his
fifties, and then another in his thirties. We switch partners again
and I dance with Beth to practice the underarm turn.
Finally, we go over the rise and fall
footwork which still has me messing up.
“ It looks like all of you
have the basics down alright,” Beth says as she turns the music
off. “We will be learning the basics of all three dances before
moving onto some more complicated steps. Let’s spice things up a
little with the cha-cha-cha, shall we!”
This time, Beth has everyone line up
in one long line, with her on the right side, and Julian on the
left in front of everyone.
“ So, the cha-cha is
counted in fours, but starting on the two. Two, three, four, and
one. Or, you’ll more often hear me counting it as two, three,
cha-cha-cha. How about you all clap it with me?”
I really do feel like I’m back in
preschool as we clap out the rhythm. She has us do this eight or
nine times and I’m sure everyone else around me feel like an
idiot.
Julian meets my eyes as we clap, and
we both have a humiliated smile upon our faces.
“ Great!” Beth says in that
teacher voice of hers. “Now, we’re going to just start with a
simple walk. Like this. Walk, walk, walk.” She takes three steps
forward in a very precise line, her feet extremely controlled. “And
then back. Walk, walk, walk. Do it with me.”
This feels stupid and pointless. But I
do it like everyone else.
“ Now, I want you all to
step first onto the ball of your foot, not your heel,” Beth says
over her shoulder as she watches us. “This is proper form, but it
will also help you to get some movement into your hips when that
time comes!”
It’s a weird way of stepping,
especially when going forward, but I watch how Beth does it, and
mimic the movement.
“ Okay, let’s get a little
side action going on. So you step side, together, side. Side,
together, side. And then back again.” I watch carefully as she does
the side steps and wonder if my hips will ever move like hers
do.
“ Girls watch me, boys,
watch Julian.”
I’m watching, but I’m not watching
Beth.
Not when Julian’s hips are moving like
that.
And of course he looks over his
shoulder and sees exactly where I’m staring. He gives me a
wink.
From here Beth has us move onto the
rock step and it is with this one that I see where they are getting
their hip movement from. When I step back with my right foot, my
left hip drops down, the right rising, when I step forward on my
left foot, my hips settle to the left.
This time I catch Julian looking at my
hips.
“ Okay, now we’re going to
put it all together into the cha-cha basic,” Beth says, turning
around and facing us.
“ None of that was the
basic?” one of the older guys says, his voice sounding
nervous.
Everyone has a laugh at
this.
“ I’m afraid not,” Beth
smiles. “The cha-cha is a bit tricky, but once you get the rhythm
and basic down, it will get easier. Now watch as I go through the
basic.”
The basic starts with a side step and
then a back rock and a forward, and then two side steps. Next is a
forward and then back rock and two more side steps. And then three
forward steps, and three back.
My head is already
spinning.
It takes at least a half an hour of
practicing this step before Beth even turns the music
on.
“ K, you should know that
the cha-cha is normally quite a fast paced dance and the music we
will be using today is about half pace. Over the next few weeks, we
will be working our way up to full tempo music.”
I get completely behind the first
three times we go through the basic. The side step throws me off
when I try to step first with the ball of my foot. I feel like I’m
more hopping to the side instead of stepping.
But by the sixth or seventh time, it
is starting to feel more natural. I think I can hear the right
rhythm in the music.
By the end of the hour, we’ve gone
through two more steps and danced them all with partners. Same as
last week, I mess up here and
fifties, and then another in his thirties. We switch partners again
and I dance with Beth to practice the underarm turn.
Finally, we go over the rise and fall
footwork which still has me messing up.
“ It looks like all of you
have the basics down alright,” Beth says as she turns the music
off. “We will be learning the basics of all three dances before
moving onto some more complicated steps. Let’s spice things up a
little with the cha-cha-cha, shall we!”
This time, Beth has everyone line up
in one long line, with her on the right side, and Julian on the
left in front of everyone.
“ So, the cha-cha is
counted in fours, but starting on the two. Two, three, four, and
one. Or, you’ll more often hear me counting it as two, three,
cha-cha-cha. How about you all clap it with me?”
I really do feel like I’m back in
preschool as we clap out the rhythm. She has us do this eight or
nine times and I’m sure everyone else around me feel like an
idiot.
Julian meets my eyes as we clap, and
we both have a humiliated smile upon our faces.
“ Great!” Beth says in that
teacher voice of hers. “Now, we’re going to just start with a
simple walk. Like this. Walk, walk, walk.” She takes three steps
forward in a very precise line, her feet extremely controlled. “And
then back. Walk, walk, walk. Do it with me.”
This feels stupid and pointless. But I
do it like everyone else.
“ Now, I want you all to
step first onto the ball of your foot, not your heel,” Beth says
over her shoulder as she watches us. “This is proper form, but it
will also help you to get some movement into your hips when that
time comes!”
It’s a weird way of stepping,
especially when going forward, but I watch how Beth does it, and
mimic the movement.
“ Okay, let’s get a little
side action going on. So you step side, together, side. Side,
together, side. And then back again.” I watch carefully as she does
the side steps and wonder if my hips will ever move like hers
do.
“ Girls watch me, boys,
watch Julian.”
I’m watching, but I’m not watching
Beth.
Not when Julian’s hips are moving like
that.
And of course he looks over his
shoulder and sees exactly where I’m staring. He gives me a
wink.
From here Beth has us move onto the
rock step and it is with this one that I see where they are getting
their hip movement from. When I step back with my right foot, my
left hip drops down, the right rising, when I step forward on my
left foot, my hips settle to the left.
This time I catch Julian looking at my
hips.
“ Okay, now we’re going to
put it all together into the cha-cha basic,” Beth says, turning
around and facing us.
“ None of that was the
basic?” one of the older guys says, his voice sounding
nervous.
Everyone has a laugh at
this.
“ I’m afraid not,” Beth
smiles. “The cha-cha is a bit tricky, but once you get the rhythm
and basic down, it will get easier. Now watch as I go through the
basic.”
The basic starts with a side step and
then a back rock and a forward, and then two side steps. Next is a
forward and then back rock and two more side steps. And then three
forward steps, and three back.
My head is already
spinning.
It takes at least a half an hour of
practicing this step before Beth even turns the music
on.
“ K, you should know that
the cha-cha is normally quite a fast paced dance and the music we
will be using today is about half pace. Over the next few weeks, we
will be working our way up to full tempo music.”
I get completely behind the first
three times we go through the basic. The side step throws me off
when I try to step first with the ball of my foot. I feel like I’m
more hopping to the side instead of stepping.
But by the sixth or seventh time, it
is starting to feel more natural. I think I can hear the right
rhythm in the music.
By the end of the hour, we’ve gone
through two more steps and danced them all with partners. Same as
last week, I mess up here and
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