Learning to Dance

When I was around 10 or so I remember watching my Mom and Dad dancing or watching my Grandmother and Grandfather dancing. I would get up and try to dance, failing miserably. My Dad said, "do this" and moved his legs side to side with the song's beat. I followed his lead and found that I did pretty good. For the longest time, that is all I would do when dancing, moving my legs from side to side :)

In the eighth grade, we had a dance and I remember dancing with a cute red-headed girl named Kim. We had fun and danced the night away. I don't remember how long it took me to get up the nerve to ask her to dance but once I did it was smooth sailing afterward.

Break-dancing was popular when I was in high school and I wanted to learn to do it. Some of us would get in a circle and pop our joints in the hands, arms, shoulders, and necks to the beat of the song.

I never really danced well to the beat of a song until I went to a friend's house and listened to him play his full drum set. He played Rush's Tom Sawyer flawlessly. I believe I told that story already. Anyway, he literally drummed the beat into my head. From that moment on, I was able to dance to the beat and became a better break-dancer.

Our neighbors asked us over one time and they had a guy playing dance music. Chris and I, the guys, got up and danced together joking around. We did something we called the sumo. Left leg would go way up and then come down. Then we would raise the right leg way up and then come down. Everyone laughed and recorded it.

Now most people try to learn the dance moves to a particular kind of dance such as two-step or waltz. Not me, I just wanted to move my body to the beat of the song. To this day, I have my own moves on the dance floor. People seem impressed how I dance and some women try to follow or mimic it but there is no way because it's completely random :)

At my brother's wedding rehearsal, I got out on the dance floor alone and began grooving. My brother came out and we began grooving together all over the dance floor. Later my Grandmother asked us where we learned to dance like that? I didn't really learn it anywhere. It was just something that comes to my mind as I'm out on the dance floor. It all starts with moving the legs side to side and then adding much more attitude and flow. I didn't know at the time what I was doing and didn't have a good answer for my Grandmother.

I have had a woman walk up to me and ask me how to do it. I told her, "I don't know, I just make it up as I go." The only person that has ever kept up with me on the dance floor is my wife. She is a great dancer and we fit together on the dance floor well.

If you are young and reading this post, my advice is to learn to move to the beat of a song. Listen to the drums of a song and get the beat down. Then move your legs to get a feel for the beat of the song. Later add arm, hand, and torso movements. Then give it some attitude by moving your head around to the beat of the song.

If you ever want a good work out, try dancing. It is much more fun than running outside or standing in front of a TV going through the steps of some exercise video. There is a drawback to dancing in public. You are going to sweat and the girls, though excited at seeing your stamina, are repulsed later when they see how wet you are. My advice is to find a girl that sweats as much as you do :)