Dancing In The Rainlight

After a long hiatus because of Jean's retirement and my back aches, I returned to Jones Beach.  Line dancing.  It's still happening.  It's free.  It's at the beach at night and that's my favorite beach time.  It was good to get back, and now it's kind of like a weekly thing.

The first Wednesday, Eddie and I got to the boardwalk around 7:30 and the dancing had already begun.  It was packed.  We ran around to the far side and came onto the dance floor (aka concrete at the bottom of some bleachers) and everyone started a dance they'd just learned. 

Eddie does not line dance.  He's more of a two-step guy.  Like when music comes on, he steps to the side and then back to the other side.  Two steps.  To the beat.  Simple.  So when the music started, he was like, What do I do?!?!  I was like, I think you should go sit down!  It was the best solution as I jumped in and picked up the dance because it had only like four eight counts.  And as soon as I started dancing, I realized how much I'd missed it.

When that dance ended, the instructor started to teach a new dance.  Eddie came onto the floor.  He went through the entire instruction, which is not to music.  It's only counting.  He's good at math stuff.  Then the music came on and he did a total of two eight counts.  Then he sat down on the bleachers.  Enough dancing for him.  He decided to become a cinematographer.

I'm looking at my feet because I'm learning a dance.

Our backs are to the instructor so I'm taking a peek.

Really intent on picking this up.

He then became the designated stuff-holder, agreeing to hold my wristlet and sunglasses as the sun went down.  Additionally, he started using his undercover detective skills to find this happening:

This is a woman recording the line dancing, hence recording me.

The recording and picture taking happens a lot, so I must be in quite a lot of pictures and videos, looking my best in my groovy sweat.  The humidity has been lingering way into the 9 o'clock hour, even at the beach.  The upside is the breeze.  It usually sweeps down and through the dance floor.

When the night was over, I couldn't stop smiling, so Eddie decided we had to come for every last one until they ended, and he would do something productive--bring his bike to ride.  Yeay!

One week, it rained.  Like drizzle that we danced in into heavy downpour that we hid from.  That rain made this:

Looks like a tornado about to happen

Between downpours

When the first rain hit, he sped back on his bike to find out what I was doing.  I was hiding under an awning nearby but had to chase after him on his bike to let him know where I was.  He was carrying my phone and basically everything else in his backpack, so we were kickin it old school--designating a time and place to meet up.  Only we didn't have a rain plan, so now we had one--I'd be under the awning when it rained.  Other dancers took to huddling on the stage where the DJ and instructor were.  Finally, as the rain let up, they brought the speakers in under the stage ceiling in case more rain came.  More drizzle came but nothing that stopped us too much.

I've found that muscle memory is the best memory.  While I've been learning new dances to stuff like "Shut Up And Dance" and "Honey I'm Good," I've also remembered older dances like "Country As Can Be" and "Boardwalk Time."  Some of those dances have tricky sequences like a serpentine or weave, and I've found myself helping the dancers around me, who basically tell me that they are watching me, to which I reply, Just don't follow me when I mess up, and they say, You don't mess up.  But then I do and then everyone does, and I act as if I didn't mess up, which pretty much screws up their dance but they were warned.  This past week, I got up during the break to dance to a longer and more complicated dance that I knew a few years ago, and one of the dancers who must either take a class with the instructor or take classes or teach elsewhere was helping out her friends by pointing and calling out the moves.  I just followed her and it all came back.  I probably can't do any of the dances from memory if I hear them in my house, but I'm back to picking them up immediately as I learn them.

Unfortunately, the summer is coming to a close. There's one more week of line dancing, and then a final week dedicated to Zumba.  I've always wanted to try Zumba (I have it on the PS3, but I'm guessing live is a little different), but it's after I start working back on campus again, so I don't know if I'll have the time.  Plus, I don't want to lose the choreography in case line dancing pops up somewhere and I need to jump in.  Because, you know, that happens.