Dancing with civilians

Well, I had a fun time last night. Learned some stuff.

Ballroom vs combat
OK, country dancing seen from a ballroom perspective is one thing, and what happens out in the world is entirely another. I'm used to only getting only momentary glimpses of the basic footwork under all the variations and enhancements when I watch the advanced students at the dance studio. But some of these folks were just doing basics and the footwork was different than anything I've seen. Now I'm not a dance historian, and it feels like the definitions are pretty loose (what I call the progressive two-step you may call a Texas two-step or a country two-step), but I sure couldn't figure out most couples' footwork even when there was a couple that was just basic-stepping around. It reminded me of High School, when I took Spanish so I'd be able to eavesdrop in the hallways, only to discover that the Spanish in the hallways and the Spanish in the classroom had almost nothing to do with each other. Maybe the lesson here is that it matters less than I think - I do tend to geek out on the details.


Traffic control
At one point a fast song came on that I thought I could jitterbug to. I ended up dancing with a friend who's pretty darn good, and we had a good time, but I foolishly started out kind of in a corner and of course we wandered into the line of dance. One couple in particular very nearly ran us over twice. It felt like a jerk move on his part, but maybe he was trying to make a point. I know better than to be doing a spot dance anywhere but right under the disco ball (in this case, a mirrored saddle, which every country bar should have).


Risk
I need to be much more willing to lead a spin and take some other chances. I spent more time than I like just motoring around the floor with basic footwork. Some of this is just me being timid in a new environment. Some of this is I'm not sure what my options are. Some of it is that stuff felt a lot less secure and more "wrong" out in the world, because of insufficient...



Frame
Dancing with civilians (versus folks at the dance studio) was a real eye-opener. Ladies, you need a frame too. The man you're dancing with needs your frame. It was like trying to steer a jello - it doesn't actually fight you at all, but you can't tell what's happening. It was much harder than it had to be to even tell if we were in sync, which means for the most part we weren't. I ended up having to be much more assertive than I'm used to at the dance studio. One sure way to move a jello is to just bulldoze it - but that barely counts as dancing. It appears that some gentlemen have decided to solve this problem with a giant dose of...



Chutzpah
Another pattern I saw a few times is that brazen self-confidence and unself-consciousness is frequently substituted for Rhythm and skill. There was this one dude, that wasn't doing any recognizable dance at ALL, whose beat had nothing whatsoever to do with the music, and who frequently got too busy yanking his partner through spins and flips and loop de loops and immelmanns to move his feet at all (she loved it). He was doing his same, very dynamic moves at the same brisk pace to everything - slow country, fast country, country rock, blues. And when his rhythm happened to mesh with the song, he didn't even keep that, particularly. He wasn't the only one, another fellow had a less advanced case. It was the bastard child of two-stepping and moshing. There were some very good and controlled and elegant dancers there, and at first I admired the professionals and disdained the guy who was mosh-stepping. But here's the deal. He was having as much fun as they were. And so was his partner. Possibly more. I ended up envying his lack of self-doubt. That's the kind of confidence and joy and exuberance that I hope Dancing will help me to express. Eventually. I doubt I'm temperamentally suited to the "get drunk and jump around" approach, but the dude had something wild and raw and cool going on.

Dance on.