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A while back I found a blog from a caller in Hawaii. In one of his entires, he mentioned that he had a student that probably broke all records for distance in coming to a square dance class on a regular basis (east coast USA to Hawaii). In another one of his entries, this line caught my eye: "Every time a new dancer comes on the floor you have a chance to watch when the light bulb comes on and they say to themselves I've got it! It's Christmas. They laugh from pure joy." It immediately brought to mind two instances that happened to me in this past year. The first was last summer. With just 3-1/2 lessons after 25 years of total abstinence, Su and I went to the Round-up in Balboa Park. Since every other tip was Mainstream, we figured we had a shot at dancing some tips without being too disruptive. We met a friend we hadn't seen in over 25 years. She grabbed some of her friends, introduced us, and explained that we were rusty. I forget who was calling, but he was good. He called fast and smooth. Each maneuver blended into the other and there was no time for hesitation between the calls. With a square of angels, we didn't miss a beat. Any hesitation we experienced was eclipsed by the fact that the experienced dancers were in place and it was obvious where we should go. By the end of the tip, we were glowing... riding a high. It was how we remembered square dancing when we were dating over three decades ago. The second instance was a couple of months later. Su and I were now more proficient and Buddy Weaver was calling. Even though it was a Plus dance, he has a knack of calling mainstream calls at a fast pace making you feel like you've climbed Mount Everest when you finish the tip. Then you look around and see that the rest of the floor climbed the same mountain... very few broken squares. I remember one dancer in our square. Though she was not new, she was a weaker dancer but the rest of the square was pretty strong. I suspect this was the first time she had danced a brisk clever tip without breaking down. From start to finish, you could tell that she was concentrating as she was hit with string after string of Star thru's, Slide thru's, Right and left thru's... geeze a million thru's punctuated with California twirls and Partner trades. I could sense that her world narrowed into trying to figure what direction to face, where (and who) her current partner was, etc. Just when it seemed like everything was going to fall apart, a Left Allemande would be called and her face reflected pure amazement when her corner seemed to appear out of nowhere. A call later her partner was sending her her back into the fray to do it again. When the tip was over, she collapsed into her partners arms, she was laughing with the exhilaration that makes square dancing so addictive. |