If you ever get the chance to try Scottish Country Dancing, just do it. You'll laugh your fool head off and sweat like a whore in church! Just don't bring your Obsessive Compulsive nonsense with you.
Big Rod and I just returned from our first lesson at the Yacht Club in Picton. We were one of the first couples there. It was just us and another lady from a retirement community nearby sitting in a corner making small talk and thinking we didn't have enough people for a Ceileidh (the Gaelic term for a Scottish hoedown). But, more and more people started showing up and joining in the fun.
Poor Rod was thrown to the wolves almost immediately, being one of the only men. And, they don't really tell you what's going to happen. It's alot like the first time you do Zumba... You get a couple of quick demonstrations, then the music comes on and it's all legs and arms and feet everywhere. He was a pro. He had his heels and his toes in all the right spots and always knew which way to turn.
The basic gist of things, is to skip around in circles, weave in and out between other people and always, ALWAYS be holding someone's hand. Seriously, you've got to check your germaphobe shit at the door! You hold your partners' hands, you hold hands in a circle, you hold hands to spin around, you hold hands like you're playing London Bridge (which is even worse because it is sweaty and people have to walk under your stinky, drippy armpits!) Some people have those clammy, just-came-from-the-bathroom-and-we're-out-of-paper-towels, kind of hands. You can't pull away in disgust! You just have to keep your social phobias to yourself and smile.
If your partner forgets to "pas-de-basque" before you "doh-see-doh", you can't stop the music and start again. You've just got to catch up. And, you can't mess around. There's no time for error! One of the dances we did (with a London Bridge situation) requires running from one and of the room to the other behind all the other couples and giving a high five to your partner before running back and grabbing someone by the (sweaty) palm and walking around in circles again. I was exhausted and my partners, who were AT LEAST 20 years older than me, gently suggested that I should move it or lose it. It was shameful really.
I also stepped on my own foot and nearly took out my partner, which would have created an epic domino effect had I not recovered before the allemande.
All jokes aside, I can't wait to go next week. And kudos to my husband for trying something new outside of the bedroom just to make me happy.
