Tango. Foxtrot. Salsa. Bachata.

Dancing Queen. Bust a Move. Hips Don’t Lie. There are plenty of songs about dancing (among other things) and most of them will captivate us to tap our toes or shake our booty. Many of us will do that from the comfort of our kitchen or the safety of our bathroom. When our inner dancer is taken into the world, we become a bit self-conscious and might find that we have two left feet.
Last year, my friend introduced me to Zouk, a sensual partner dance that has Brazilian, Caribbean and Latin influences. Not being a dancer, I was captivated by the whimsical nature of the dance and wanted more of it. Last November, an event popped up on my news feed thanks to the the ever so intuitive Facebook (let’s be real, it was probably listening to my conversations…).
6-week Beginner Zouk classes. It felt like a sign. 
After a moment’s hesitation, I registered for the class hoping it was going to be a good use of my money. D was Dancing and when was I going to find a better time to try something new? A class was going to teach me the foundations, I knew there was an ending, and there would be plenty of other people to learn from. My main motivating factor for the class was the learn to follow. Being a leader comes naturally to me which can make it a bit uncomfortable when someone is supposed to lead me in a dance.
The first few classes covered relatively simple steps and gave me a good sense of what it was like to dance with different leads. I quickly figured out who I enjoyed dancing with, who was a really good lead and could make me feel like a pro, and who made me feel a little clumsy in my dancing.
From there, we learned more advance steps and I learned that sometimes the best way to dance is to not think about it. During one class, we were learning how to do a move that was similar to a figure 8. For whatever reason, I could not get the moves down and was getting awfully frustrated with myself. When one of the leads and I were paired up during rotation, their advice was to not think about it. And, sure enough, as soon as I did that, I got the moves down.
I was feeling more comfortable in the classes and wanted to expand my practice to social dances. Naturally, this felt scary. District Zouk has regular socials in the DC area and is in Tenleytown (the closest location for me) once a month. The next Tenley social was coming up and I decided to go, hoping I’d see a few familiar faces. It wasn’t a total bust (besides busting a few moves!)! I saw familiar faces, met some new faces, and pushed myself to dance – even though I thoroughly enjoyed people watching.
It’s been a few months since I’ve danced and am noticing a resistance to wanting to go to socials and get back in the swing of things, literally.  It’s a similar feeling to when I first started, wasn’t sure about my footsteps or my dance partner’s patience. But, just like all of the previous times, people are generally kind, especially when it comes to dancing, and we know more than we think we do. It all comes back to trust.
What’s your dance of choice?