Shall We Dance?

Growing up in private school we didn’t have “dances” – sure, we had events that we called homecoming “dance”, and all the others, but there was absolutely no dancing allowed at any of these. I could theoretically call my first dance with a boy – my junior prom when I invited a friend from outside of school to be my date. That prom was the closest to “dancing” we ever got at a school sponsored event. Basically, they hired a salsa instructor to come on the dinner cruise and teach us how to dance. However, there was a line of masking tape (I kid you not) placed on the floor the length of the boat – to separate the girls from the boys. So, while you had a “partner” to “practice” the salsa with – there was to be no touching and no crossing of that line. I can still hear that woman counting off “1, 2, 3….4,5,6”

I feel that this type of “dance” is to blame for my awkwardness out on the dance floor to this day. That’d be a lie though – plenty of my friends from high school are great dancers. Unfortunately, my skills are innate to just me.

So the first time I actually danced with a boy is when I went to tolo at Issaquah High School. A friend of mine had invited me to go with one of her guy friends in order to even out the guy girl ration in their group.

I was totally out of my element the moment I walked into that gymnasium. I can picture myself walking into the strobe lights and fog, my heart racing because I had no clue how to act in this scenario. People were up on tables dancing, or making out on the dance floor, or… (all those things they didn’t want happening at my tiny private school)…

That poor boy who had to be my date for the night. Not only was I a terrible dancer – I was also completely intimidated by everything and everyone around me.

Needless to say, I was awkward.

Luckily, these days it’s only my dance skills that are awkward.

This post was a response to Mama Kat’s prompts for the week of 10-3. Feel free to check out the prompts and see what other people wrote - or write your own!