Get into the groove

do you have the madonna song in your head yet? i sure do!

last night, john and i began dance classes. it only took me 8 years of begging to get him to sign up. that, and a bit of encouragement from so you think you can dance. i mean, have you seen the outfits those girls wear!? the lessons were given to me for my birthday (last year) and have taken a while to sort out. but we started them, so that's pretty dang good!

unfortunately, our experience started out with us rushing out the door (we both worked late), stuffing a small amount of food in our mouths, trying to sort out a- how to get there b- where to park and c- hoping we were dressed appropriately. we arrived in perth, parked, and scurried to find the dance studio. turns out this place is actually a "venue". it's a huge place with a massive dance floor (appropriate, really), disco ball, lights, smoke machine and thankfully, a bar...

our beginner ballroom class was pretty big. and to my surprise, an equal number of men and women. i expected there to be a few extra ladies but turns out, men want to learn to dance too (or they want to meet women. i'm not sure). there were only a few couples there who were similar in age to us. and i was the only girl wearing sneakers (gasp!).

lesson one involved learning a barn-dance, a progressive jive and the slow rhythm (which is essentially a waltz, but with 4 beats instead of 3). the dances were pretty basic and we were kind of feeling that maybe we should've joined the intermediate class. but we were assured that the lessons will get a bit more interesting and challenging. apparently they try to make it really, really easy so as not to scare people away on day 1.

it was fairly obvious (within minutes of starting) as to who would be an ok dancer and who would not-have-a-freakin'-clue. we were partner swapping (does that sound bad?) during these dances, so it was a bit painful at times when i ran into the guys who had 2 left feet. or worse, when they seemed to have no feet at all. i mean, can't you at least hear the beat? amazing! john pointed out that there were a few women doing the same, much to his chagrin. 

at the end of the session, we had mastered the 3 dances (well, we had. some people hadn't) and it was time for the "bar" to open. the studio opens it's doors to the public after lessons - at 8:30pm tuesday, wednesday and friday. a 5$ cover will get you in dancing all night, possibly with people who know what they're doing. we spent then next 1.5 hours dancing the few dances we knew (and adding a bit of flair to them with spins and other such fun stuff) before heading out. an interesting crowd of people at this dance - oldies, youngens, people with rhythm and many without, some unhappy to be there, others way too happy to be there- but no other girl in sneakers...

am i a dancing queen yet? no. but i think i might be by the end of it. i'll let you know in 7 weeks.

xo