Waltzing

Photos Here
Yesterday I took Viennese Waltz lessons at the French Embassy. There were easily 200 people there in a huge room, who were there to socialize and learn to dance. This was with the International Club of DC, a social networking group that I recently joined. At one point when they separated the men and women to work on the turns I realized that I was in a dance class with about 100 men in business clothes, who were dancing and loving it. Some of these men clearly were not getting the steps because they were thinking too much but this is true of many beginners in dance. Others were surprised that they were getting dizzy and wanted to have this fixed by hearing an instruction to do something that would not make them dizzy. They were a little disappointed that being dizzy was just what happens when you spin around over and over again. I was happy that so many people wanted to dance and I thought how come these people are not excited about modern dance in this way, well maybe they are, some of them. One lady said to me as soon as we started dancing, "I can tell you are a dancer" and that made me laugh out loud. In fact I was asked several times if I had taken lessons before. I was also interested in how well I danced with some and how difficult it was with others. We changed partners about every 30 seconds. One woman and I danced really well together, and she asked me to dance with her twice in a row. She said that she felt like a pro with me. Another woman did the steps right at all times even if I was wrong but that led to some problems because she was not letting me lead. It was awesome to be in that environment with my knowledge as a dance teacher but not being the teacher and doing a form that I have not formally learned. It was also awesome to NOT be around dancers because I learned so much about non-dancers who are interested in dancing. I am not quite sure yet what I have learned but my head is racing with thoughts. I remember seeing a large room full of people doing the waltz at Ohio State. If I taught the waltz and had a class of 200 at $20 a person, well, I can't wait for the next lesson when we turn to the left. :-)