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"Ballroom Dancing"

November 15, 2006

I remember when I picked my classes and was totally, completely overwhelmed by the wide variety of choices available. After about a billion pro and con lists, and conversations with everyone important in my life, I made some very arbitrary, stressed decisions that turned out to be amazing. One of those decisions was to take ballroom dancing, on a whim that I might have to dance at some masked ball one day in order to fall in love with a prince.

Ballroom dancing is a great skill to have under your belt. And it was an amazing class to take— up till the point when we were told we would have to participate in a professional ballroom dancing competition as part of our class credit. Needless to say, we were all nervous and overwhelmed for the past few weeks, practicing and preparing, and learning the techniques for keeping in time to the music. (I need to point out here that I am extremely uncoordinated, even though I danced for many years. It takes me a long time to pick up moves, and I have to concentrate very hard in order to not trip my partner or myself. I can’t even clap and sing at the same time.)

This wasn’t exactly easy, considering we were learning six dances: the waltz, the foxtrot, the tango, the rumba, the cha-cha, and the swing. All of them have their own step-patterns, timing, and personality. And learning those dances wasn’t glamorous like Baz Lurhman’s Strictly Ballroom, or the recent Take the Lead. Yeah right. More like, learning to walk for the first time.

So on Saturday we had to get up super early and trek to the airport, at the Hyatt, for this competition. Initially we were overwhelmed and intimidated as we saw hundreds of professionals arriving in be-feathered, be-jeweled costumes and inches of make-up. Even tiny little girls arrived in full-on ballroom attire, walking like they owned the place. And there we were— a motley group of sleepy college students in church clothes.

As soon as we entered the ballroom, however, I was transported right back to childhood as a vision of enchantment swirled around me. Don’t make fun of me. I spent my whole life watching the ice-skaters on TV, and the ballroom dancing shows. I spent the last fall planning my schedule around the show “So You Think You Can Dance?” (Travis should have won.) And here was all the glamour, the grace, and the fun… right in front of me.

Because our heat wasn’t until afternoon, we got to spend the entire morning watching amazingly talented dancers float around the floor with inhuman skill. I had no idea people could move that way. It was the loveliest thing I have seen in a long time. I remember this fairytale I used to read growing up called Twelve Dancing Princesses. The princesses spent their nights in a secret land under their castle, dancing their shoes to pieces with twelve princes. Every little girl’s dream. And come to find out, it exists… sort of.

Our heat was quickly over, thank goodness… and luckily, we only had to compete against each other. It was a bit frightening, but the overall experience totally balanced it out. We got to dance to some of my favorite songs: “The Tango de Roxanne,” and “Rose in Spanish Harlem,” to name a few. And I had awesome bonding time with friends from the class. It was an unexpectedly delightful day that left me with a feeling of accomplishment. And to think, I never would have had that experience if I hadn’t made rash schedule decisions earlier!

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