Midlife Dancing
When I turned 40, I rediscovered dancing. Since I enjoyed moving to the rythm of the music, I did not consider it as a physical exercise, but more as a social tool. I started out with ballroom dancing: cha-cha-cha, bachata, rock and roll, venetian waltz, rhumba... I stopped when I finally gave up openly fighting for a chance to be the partner of the best male dancer in the class. It was very tiresome competing with younger, more vibrant girls.
I switched to dancing without partner required and I found a place where I could learn belly and other oriental dances in a multi-cultural group of women. It felt great for a while until female competitiveness and gossiping became too much and when feline moves turned into catty remarks. I survived three years dealing with the situation for the sake of the joy of dancing.
So I moved on to a much more challenging genre: modern jazz. A hell lot of fun being taught by an authentic American Jazz choreographer. And I am a jazz music lover so everything fell right into place. My extensions weren't as good as a normal ballerina but were good enough to be convincing. Grand jetes were far between but the turns were many. Sliding on the floor happened quite often. I did love the frenzy uneven tempo and expressiveness of the movements but my aging knees couldn't follow as much as I wanted them to. So with bowed head, I quit after two seasons.
I then turned to Zumba. It had a lot of the Latin elements I loved in cha-cha-cha and rhumba but with more repetitive and bigger movements accompanied by louder and more outrageous music.The best part was I did not have to find a new partner every time the music changed. But I did it so irregularly that whenever I went back, I had to catch my breath so many times to prevent my heart from exploding.
It has been a year now since my last Zumba session. The truth is I am terrified to go back for fear that my heart might actually give out the next time around.
But I found another sort of dancing session! My nineteen year old roommate loaned a wii dance game from his friend and this has become our work-out cum bonding moment together just before dinner time on week nights. He gets better scores, I guess because his wider movements register better on the wii receiver (at least that is my excuse for sucking at it). The music selection is quite funny as it ranges from 70's disco to the present whatchamacallit music genre. I love watching my roomie do the robot moves I grew up with. He even does Shakira and Beyonce pieces with hilarious results. He rolls his eyes whenever I do the more contemporary moves peppered with my own personal granny interpretation.
So far, this is where my dance journey has brought me. For now, this is good enough. But I will have to find another alternative again when the loaned wii dance game is reclaimed by its rightful owner.
I switched to dancing without partner required and I found a place where I could learn belly and other oriental dances in a multi-cultural group of women. It felt great for a while until female competitiveness and gossiping became too much and when feline moves turned into catty remarks. I survived three years dealing with the situation for the sake of the joy of dancing.
So I moved on to a much more challenging genre: modern jazz. A hell lot of fun being taught by an authentic American Jazz choreographer. And I am a jazz music lover so everything fell right into place. My extensions weren't as good as a normal ballerina but were good enough to be convincing. Grand jetes were far between but the turns were many. Sliding on the floor happened quite often. I did love the frenzy uneven tempo and expressiveness of the movements but my aging knees couldn't follow as much as I wanted them to. So with bowed head, I quit after two seasons.
I then turned to Zumba. It had a lot of the Latin elements I loved in cha-cha-cha and rhumba but with more repetitive and bigger movements accompanied by louder and more outrageous music.The best part was I did not have to find a new partner every time the music changed. But I did it so irregularly that whenever I went back, I had to catch my breath so many times to prevent my heart from exploding.
It has been a year now since my last Zumba session. The truth is I am terrified to go back for fear that my heart might actually give out the next time around.
But I found another sort of dancing session! My nineteen year old roommate loaned a wii dance game from his friend and this has become our work-out cum bonding moment together just before dinner time on week nights. He gets better scores, I guess because his wider movements register better on the wii receiver (at least that is my excuse for sucking at it). The music selection is quite funny as it ranges from 70's disco to the present whatchamacallit music genre. I love watching my roomie do the robot moves I grew up with. He even does Shakira and Beyonce pieces with hilarious results. He rolls his eyes whenever I do the more contemporary moves peppered with my own personal granny interpretation.
So far, this is where my dance journey has brought me. For now, this is good enough. But I will have to find another alternative again when the loaned wii dance game is reclaimed by its rightful owner.
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