Dancing Musings

This evening, May 16th, as I was cooking dinner and listening to the my favorite Pandora station and feeling the rhythm of the beautiful music, I couldn't help but do a "kitchen" pirouette, and je'te into the dining area, and a few other dance moves. It makes me happy to dance, and many, many times, whether I am alone or in a crowd, and sometimes to the embarrassment of my children, when I hear music that 'moves' me, I start doing my own version of interpretive dance, swaying and spinning, hopping, etc. to the beat and the flow of the music. I just can't seem to keep my feet, or for that matter my arms, head, my whole body still.

That got me thinking... Did my grandmothers dance? I mean, if they were humming a tune or heard a song on the radio did they know this singular 'housewife' joy of breaking into dance in the kitchen 'just because'? When did they see their first ballet? When was their first couples dance? I wish now that I had asked them. It would be fun to know.

I am sure that my mom danced in the kitchen, I even saw it a couple of times. I will never be able to thank Mom and Dad enough for spending the money and time to put me in dance classes. I was 3 yrs old in my first dance class and I danced in the recital to a song called "The Polka Pop". I loved my little white dance outfit of silky tulle with the big, shiny blue polka dots. I did the best "skipping" in the class, in my humble opinion. But then, I was only 3.  😊

A few years later I decided I wanted to be a gymnast and took up gymnastics, and quit dance. I missed it and took dance up again in 7th grade and competed in gymnastics in school. I loved everything about gymnastics and tumbling, bars, beam and vault, but "Oh how I love to dance". When the Social Dance club started in High School I was one of the first to sign up! To have a guy waltz me around the floor and do lifts...... That was heaven to me! I was never an excellent dancer, but I was a joyful one! I hope I have passed some of this love onto my children. I hope they don't fear looking a little goofy and just dance to their hearts content.

Several years ago the arthritis in my hips was so bad I could barely walk, let alone dance. Since then I have had a hip resurfacing, a Total Hip Replacement and an ACL repair. Not only can I walk again, but I can dance, and.... I hope that I can dance until the day I die.