Nobody puts Baby in a corner
On Wednesday, one of my co-workers mentioned that a dance studio in town did group dance lessons on Friday nights and asked if I wanted to go. I, of course, had nothing else to do and in the spirit of establishing a social life decided to give it a shot. I've never been to a dance class before, so I had no idea what to expect.
From the first two minutes of the evening I had Dirty Dancing quotes and references running through my head, so I feel the need to include them in this entry as well. If you've never seen the movie, this entry will make very little sense.
"But I can't even do the merengue..."
I don't think I sucked too terribly, but the dance for tonight's lesson was a waltz. I've never waltzed before, and I think by the end I had the steps down well enough. I had hoped that there might be some young or young-ish single men there, and that hope was dashed within about five minutes. The first four guys there each had at least twenty years on me. One was old enough to have a daughter about to get married, and another had gray hair and a full-on George Hamilton tan. My cleavage enhancing top was totally wasted!
"Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space, this is your dance space. You've gotta hold the frame."
My biggest problems as a dancer were 1) My tendency to look down rather than at my partner and 2) my inability to follow a lead. Damn it, it's hard for me to let a man take charge! The lesson itself was OK and I think I ended up doing well, but when the "party" afterward started was when things really started to resemble an evening on the dance floor at Kellerman's.
"Johnny, you're a strong partner, you can lead anybody!"
The instructor for the night didn't resemble Patrick Swayze a whole lot, but he did look like a cross between Matt Damon and the guy who played Johnny Castle's younger cousin. He's a really good dancer, and I felt myself going into a little bit of a Jennifer Grey zone the few times I danced with him. It proved that if a guy knows what he's doing, it doesn't really matter what the girl he's dancing with does, she's just along for the ride. We did the tango, the fox trot, and the hustle, where I was twirled and spun around so many times I was dizzy at the end. He was even wearing the white dress shirt/black pants combo that Swayze wore in the movie! Seriously (sadly?), in a way it was like a pre-teen dream come true.
"You always do the mambo. Why not dance this year's final dance...to the pichanga."
Much like Baby couldn't hang with Johnny all the time, I spent a greater portion of the night dancing with the nice but decidedly older men than the suave instructor. They were the Neil (owner's nephew) to my Baby, nice enough but kind of dorky and just not who I saw myself dancing with when I envisioned the evening. Honestly, when I found myself doing the merengue with a man that I'm guessing was older than my dad, I knew it was time to call it a day.
"I've had the time of my life."
Not quite, to be truthful. It was a fun way to spend an evening, more for the novelty than for anything else, but I can't really see myself signing up for lessons. The instructor certainly had a lot of charm and moves, but the 30-year-old me knows that it's more likely to keep the studio going than to seduce his dance students. Still, it was a new experience and made for a different journal entry than the work/baby shower junk I've been writing about lately.
And for the record, I was able to remember the quotes I used (and about 50 more) without even putting the movie in. Yeah, I've watched it a lot (and hi to my original livejournal pals if you're reading this - I thought of you ladies many times tonight - you know why!).
From the first two minutes of the evening I had Dirty Dancing quotes and references running through my head, so I feel the need to include them in this entry as well. If you've never seen the movie, this entry will make very little sense.
"But I can't even do the merengue..."
I don't think I sucked too terribly, but the dance for tonight's lesson was a waltz. I've never waltzed before, and I think by the end I had the steps down well enough. I had hoped that there might be some young or young-ish single men there, and that hope was dashed within about five minutes. The first four guys there each had at least twenty years on me. One was old enough to have a daughter about to get married, and another had gray hair and a full-on George Hamilton tan. My cleavage enhancing top was totally wasted!
"Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space, this is your dance space. You've gotta hold the frame."
My biggest problems as a dancer were 1) My tendency to look down rather than at my partner and 2) my inability to follow a lead. Damn it, it's hard for me to let a man take charge! The lesson itself was OK and I think I ended up doing well, but when the "party" afterward started was when things really started to resemble an evening on the dance floor at Kellerman's.
"Johnny, you're a strong partner, you can lead anybody!"
The instructor for the night didn't resemble Patrick Swayze a whole lot, but he did look like a cross between Matt Damon and the guy who played Johnny Castle's younger cousin. He's a really good dancer, and I felt myself going into a little bit of a Jennifer Grey zone the few times I danced with him. It proved that if a guy knows what he's doing, it doesn't really matter what the girl he's dancing with does, she's just along for the ride. We did the tango, the fox trot, and the hustle, where I was twirled and spun around so many times I was dizzy at the end. He was even wearing the white dress shirt/black pants combo that Swayze wore in the movie! Seriously (sadly?), in a way it was like a pre-teen dream come true.
"You always do the mambo. Why not dance this year's final dance...to the pichanga."
Much like Baby couldn't hang with Johnny all the time, I spent a greater portion of the night dancing with the nice but decidedly older men than the suave instructor. They were the Neil (owner's nephew) to my Baby, nice enough but kind of dorky and just not who I saw myself dancing with when I envisioned the evening. Honestly, when I found myself doing the merengue with a man that I'm guessing was older than my dad, I knew it was time to call it a day.
"I've had the time of my life."
Not quite, to be truthful. It was a fun way to spend an evening, more for the novelty than for anything else, but I can't really see myself signing up for lessons. The instructor certainly had a lot of charm and moves, but the 30-year-old me knows that it's more likely to keep the studio going than to seduce his dance students. Still, it was a new experience and made for a different journal entry than the work/baby shower junk I've been writing about lately.
And for the record, I was able to remember the quotes I used (and about 50 more) without even putting the movie in. Yeah, I've watched it a lot (and hi to my original livejournal pals if you're reading this - I thought of you ladies many times tonight - you know why!).