Shall We Dance? ~ Take 1

The One and I got back a few hours ago from our first dance at the ballroom dance studio where we have been taking lessons. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but overall it was a really good experience.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed getting all gussied up, and putting on a dress to go out with The One. That is something that we really haven't done much of together. The only other times we've gotten all fancied up is for the two weddings we've attended together. Being able to get dressed up was probably my favorite part of the night.

The evening consisted of a group dance class, followed by the dance itself. The class was the Swing, which seems to be the dance that The One and I enjoy the most so far. The instructor was the same woman that taught the Swing in our other class. I found her OK the first time, but she really frustrated The One because she moved so fast. I don't know how he felt about this class, since we didn't talk about it, but I actually enjoyed it.

There were so many people there! I'd guess there were about 50-60 people participating in the class. She covered the first two steps that she taught in the other class, plus one more. I felt like she took time to show us the steps before partnering us up to practice. I never ended up dancing with The One during the class, but I still enjoyed it more than any of the others. I also managed to step on some poor guy's foot, but I honestly don't know who's fault it was. We were both beginners, so I don't know if I walked into him or if he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Either way, we just laughed it off, and it was fine.

Again, I certainly didn't feel like I had the steps down by the end of the lesson, but it also felt like there was less pressure. Everyone that was there seemed more interested in just having fun, and it didn't seem as intense as the rest of the classes. If every class felt like that, and was instructed like, then it would actually be enjoyable taking them. For once it felt like a majority of the people in the class actually were beginners!

Then they got started with the dance portion of the evening. They played a Swing song right away, and The One and I tried our hand at dancing to it. We failed miserably, but I think we sort of figured out the steps to the dance. They then played a Rumba and we tried dancing to that, and did a tiny bit better. After that they began doing dances that we did not know, nor did we even recognize, so we decided to sit down and just watch.

At one point, someone that I had been paired up with during the group class came over and asked me to dance. Of course it was during one of the dances that I didn't even recognize. I told him that I did not know the dance, and he said he'd teach me, so I figured why not. I disclosed to him that I didn't have a clue what I was doing. If he wanted to risk his toes that was his prerogative. He taught me the basic step, and one of the spins and we suck with those two moves through the whole song. I never completely caught on, but it was OK.

I was talking to The One about dancing with other people, and how much guts it has to take to be a guy and walk across the room and ask someone to dance and risk getting turned down. I was honestly surprised to be asked. It's not like I was sitting on the sidelines by myself, and if I'd known the dance I would have been dancing it with The One.

In that case I didn't mind being asked, and the guy was very patient trying to teach me, but as a general rule it kind of makes me uncomfortable. Obviously, I have no clue what I'm doing with the dances, but I also have a pretty big personal bubble and I really don't like strangers inside of it. Dancing with someone doesn't just cross over the line of my bubble, it leaps over it. I have to wonder what makes a guy walk up to a woman, standing next to a man (or actually, I guess we were sitting), who both have wedding rings on their hands, and ask her to dance. You never know when that guy is going to be a weird possessive nut job, and take you out for talking to his woman. Obviously, The One isn't like that, but he doesn't know that.

The One has some friends that he met on campus that attend the dances, and one of them was there that evening. So, after a while he came over and introduced himself to me and talked to us for a bit. While he was talking to us, another Rumba came on and we missed our chance to dance the one and only dance we actually kind of know. But, it was alright. The One mentions his friends quite a bit and it was nice to finally have a face to go with the name. Eventually he wandered back off to dance, and The One and I continued watching the other dancers.

One more Rumba came on and we danced to that, and proved that we need a lot more practice as we couldn't even remember the step that we were taught in our lesson yesterday. Ugh!

Overall it was a bit overwhelming watching all of the people dancing, especially watching one of the instructors and his fiance out on the floor. I kept oscillating between thinking, "Holy Shit! I'm never going to be able to do that. I'm just going to quite now." and "Wow! They look awesome. I so am going to bust my ass and learn how to do that!"

Even though we spent the majority of the night sitting on the sidelines, I'd have to say that overall the dance was a very good experience. Next week the dance is a formal dance, so I asked one of the instructors about how formal we need to be dressed. He actually said for The One to wear a tux if he owns one, and if not then black tie.

Holy crap!

But, I'm super excited about being able to get super dressed up! I may spend the whole night sitting on the sidelines, but you can bet your ass that I'll look damn fine while I'm doin' it!