Full Dance Card

We are busy this fall.  Busy busy, in a way that I usually avoid, but somehow it all seemed to fall into place in a way that seemed do-able. And for the most part, it has been.  It is just with these recent chilly mornings and early starry evenings when I'd rather be curled up with my family and a book than heading out...Even so, we are enjoying the doings of fall, carving pumpkins, planting garlic in our garden, getting the beds ready for winter, raking leaves, making leaf rubbings, drinking cider from the market...

Breakfast with Jack-o-lanterns

One of the things we have been busy with are dance classes.  You may remember that we are big fans of contra dancing, and attend some of the local dances and catch the dancing at the Pawpaw Festival when we can...

Dan and Eliza, 2008

This fall one of the things that Eliza wanted to do was more contra dancing.  She was not interested in taking dance classes with other children, as we had tried to do in the past with Irish dance and beginning ballet.  She wanted to contra dance! While looking at the website for our local dances - just a page with a few links to locations and bands - I noticed a blurb about a class on campus.  I thought it couldn't hurt to email the professor and see if he would welcome a parent and an eight-year-old, and see how much it would cost us.  He responded with an enthusiastic Yes!!, please come and take the class informally (ie: free!!), we would welcome your enthusiasm and interest...so every Monday and Wednesday evening, Eliza and I have a dancing date!

We have learned several kinds of contra dances, English country dance, jitterbug and swing, Swazi folk dance, zydeco/cajun dance, and this week we are working on bellydancing...really.  Eliza really holds her own in the class of 30 or so 20-somethings, picking up the dance moves quickly and taking a leadership role in remembering the sequence, especially as she dons a tie and becomes a "guy" for the partner dances.  I love watching how much she is enjoying the dancing and interacting with everyone in the room.  As we arrive, the students are lined up along the walls of the room, sitting and chatting, and after she and I walk in and greet the professors and drop our coats, she is off, socializing with her buddies.  She always returns to me when it's time to choose a partner...

Irish Dancing;  I'm wearing the tie this time