Today I’m celebrating my first ballroom dance lesson in four months—no, not face to face, even with masks—but over Zoom with, I hope, the accompaniment of some of the great old specials, such as “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (deleting a grim memory of a breakup and attempted reunion the song or my eternal hopefulness brought on.)
I have a long and valued history with ballroom dancing, beginning with watching, entranced yet skeptical, my parents delightedly whirling on the floor. I never did learn to dance from or with my father—an impossibility, I believe. But when I took my first lesson (wearing ski boots, believe it or not) here in Santa Fe, I felt as though I’d finally found my calling. And I still feel that way twenty years and many lessons and many competitions later, with the requisite number of gilded statues—how kind those competition judges were!—and an invaluable association between moving with a partner and those old songs and eternal hopefulness.
Now, of course, I won’t be moving with a partner but watching my long-time, eternally patient teacher, Lawrence Black, on Zoom as he directs my steps and corrects my posture. One of the greatest gifts of dancing is that I now have the posture that in previous generations would have been enforced by walking with a book on my head.
So why write about dancing? Why dance now, when we are all wrapped to a greater or lesser degree in gloom, even despair, with worse times ahead?
Because to move, and especially to move to music with a partner, is to live. We can’t live in projections of fatality; those of us like me, who fortunately have so far escaped the pest (and through great care and avoidance of nearly everyone hope to escape it from now on) have to remind ourselves that the world is still beautiful, these early summer mornings filled with light and cool air, our gardens, when we are lucky enough to have them, coming on strong with the effects of our patient care and watering, and the blue sky still up there, unclouded.
So put on some old-time dance music and get up there and move. The steps don’t matter. Just feel that rhythm and let go…
I enjoyed your article, and love it that you’ve kept dancing. I’ve always loved dancing, although I’m hardly a good dancer. Each evening I put on whatever music that is playing on my favorite radio station on the internet. It’s then I feel the most free and the most me, and everything else falls by the wayside for a while, which is no easy feat in these times. It’s probably the healthiest thing I do for myself. I’ve always wanted to learn the tango, and may yet, but it’s not going to be anytime soon because I definitely need a partner for that.
I’ve always been fascinated by the myth of the god Shiva who danced the world into existence. If I had an altar, it would be to him.
😊
I am a dancer. I have taking dance lessons at Dance Station for many years and hope to continue. It is a great sport and activity for health and fitness. Lawrence and his teaching staff are dedicated to your goals.