Barry teaching me how to dance

          “Shake, Rattle and Roll” the lyrics to the song that I have been learning how to swing dance to keeps echoing in my head. Tomorrow the competition at the Arthur Murray Studio will commence. We’ve been practicing for a couple of weeks and I will now be judged on orginality, showmanship and technique. I’m feeling both nervous and excited to show off what I have learned.

            When I learned that I would receive six free lessons a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t wait to get started.My fiance, Colby, and I made appointments for our lessons at the Burlington Arthur Murray Studio. This is where we met Barry our outgoing, enthusiastic instructor. We informed him of our interest in swing dancing. We won’t be dancing this style for our first dance but we figured that the wedding was awhile away so why not do something fun for our six free lessons. He started us off teaching the basic footwork and then we  moved on to moving, shaking, and turning.

            I didn’t know what to expect when we first started, I was worried about complicated dance moves and too many steps that needed to be memorized too quickly . The first three lessons moved at a slower pace because Barry was teaching both Colby and I the moves. The last three lessons Colby ,unfortunatly, could not attend so we moved at a faster pace. Barry had me moving all over the dance floor. The biggest challenge was trying to follow what he had planned for the next move. I never knew what to expect.

        I’m glad that Colby could share some of this experience with me. He likes learning how to dance and took learning the new steps seriously. I’m sad though that he won’t be able to dance with me tomorrow. I know that he would have gotten into it and really enjoyed the opportunity. I look forward to learning a new dance like  the waltz or rhumba for our wedding first dance. This experience was our warm up for future dance lessons.

         I’m nervous to dance with someone I’ve never danced with tomorrow. Will I be able to follow their lead? Will they be able to include the moves I’ve learned? How much showmanship can two people who have never danced together before show? All these questions are running through my head.

                By then end of the sixth lesson I felt like I had a better sense of the “swing” dancing style and I realized that it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  I would reccomend to anyone interested in dancing lessons to try Arthur Murray. They know how to simplify the process and move at your pace. My last dancing blog mentioned my desire to lead all the time. I now  have more appreciation for the “follow” role and have learned to let the guy take the helm.  I just hope I don’t step on his toes tomorrow.

Swing the Mood