Marilyn Sasaki, Makiki:
The dance instructor just kept encouraging us to move more parts of our bodies than our legs. And he didn’t seem to mind reiterating over and over, “See if you can bend those, knees" and “It’s like walking, if you can walk you can dance.” Moreover he seemed to believe it. We might see ourselves as ramrod stiffs capable of no more liquid movement. He knew that, with practice, and of course his help, we could locate and learn to control muscles for the elusive Cuban movement. Group classes seemed to help more than private lessons.
It did take a while but, one day we noticed that we were learning the steps as they were being taught, without any special tutoring, and without being the last in the class to get it. We weren’t the worst in the class, we were just the most self-conscious. And with that recognition we began to lose some of the self-consciousness. The group classes provided other lessons as well. One friend of mine - another woman who had gone through alcohol, drugs, sex and rock and roll to arrive at a stable monogamy - asked how I could tolerate being touched by all those strange men.
She couldn’t do it, she shivered. Well, to tell the truth, I had dreaded that. But, hey, it’s not so bad. My husband does not turn out to be the only polite, ungrabby one. They all seem to be the nice friendly people you could expect in a dance class.The men in the studio, married or not, don’t place their hands or bodies in “inappropriate” places either. And I have accepted that everywhere I go, I will never look on (or off) the dance floor like Fred or Ginger. I’ll sway on the dance floor and sort of glide, like thousands of other dancers I’ve begun to notice on Oahu. I’ll enjoy every second of that beat and my response to it.
"A Blog may be a political soapbox -. A breaking-news outlet - A collection of links -
The dance instructor just kept encouraging us to move more parts of our bodies than our legs. And he didn’t seem to mind reiterating over and over, “See if you can bend those, knees" and “It’s like walking, if you can walk you can dance.” Moreover he seemed to believe it. We might see ourselves as ramrod stiffs capable of no more liquid movement. He knew that, with practice, and of course his help, we could locate and learn to control muscles for the elusive Cuban movement. Group classes seemed to help more than private lessons.
"Social dancers know that regularly moving to music will challenge you
to push through any physical discomfort."
It did take a while but, one day we noticed that we were learning the steps as they were being taught, without any special tutoring, and without being the last in the class to get it. We weren’t the worst in the class, we were just the most self-conscious. And with that recognition we began to lose some of the self-consciousness. The group classes provided other lessons as well. One friend of mine - another woman who had gone through alcohol, drugs, sex and rock and roll to arrive at a stable monogamy - asked how I could tolerate being touched by all those strange men.
"Molokai Waltz" by Amy Hanaialii
She couldn’t do it, she shivered. Well, to tell the truth, I had dreaded that. But, hey, it’s not so bad. My husband does not turn out to be the only polite, ungrabby one. They all seem to be the nice friendly people you could expect in a dance class.The men in the studio, married or not, don’t place their hands or bodies in “inappropriate” places either. And I have accepted that everywhere I go, I will never look on (or off) the dance floor like Fred or Ginger. I’ll sway on the dance floor and sort of glide, like thousands of other dancers I’ve begun to notice on Oahu. I’ll enjoy every second of that beat and my response to it.
"A Blog may be a political soapbox -. A breaking-news outlet - A collection of links -
Your own private thoughts - Memos to the world."
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