Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

three-quarter time

Rob and I started a ballroom dance class this evening. The class, sponsored by the City of Alexandria, will last eight weeks and cover the waltz, foxtrot, tango, rumba, tango, merengue, cha-cha and swing. Tonight’s class was a bit of a blur for me, due in no small part to my stuffy head and the cold medicine I’d taken just before class, but I think it’s going to be fun.

We spent most of this class session walking up and down the room solo, practicing the footwork for the waltz, foxtrot and tango. The waltz, which had always been a bit of a mystery to me, made the most sense out of all of them: It’s basically just a more elaborate boxstep (at least, the very basic way we practiced it). The foxtrot was more of a challenge because the steps didn’t totally line up with the rhythm of the song … slow, slow, quickquick; I felt like I was moving in patterns of three rather than four, which didn’t mesh with the way I’d mentally “metered” the song. The hardest part of all the dance steps was remembering where to shift my weight and which foot to lead with. For the most part, though, the motions seemed fairly natural once I got into a groove; hopefully this all will only get easier with practice.

About half the class (15 couples are signed up, I believe) didn’t make it to this first class session, likely due to some confusion about the class location (confirmation letters were mailed out listing the wrong site). I was actually fairly thankful for the smaller showing, though, as the room we’re assigned to was just the right size for the number of people who showed up. It’s going to be packed next week.