Posted by As I mentioned before, the studio was running a group class challenge in January. Attend 12 group classes and you get a free t-shirt. There was a prize for attending all group classes but that was never going to happen. Since I’m there three nights a week and January had four weeks, do the math and I get to 12. The first partial week didn’t count by the way.
But then the headache to end all headaches hit me yesterday and along with the nausea, I ended up staying home which would have left me one group class short of the number needed. Well I couldn’t let all the time I’d invested in January go to waste and the headache pain was finally starting to recede so I went to the studio tonight for group class.
Friday nights had been set aside to be country nights and tonight was shuffle. Many years ago, I did a shuffle routine to Drunk on a Plane so I was familiar with the dance. Country dances are fun and if I had infinite time and money, I’d do them as well. The new girl was teaching the group class. Probably shouldn’t call her the new girl anymore because she’s been there for a bit and technically has seniority over my other instructor. But I’ve been stuck on names for a bit so I haven’t put the time in to think of a good one.
With country, they just tossed us all into the same group so it was all levels. Its a pretty simple dance – triple step (or shuffle step), triple step, walk, walk. You toss in various turns and sweethearts as you progress around the floor. We got the first three steps of the Famous Franchise syllabus. The toughest one was called an advanced basic which in theory, involves the couple rotating around each other and then continuing down the floor. Given the range of experience and floor size limitations, we just did a 180 so we could head back the way we came.
I sometimes think that couples who are primarily learning to social dance are at a small disadvantage. They may get some lead/follow but it seems like the main focus is just on the steps. So the guys aren’t exactly the strongest leads. And I’m probably not doing them any favors when the ladies dance with me. Had one who wanted me to dance with her husband to show him what to do. There was another one who complained after they started the speed rotation because she only got to dance with me one time.
Dance girl was there as well and she did really well. Followed better than at least one other lady. Had this one lady who has been problematic in the past. She kept fighting me and trying to turn the wrong way getting into sweetheart. And then she’d talk about how she just wasn’t getting it. I have to remain silent when I really want to say – just stop fighting and go with the lead.
But it was fun. And I got the sticker that one gets for completing a group class which gave me the 12 I needed for that t-shirt. We were all talking about how competitive this made us and the things we’ll all do just to get some stickers on a sheet of a paper. Got to say it was brilliant marketing ploy for getting people to come to group classes.
One last note to finish up. This is the last day of January and it ends with no snow on the ground. We’ve had less than half of inch of snow which is below our normal average. I’m not going to complain but I figure it just means that we are do for a big snowstorm at some point.
Then I couldn’t help but think about the people who make a living plowing driveways in the winter. Like the guy we hire to do yard work for us also does snow clearing in the winter. Hasn’t been much call for that. I don’t know how much they count on income over the winter but this has not been a good winter for that business.
And the other good thing is that we move into February and we will now be in the same month as our upcoming vacation. We leave three weeks from tomorrow for a week out of the grey and cold. I can almost feel the sun already.
Well that’s all for tonight. There’s a big football game on Sunday so that will be the highlight of the weekend.
Facing Diagonal Wall 