Hello! It’s been too long since I last posted because, well…Life. Including unexpected early retirement, family medical challenges, traveling, finishing my novel, et cetera. But I’m happy to report that I have in fact danced a lot since my previous post. After a friend gave me a salsa lesson gift certificate for my last birthday, I took some private and group salsa and bachata lessons. While I haven’t yet managed to push myself out of my introverted comfort zone to venture into the social dance scene again, Spring is just around the corner with its endless possibilities.
I also enjoyed adult group tap class again, at two different studios (one in my suburb and one in the city, with different teachers and age demographics), in which I learned more about tap and myself. Last fall I also took more private ballroom dance lessons, working on waltz, tango, foxtrot, and Viennese. This reinvigorated my dream of dancing the Viennese waltz in Vienna, preferably during the balls season, and ideally on New Year’s Eve. I learned that a dance friend of mine has the same dream, and we talked about traveling to Vienna together around our 60th birthdays, which happen to be a few months apart.
Every one of these dance styles and experiences is a gift. Another gift I’m grateful for is the supreme joy I feel when dancing around my living room (or sometimes my basement or hotel room) by myself, playing my favorite songs on the Spotify list I created. Sometimes I blast the speaker with disco lights that strobe to the beat. Sometimes I dance with my eyes closed, and am transported to whatever decade and time in my life each song evokes. Every single time — whether I’m doing the twist, swing dancing, salsa dancing, disco dancing, freeform dancing — or all of the above, as I did tonight, I am 100% guaranteed to feel better after shakin’ my groove thing without a care in the world. If you haven’t turned your living room or basement into your own personal dance floor, I highly recommend trying it!
Life Lessons from the Dance Floor 