Learning to Dance

Just dance

-Lady Gaga

Going swing dancing for the first time

is a time machine back to the 8^th grade:

wondering how to talk to girls

what to do with eye contact

what the etiquette for interaction is

Only at 26,

more than just my palms get sweaty

anticipating the foreign and new social situations

filled with awkward stuttering,

feet stepping on feet,

asking strange women

to dance a dance I’m unfamiliar with

And the fear of failure,

of sitting in those chairs along the wall

after failing to get the rhythm right,

or leading my dance partner

into the another couple,

that fear is pants-wetttingly potent

My hope is that the conversations

had in those chairs

are more awkward and unpleasant

than the dances had out on the floor

offering me additional incentive,

and thereby courage,

to dance.