Back to Dancing

I know it's been a while since my last post, but it has been nonstop activity since then.  This past weekend my friend Jonathan came to town and we decided to attend a ballroom dance Friday night.  Going there was like stepping back in time for me.  Memories from college came flooding back - when I used to spend so much of my time at such events.  I had not ballroom danced since first semester senior year, and I have to say I was a little nervous.

Ballroom dance dress.

Jonathan observed for a while as I danced with other ballroomers who clearly knew what they were doing.  And it was the weirdest sensation - first there was the insecurity.  Realizing in my head that I couldn't remember the steps for my feet.  Feeling shaky on  my feat and looking down - which I never used to do.  Worst was feeling like I was letting my partner down or like I was at his mercy. I was like a paralyzed person learning how to walk again.  And then, after a few turns around the floor, I stopped thinking and over-analyzing.  I stopped looking down and just went with it.  And, miraculously, my feet started to remember of their own accord.  All of a sudden, I was having fun and dancing instead of fretting.


Of course, this whole process had to repeat for every dance (and in ballroom, there are a lot).  The only ones I felt totally comfortable with were jive, salsa and swing.

Game night before Salsa: Jon, Me, Zach, Alissa, Ryan, Jamie, Josh

By the end of the night though, Jonathan and I were quite enjoying ourselves and saying "we really need to get back into this."  He's going to find someplace to go in Raleigh and I will try to make more of an effort here.  Though the fact that ballroom dances are only 2 hrs and are $15 vs. like 4 hours and $5 for a salsa dance....well, that's a deterrent.

Saturday night I held a game night where three of my male Charlotte ONE friends came, and two female friends - Jamie and Alissa - and of course Jonathan and my mother.  We played Taboo and Apples to Apples and really had a raucous good time.  I had to put Zach on 'hand time-out' for gesturing while playing Taboo, but they got me back while describing words like "bossy" by using my name.  After the games we spent about 20 min playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii which was a lot of fun as well as funny.

Dancing w/Cleve

From there we went Salsa dancing at a place Cleve from work told me about.  He was there and it was fun dancing with him since we'd both heard about the others' salsa skills, but never seen them.

When Zach and Josh realized it was a dance and not a club, they peaced out and went to a nearby bar to watch sports.  Ryan and Alissa stayed and tried to learn some moves.  Jamie couldn't make it out.  I explained to Alissa that the reason I paint my toenails red is so if a guy steps on them and they bleed, he won't be able to tell and thus won't freak out.  She thought that was quite amusing.  I call it practical.


By the end of the night, my feet were killing me and I had a blister from my shoes which hasn't happened since I started ballroom dancing in '05.  It was clearly a sign that I needed to resume my favorite pastime with considerably more frequency.


 After church Sunday I sat and nursed my feet and read a book.  Jonathan played the Wii with Mom until he left, and then the family went to a family dinner at the grandparents' house.  My friend Drew was on America's Funniest Home Videos and When Vacations Attack that night so we watched him being attacked my a goose in a kayak and laughed our butts off. Check out this link to share in the amusement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cV4FCwtTEo

Cleve and me at Liberty for the b-day party.

Anyway, this week has had it's own whirl of activities.  It was one of our reporter's birthdays yesterday for example, so we all went out to Liberty restaurant and watched the Carolina vs. Miami game and had a good time in general.  Tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Billy Elliot the musical which I saw in London about this time in '09.  It's so hard to believe it's been two years.  I can still see it all so vividly.  But for the day when I can't...that's why I kept the blog.