused on me.  He said I had to adjust my body to face the FC’s right shoulder- the part of him leading me — and to stop looking away ” towards the future,” he said dramaticaly. “There is no future here!” 

 

I smiled at the teacher’s analogy.  I do that a lot. Look ahead. Mostly for trouble and how to avoid it.  But sometimes you just have to live in the moment and let someone else steer.  No questions. No forecasting ahead. 

 

After the teacher’s correction the FC totally responded to my new posture and suddenly we were rocking, twirling, and even mastering a few moves that the other formerly-better dancers were still working on. It was a breakthrough and I felt so giddy and joyous as we swinged our hearts out to vintage rock.

 

Learning how to let myself go and answer to someone else’s decisions will be good therapy for this control freak and also fun for the FC, who I know will be a great dancer. (In fact, already is.)

 

 

The photo is a still from the film “Shall We Dance,” the Japanese version. The FC borrowed it from the library to warm us up for our classes. It’s a beautifully-directed, funny, romantic film. I loved it. (Don’t bother with the Richard Gere re-make, which doesn’t have the same quirky aesthetic flare.

Leave a comment !