Generally speaking

So my generalizations, as is expected, come back to bite me in the butt. Ang came to the defense of couples everywhere after my "observation" that couples I've been encountering lately can't really schmooze with other people. And for the most part the couples in my dance class are starting to loosen up and mingle...or if they weren't into that they have since stopped showing up and never enrolled for the class. There are still a few that haven't warmed up to the group, however.

For instance, which is usually typical, there are more ladies signed up for my class than men. Our second class was a miracle, really, since there was a male student for every female student. But our third class had a real deficit in testosterone. So to solve this situation our instructor encourages to form dancing "molecules" as he calls them: one male practicing alternately with two ladies. Most guys don't have a problem with this, but apparently some women do. Or at least one that I could identify. Everytime her guy rotated to the next partner she moved right along with him so she was always the other lady he would practice with in his molecule.

Right from the start I had found a partner to begin class with. (Don't read too much into it, people.) However, I also unfortunately found myself next to a swarm of unpartnered lady dancers. As if, by some strange force, all the women who didn't find a guy to pair up with for the first lesson of that night's class gravitated together to create this mob of women right next to me. So as soon as it came time for the first partner rotation of the evening I found myself in a molecular situation. I don't mean to sound selfish but I had done my best early on the evening to try and avoid the molecule scenario and now here I was, in the midst of a neverending molecule swap. I should have moved to the other side of the room.

Upon introducing myself to one of my partners that night he noted my name as "very Hawaiian." I'll have to tell my dad that when he gets home. He used to get a kick out of telling tourists we were Hawaiian.

So I guess I've made a friend, finally. My first partner of the night also ended up being my partner for the practice session after class. Usually I skip the practice part (since noone is "forced" to rotate partners once practice begins, so the odds of me finding a practice partner drop significantly) and just leave early so it was nice to actually have some time to chat with new people and reinforce what I had learned that night. I think my buddy has taken the class before, though, since he was trying to practice other moves that I had not learned yet. What I can't understand though is, if he's taken this class before, why does he still have difficulty keeping the beat? Guys. Honestly.

Since I had cleverly planned ahead (grandma was mah jong-ing it up with two of my aunts until midnight) I invited my friends to the drop-in class for right after my dance class. This week's lesson: merengue. Right up Latina's alley (since she had taken the first class with me and we had covered merengue that day) and perfect since her husband was in town for the weekend. Civic came, too, but unfortunately Daisy had other engagements. So there were four of us, but at least we were evenly partnered up. And since Latina and hubby are more comfortable with Civic and I then we just kept rotating partners within our own little group. So for one night I became a modified version of the "coupled" crowd that I've been griping about. But that class it wasn't the ladies who were sans dance partners. This time there was a surplus of guys. Whodathunkit?

Anyway, it was good fun. After the class they have a dance party where they play songs of all genres which they teach. Unfortunately, the only ballroom moves I know are the ones I learned in junior and senior high so we sat out a lot. The only one of us who is knowledgeable about ballroom was Civic and that's due to his taking classes with his mom. He taught me a bit more cha cha, waltz, and foxtrot...and I taught all of them some of what I've learned in salsa (though it's virtually impossible for me to teach anything other than shines, since how do I instruct the guys how to do their part?) There were some great dancers out there. Even if we didn't dance the whole time it was even good just watching others. But it did feel pretty high school-ish...and we were amonst the wallflowers. Complete with guys making the rounds along the walls asking each girl if they wanted to dance.

And then as a bonus we met up with Daisy and spent happy hour at Sakana Grill. Leah + sushi + tempura = happiness. Only thing missing was sake.

Such good fun, and different from our typical Fridays, too. Hopefully we come up with other new activities for when we all get together.