UPDATE: Was He Flirting With Me?

Ladies and gentlemen, we now have closure on the issue of "Was he flirting with me?"

Answer: Yes.


Yesterday, I received an email from my coworker. I will paraphrase it below:

Remember my roommate, Matt? You met him when I had our group over for drinks that time. Well, he wants to learn to dance. You mentioned recently that you would like to learn to dance, too. So, let me know if you're interested in taking tango lessons with Matt and I'll put the two of you in touch.



Photo Source


Here is the dilemma:
Matt is a good-looking guy, a couple years my junior. He was quite pleasant when we met, but I can tell you right now that there is something about him that is a total deal-breaker when it comes to having a relationship. Is it kosher to sign up for tango lessons with him anyways? It makes me feel like a bit of a schmuck.

Voting time:

YES - it's totally kosher. It's not like dance lessons are a marriage proposal. It's not even a formal date. Enjoy the muscle-y eye candy and flirtatious dance moves!

NO - Tango is a fairly sensual dance. Agreeing to to the lessons is kind of like agreeing to a date. If you're really convinced there is zero chance of a relationship, then invest your time and energy elsewhere.

Get Your Azonto On!

As some of you may remember, I am perplexed by what exactly one does with their arms during freestyle dancing. Always open to new solutions to this predicament (so far, having a glass of wine in each hand seems like my best bet), I recently stumbled across Azonto. Azonto is an African dance from Ghana, which reportedly is gaining mega popularity here in North America. According to Wikipedia, "Azonto, when taught effectively, can be learned within ten minutes." 10 minutes?! I had to check it out.

And so, I present to you for today's daily dose of dancercise: AZONTO!

Here is part one:

Part two of the tutorial from the self-proclaimed "Chosen one of Africa" for all you budding Azonto keensters out there:

If you watch part two, I recommend stopping the video one minute before the end -- this way you'll avoid an annoying plea to rate the video/share the video. Immigration authorities and deportation are mentioned. That said, there are 4 or 5 different options as to what to do with your arms when dancing. This alone made watching the 8 minute clip totally worth it.

And lastly, if you're REALLY keen, here's a jazzy music clip to practice your new moves:

Enjoy!

Single Girl Snippet: Nobody Here Knew I Couldn't Dance

Until last night.

It’s not that I don’t understand the concept of dancing. After a decade of music lessons, I can pick out a song's rhythm. It’s more the ability to spontaneously coordinate my limb movements into something to be proud of that is the problem. Luckily, if you’re wearing heels, people will cut you some slack for your lower limb movements. You just need to sort of shuffle or march in place, and you’re fine. It’s the arms. I never know what to do with the arms. I mean, do I just leave them hanging by my side? You can’t always be carrying a glass of wine… or, maybe you can. (Note to self: dancing arm problem potentially solved.)

In my quest to figure out what to do with my arms during situations of social dancing - and possibly even refine my lower-limb shuffle/march signature move – I went to a Zumba class. One of the beautiful things about living in a city where everyone you know can be counted on one hand is that what happens at Zumba stays at Zumba.

When the lean, mean, 70-year-old instructor walked into the room, I knew I had found the right level of Zumba for me. (And, if there were any doubts regarding her vintage, the knee-high nylons visible below the standard Zumba-issued capris sealed the deal.) That said, this lady could move. And, she was really good at cueing the class as to what came next -- so there were very few dancing collisions. For a little extra treat, she sang along to the “Olé, olé” part of Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot in her very best opera voice. Halfway into the hour-long session, the instructor announced that we had all danced so well we had earned a great privilege: THE DISCO BALL! The crowd (50 middle-aged ladies, 3 girls in their late 20s/early 30s, and 1 guy who looked like he should have been teaching the class) went wild. I didn’t ask whether or not they earn the disco ball every week, you know, in case it's a touchy subject. The darkened room with swirling lights was kind of fun.

All in all, I’m glad I went. It gave me a few more ideas as to things I could possibly do with my arms while dancing, but I think I need some more work before publically performing these little gems outside of Zumba. Also, the moves that involve shaking your hips or shoulders totally eluded me.  I’ll add them to the list of things I need to figure out how to do. So, fingers crossed that between now and the end of my year of personal growth, I learn how to dance.