Just Dance!

I don’t know where my love of dance came from but I know I’ve always had it. My parents have video of me dancing and I’m sure I’m no more than 5 years old. I was enrolled in ballet lessons and it was fun for awhile, but I remembered hating it because there was too much instruction and I thought the teachers were mean. I wanted to do hip hop and jazz, but you had to take ballet too in order to be enrolled in those classes and my family couldn’t afford to put me in two classes, so in third grade I quit. Now that I’m older part of me wishes from time to time that I’d stayed in ballet and continued my pirouettes and plies but then I’m also glad that I got to enjoy my childhood and didn’t always have my hair in a super tight bun and loads of ridiculous make-up on.

It wasn’t until high school that I re-discovered dancing. I absolutely loved going to dances because I had so much fun just moving to the music and I didn’t care what anyone else thought of me. I was having fun and entertaining myself and my friends and that was all that mattered. I never understood why people refused to go to dances if they didn’t have a date. My favorite dances were the ones where I went stag and hung out with a large group of friends. Even when I went with a date, we always ended up dancing as one big group of people anyway.

In college I met a friend who grew up dancing and loved it. She knew all the “real” dances and I loved to have her teach me things. I’m sure she was annoyed with me at times because I was not a quick learner and I’m not very graceful, but I always tried really hard. We took a dance class together our junior year and while I enjoyed it, she embraced it. It was in that class that I finally grasped that I will never be a dancer but I will always love dance and wish that I could be more skilled.

After college I went to a club for the first time. I had wanted to go my entire time in college, but never had anyone to go with, or the timing was never right. So, once presented with the opportunity I took it, and while I know most people hate going out to clubs, I love it (most of the time) purely because I get to dance! I’m not a fan of the creepers and sometimes I wish it was just me and my friends in the club, but I love the loud music, being able to act like a fool and know that no one will care the next day (because half of them wont remember it anyway), and there’s always a good story to tell afterwards. Clubs are fun – because I have boundaries and I don’t let anyone cross them.

I will have to admit that my all time favorite place to dance is in my car. I LOVE car dancing because anyone who can see me is not around long enough for me to become embarrassed, I can turn my music up loud and sing (badly) at the top of my lungs. I currently have three favorite songs, Just Dance by Lady Gaga, So What by Pink, and Single Ladies by Beyonce. They are burned to a CD and are played over and over and over in my car – they’re probably the only three songs I’ve listened to in my car over the last two weeks. There’s just something about those songs – specifically Just Dance that get me moving and going and energized.

I believe that dancing will forever be a part of my life. It's a great work out and it's so much fun that I really never want to stop - as those of you who have gone out with me before know. I am thankful to have friends in my life who go dancing with me and can enjoy the craziness that I bring to the dance floor. I just hope that any future friends can appreciate and support my habit as well. At some point I’ll get too old to go out to the clubs, and that’s fine, but I’ll always have my car. :)