Dance Partner

 

Dancing is a social activity that moves the body to music. There are many types and styles of dancing. Some dancing is in groups and some dancing is solo. The best dancing is with a partner.

Most boys of my age were first taught the ‘box step’ dance to hold a girl and walk around in a square pattern. This introduction to the other gender was showing coordination, discipline and compatibility. The Left hand held her right hand and his right hand on the nape of her back. Chaperones made sure there was space between the bodies.

There were formal occasions when couple would get dressed up and followed other established dances like the waltz or foxtrot or tango and as the music got faster the feet would shuffle to the rumba or the cha-cha-cha or the jive.

At the end of the dance, the gentleman would bow to the lady and she would curtsey. Unless the pair was an established couple, another could ‘tap in’ to share the dancer.

I first learned how to ‘dance’ in summer camp. A woman in tights and cat-eye glasses turned on a record player as the boys’ camp and the girls’ camp hugged opposite walls. She did some kind of dance moves and then we were supposed to duplicate it with a stranger. Counsels plied one of each off the wall and threw us together in the middle of a basketball court.

After we held each other at arm’s length, the music got louder and faster and we learned the steps to the cha-cha-cha and the twist.

Cotillions followed with country club dances and even school proms. Then ballrooms and clubs with dance floors became ‘the place’ to go.

I’ve enjoyed dancing but not always with my partner. Most teenage dancing was just jumping around, waving your arms, and shaking your head to the beat of the drum until the slow dance. That was the dance where it was acceptable to intertwine hot sweaty bodies and hope it never ended.

If you find a good dance partner who can anticipate your move and respond in unison is very rare. A good dance couple doesn’t lead and follow; they flow together.

If your dance partner knows how to cook; all better. If your dance partner enjoys the same music and books; conversations can happen. If you dance partner can; you already know how to move vertically.

These old bones can’t do the tricks of yesteryear but the beat still gets my toe tapping with memories of finding a good dance partner and clearing a dance floor.