So, back at university, and as usual I have joined various different clubs, to try various different things that I have never done before (or at least have barely tried before). In the past at uni I have joined such clubs as fencing, ten-pin bowling and the university radio station. This time I thought I'd try my hand at squash, and as well as joining the pool club, have been attended several swing dance classes. The pool club night clashes with the swing dance classes though, so as yet I haven't been. I've never been a dancer, but swing seemed like it might be fun and good exercise. Plus I felt that I had reached an acceptable level of incompetence in my attempts to learn salsa, and was thus clearly ready to move onto another dance.
My first swing taster session was of all abilities. I accompanied some of the fellow postgrads living in my building to the student union, where the event would be taking place. Half our number left as we approached the door, after deciding that the dancing looked a little too serious for them (they were there mostly for alcohol, and had come in fancy dress as 1920s gangsters, I think). Taking my life into my hands though I entered, and undeterred by my natural lack of rhythm or any ability to move in time to the music, I tried to follow the steps of the people around me. Except I wasn't following their steps. I was floundering. This was much to the exasperation of the two girls I had accompanied and who took it in turns to show me some steps. By the end - after another girl had shown me some more steps and I was feeling a little more confident, I felt ready to begin beginner's classes a couple of days later. The class started with the teachers telling everyone to "pulse". We jumped up once, landed on our feet with our knees bent, and I began to bounce up and down as I believed was expected of me. By the end of the class, after we had been shown some steps and I had danced with an array of women, I felt embarrassed by my lack of ability, and continual mistakes, but with the expectation that many of the other men probably felt the same way. Undaunted by my incompetence, I again returned to the class today. Despite lacking any ability to move in time to the music, I felt that by the end of the class I had got the hang of one or two of the steps and in the freer session at the end of the class I attempted them over and over again with every girl I danced with. I felt out of my depth but was nonetheless enjoying myself until I came to dance with a French girl, one of the girls I had accompanied to the first session. "I don't know what you're trying to do" she seemed to scream at me time after time, and in no time I was ready to leave the dance floor. I'm hoping that none of the students from my tutorial classes were learning swing, and were treated to the embarrassment of my dancing. I think I might give the pool club try next time (or maybe just get on with writing my thesis).
