Dancin In The Dark

Two things happened at dance class that were the top highlights of the evening and had nothing to do with dancing. Once happened because of the next. A one-two sock-it-to-me that simply made my night.

When S and I approached the building from the parking lot, I noticed that the room looked dark. Were there dancers in there? Was Jean there? Was class canceled?

We walked up the stairs and down the hall and saw that the class was there, standing in a dark room. The hallway had lights. The snack bar area had lights. The pool had lights. This room was the only unlit place in the building.

The lack of light did not stop Jean from teaching. The class was already in the middle of learning one of the usual Irish dances we've learned in the past. As soon as March hits, we have to do Irish dances. I, in fact, LOVE the Irish dances. They make me so happy. I feel like Christina Flatley, Lady of the Jig.

So there we were, dancing in the dark. Highlight Number 1. Absurd? Kind of. But dancers persevere.


Unfortunately, there's no line dance for this song.

During the dance, Jean left the room. Everyone kept dancing. I assume she went to see about the lights. She also stopped dancing and walked over to the iPod during the last 32 counts of the next dance, so maybe not. Jean just likes to do her own thing.

Between dances, S approached one of the regulars in front of us. She asked, Did anyone say why the lights are out?

Enter Highlight Number 2: the woman responded, I don't know that dance.

S related the conversation to me once more to make sure it was real....why are the lights off...I don't know that dance. Clearly, the woman had no idea what S was asking about.

Just about that time, the lights came on. Never have I realized how bright florescent lights could be until that moment. Oh, it was awful. Also awful? How everyone looks slightly blue in florescent lights. It's bad. Really bad.

In any case, Jean ran through the catalog of 97 dances, all on the mysterious charts, including a dance that the loud woman in the clique described as A CLASSIC! when one woman asked if it was a popular dance.

Once we got to the dance we'd learned the last week, people started having problems. Like not knowing the dance. That's when Jean decided she was not going to teach us more dances because no one could remember the dances and what's the point in teaching dances if we can't dance them. Well there's a thought.

We continued to run through several more including Friggin Hello Friggin Dolly. Honestly, I don't mind the dance when we do it--it's fun and good cardio--but the thought of doing it annoys me because (1) we do it all the time as a filler when Jean can't decide what else to do and (2) people STILL DON'T KNOW IT. How that's possible, I'll never know.