Dancing again

When I left Los Angeles and moved north, first to the central CA coast and then to Seattle, I discovered social dancing, specifically contra and English country dancing.  Seattle is the dancing-est city I've ever been in, with both kinds of dances and many others available every week.  I was never in my life in better shape than when I was dancing robustly for 3 hours a night two or three times a week.  A lot of my new friends came from the dance community.

However, a couple of important love relationships began and ended on the contra dance floor, and after the second one, I started getting psychosomatic nausea every time I danced.  I know it was psychosomatic because I could do any other kind of dancing, and could go on amusement park rides and get twirled around upside down and backward without even feeling dizzy or sick  Finally, I gave up dancing, except for a couple of swing and line dancing classes Sweet Hubby and I took together.  I was married now and had my darling SH to socialize with.  I didn't want to be gone that many nights a week, and although SH is a terrific, graceful dancer, regular dancing isn't for him.  I stayed friends with some of the people I'd met through that community, and of course there are many other ways to get exercise, so it wasn't a terrible loss, but I did miss it.

This evening, though, I decided to go to an English country dance session for the first time in about 15 years.  And I'm so glad I did.  I do enjoy dancing, enjoy the music, the social contact, the excellent, fun workout.  I didn't stay for the whole evening, mostly because there were a lot of newbies in the room, and so a lot of instruction, which made the evening move very slowly.  But I think I'm going to start dipping into English country again, and maybe even try contra dancing to see if my psychosoma has healed.

If you don't know what contra dancing is, by the way, imagine square dancing done in long lines with live fiddle and banjo music setting the beat and a caller leading the dancers through series of movements.  If you've never tried it, look it up and see if there is a dance near you.  So much fun.