Life’s a Dance…You Learn As You Go…

Although my previous post may have demonstrated the rather immature and viscious game played by a particular woman, I don’t want you to think I believe all women are evil. On the contrary, I enjoy talking with women, being with women, and getting to know them better. I always like hearing a woman’s thoughts on things I’m thinking about. Having two older sisters, I’ve had women around me all my life—no, they did not play weird games with me, but I was spoiled quite a bit, almost like having three mothers growing up.

One of the things I enjoy doing with women is dancing. Yes, I’m one of those unique men who actually loves to dance, and this happened long before Richard Gere saw Jennifer Lopez on his train ride home in the movie Shall We Dance? In fact, it’s been about ten years now when I first started learning country dancing in Dallas, and almost eight years since I started getting more serious with this fun activity.

In Dallas, the country dancing steps are different than they are elsewhere, and when I moved to Arizona, I found I had to teach almost all the women I danced with how to do the steps I knew. On a rare occasion, I ran into some women who had just moved from Chicago and Iowa that already knew those steps, so that made my times dancing more enjoyable.

My favorite dance step is the progressive double two step, which fits well with the faster-beat country songs (practically all of Shania Twain’s greatest hits). For those familiar with east coast swing or jitterbug, it’s the same foot count as the triple-count step, except the couple moves around the dance floor instead of dancing in the middle (that’s another thing that perturbs me about Arizona dancers—they dance in place all over the dance floor instead of in the middle according to proper dance etiquette, causing lots of “traffic jams”).

Another country step I like is called the three step, which is danced to the same songs as the two step (the kind done in Texas, not the Arizona version that has more in common with west coast swing), except shuffling is done on the first three foot movements followed by a walk-step, rather than two quick and two slow walk steps as in the two step.

Of course, the waltz is always a must for those songs that fit that long-short-short/long-short-short beat, and have that special romantic lilt to them. If the song is much faster, though, I prefer a modified polka step, which can almost become a spinning run around the dance floor with the way I like to lead it.

I have been trying a little bit of salsa and cha-cha. In the meantime, east coast swing in its many varieties is a fun style to do, especially when a 40’s or 50’s era song comes on; it can be a great method of shared exercise, too.

I also find dancing a great way to get to talk to my dancing partners, but I do let them concentrate more on breathing when we do a polka or a really fast east coast swing (it’s very important to keep breathing while dancing). To get fancy, I also try to end a song with a dip or a drop, depending on the comfort level of my partner.

A dip is done by keeping your hand behind the woman’s back as she falls backwards, with her keeping her body stiff from her shoulder all the way down to her knees. Once a woman gets comfortable in doing this, she can add some flair to the ending by straightening out her right arm in a “ta-da” manner and kicking her left leg straight up in a cheerleader-style kick. It’s always important for the woman to kick out her left leg, as doing that maneuver with her right leg might cause the man great personal injury, causing him to accidentally drop his partner. Although it takes a fair amount of strength, this is accomplished mainly with leverage. When I start the dip maneuver, I bring the woman directly in front of me and lean towards her and give her a gentle push to my left with my hand on her lower back. With this hand-placement, I can hold a woman up for quite a few seconds and only a few inches from the floor.

A drop is done almost the same way, except I hold on to the woman’s hands with her wrists crossed and give a gentle push towards her, which is the signal for her to lean backwards. Unless a woman has done this maneuver before, I typically show her how to do it off the dance floor a few times before doing it on the dance floor. With this maneuver, I remain standing straight up the entire time while the woman does all the downwards movement. And, just as in the dip, the woman can also do a hand-flair and cheerleader kick if she’s comfortable with the leverage. On the other hand, this maneuver can be more taxing on the woman’s body, as she doesn’t have my hand under her back to help her keep straight, so holding her down for a long time is not a good idea unless she’s sufficiently athletic. Bringing the woman back up after a dip, though, is a bit more of a challenge, so I typically will spin her on her way up so she turns counter-clockwise before facing me again, which is easier for me and more fun-looking to others and the woman than just coming straight up.

For the most daring women, I also love leading a flip. As with the drop, this should be done first off the dance floor and with a woman who is either gymnastically trained or is average or light weight and shorter than the man. Since I’m 6 feet tall and stronger than average, I can flip a woman comfortably two or three times in a song that’s not gymnastically trained up to around 150 lbs and somewhat close to my height. The reason for being extra careful with this maneuver is that the woman is literally flipped in the air around the man’s right arm, which is held straight out; if done correctly, the woman will tuck her legs in and allow the man to push her around his arm while she lightly cups her hands around his arm.

I start the flip maneuver by moving the woman so she’s on my right side in a 90° position to him. Once in that position, the man puts his right arm across the woman’s front and puts his hand on her waist. I place my left hand on the back of her legs behind her knees and push forward so she then somersaults over my right arm.

Well, that’s all for now! Don’t forget to dance…