Friday, April 08, 2005

Life's To-Do list - Latin Dance - Check!

This Sunday we will be going for our final dance class. The class is called “Nightclub Survival” and it's funny we registered for it in the first place. With our clubbing days dwindling fast and our friends being gobbled up by suburbia or discussions of suburbia, homes, and thus impending poverty, (which is best done over dinner in a reasonably priced restaurant or in one of our apartments – no cover fee), classes for nightclub dancing seem to be so out of place. But let me tell you why I thought this was the best class for us. It promised an introduction to various types of dances – Salsa, Swing, Cha-Cha, Slow 2 step, 4-count Hustle....and most of all, it promised to help students find their sense of rhythm. Big promises. “They obviously haven't had my hubby as a student before” I thought as we walked into the really beautiful studio on our first day.
But he loves me and so he's doing this for me.” I thought.
Let's get this started and done with, evil blackmailer” he said.
Reality sometimes sucks.

See I love dancing and some real love for dancing is required when you sign up for classes and end up being paired with oafs who step on your toes all the time or guys way shorter than you or even being made to dance with girls. Tried slow dancing with another woman? It's creepy (surprisingly dancing freestyle with another woman is great fun). So I thought being able to do this with my man would be this great experience and after much coaxing and unabashed blackmailing, we registered for this 7 week course. The nice big lady (Why are all dance instructors so fat? All that dancing is supposed to do good things for your body, non? But the grace with which she carried all those pounds, sweet Jesus) was the most patient of teachers and she tried all kinds of methods to get my hubby into it. In all fairness, there wasn't a single step my man did not get down but something was awry..It was the much promised Sense of Rhythm that was oh-so-missing. We ploughed through Salsa, Swing, Cha-Cha...the basics were all under our belts; though the whole time it felt like an army drill. He counted under his breath and it did not really matter if there was music playing or not. Nice-lady and I were resigned to this fact and her sweet sympathetic smiles towards me multiplied with each class. UNTIL WE CAME TO THE 4-COUNT HUSTLE!!!! Lo and behold, we were doing the outward turn with a hand-change pass and suddenly I feel my man getting into it. We did the turn and followed up the rock-apart-recover with yet another impromptu one. He even added a little push with the right hand as he swung me out while drawing me in with his left. All done with a flourish which had Mrs. Galahad and me beaming non-stop. She bustled around him telling him this and that and it was like we had all seen the light. We moved on to a disco wheel and things were pretty crazy after that! We practiced it last night and as the music playing was the opening score of 'The Shield' it was slightly different but we were definitely there. It all felt very cool. One day we will dance in our kid’s wedding and my hubby will bow, kiss the hem of my skirt, thank me and tell me I was wonderful to have shown him the light. Be still my heart...

As everything comes with a price I have been persuaded to be his “Assistant” in his latest project – Stained Glass work. We had parted ways in a little antique store in the Outer Banks to do our own scouting. When we walked out a couple of hours later with a beautiful old stained glass lamp (my find) and 4 Spiderman comics from the 1970s (his find, obviously) he had that contented look of having fared better than I had. But since our return, the man has grown increasingly fascinated with stained glass and our dinner table conversations have circled around glass-cutters and glass grinders for weeks now. So we are going tool shopping this weekend and he will be setting up shop on our deck soon. If we make it beyond the preliminary stages without cutting our wrists (which need not happen only by accident you know), I will let you all know.

19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Check this out !

Sigh ! When will Patrix get his rhythm...

9:26 AM  
Blogger Alpha said...

Haha, regarding the stained glass. What happened to his bonsai? First of all he stunts the poor plants and now he killed them?
As for dancing..i tell you ..we Indians should just stick to cheering our desi barbie from the sidelines.

9:33 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Ash - The trick is to stick with it I think. My first thought last Sunday was "If only we had started with the Hustle!"...but on second thoughts, I guess we need to get comfortable enough with the steps and dancing itself to be able to hit the rhythm stage..!

Alpha - Ah the Bonsai project...Only 2 made it beyond the freezer/germination/million-trimmings/what-not stages...the Olive tree is going to go thru it's first re-potting this Spring , so check with me later, that number might become 1!!! :)

1:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Salsa is damn sensuous..would love to learn it some day. unfortunately I have two left feet ..that might be a hurdle I guess :-S

Ashwin
www.infinitelimits.blogspot.com

5:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hee hee. me likey your husband

10:38 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Ashwin - let that not keep you from trying...believe you me, if the hubby can do it, so can you :)...we were a total of 4 left feet when we started off...

Anon - thanks ?? & 'hee hee' to you too.

1:47 PM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

LOL! This *so* reminds me of the dance class that I tried coaxing my ex into.. sadly he refused point blank but attended a "friends" class.. the result was very similar to what you experienced :)

All the best with the stained glass painting! am told its very simple to do... I plan to try it out some day too..

12:28 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

T.Fairy - Arre, you downplay the stained glass even before he starts!!! :)...Man has been trying to hype it for days...LOL!

9:45 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Phatichar - :) to you too

9:45 AM  
Blogger AmitL said...

Hi,Gratisgrab,that's interesting..u practicing dancing for ur kid's wedding.:)More fascinating is this stained glass hobby u're getting into..Please save one of the exquisite creations(when they become exquisite,not the first ones) for me.:)

8:26 PM  
Blogger Pierce Ranger said...

Oh my God.. another guy down! How did you manage to convince him that he has a fascination for stained glass?

11:49 PM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Amitji - Kya bolun, I like to be prepared :)...I'll take pics and load them on here, you decide what's exquisite and what isn't! careful what you say now ;)

8:26 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Peeyush - What's up with "Adventures"?...Massive reconstruction going on hahn?

8:27 AM  
Blogger Weary Hag said...

This post cracked me up and warmed my heart at the same time. How did you do that? The fact that hubby agreed to dance classes in the first place is far more than most will do, and that you will assist him in his new hobby shows how much you mean to each other.
Take care to practice all those dance steps through the years; remembering them all and retaining the sense of rhythm can be pure hell unless it comes naturally. Great post!!

3:12 AM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

Grati, ( I dont like 'gabby' - makes u sound like a duck :P )

Here's the story you wanted about "why twilight fairy".. fished it out from my blog :)

Now am waiting to hear "why gratisgab" :P :D

6:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

damn! why're all the guys who AREN'T your husbands great dancers? and your husbands the ones who were born without any sense of rhythm??

it's got to the point where I'VE forgotten how to dance...sort of...:(

8:50 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

Carol - Thank you! Much! Yes I'm planning on keeping the newly-discovered rhythm from disappearing...which will be challenging I know! :)

T.fairy - Checked our your story, left you a comment there..."GratisGab" doesn't have a 'masaledaar'(spicy) story behind it....it doesn't even come close to yours!

Ashi - We should have a girls-only meet sometime & we can all work on our fast disappearing skills such as dancing :)

9:00 AM  
Blogger Pallavi said...

I love to dance but to my own tune.. I guess its the opposiiet to me .. my hubs is the more graceful one while I just .. ummm .. move... hehe

10:08 AM  
Blogger GratisGab said...

that's cool. pssst.. notice how I don't really mention my dancing skills? :)

3:32 PM  

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