Jenny stood at the side of the hall watching all the other girls spin and twirl with glowing faces as their partners lead them across the dance floor.
She had heard about these dances and had always though that they were so stifling and ridged, not like this free flowing, energetic and, dare she say it FUN event. In fact when Jenny was younger she had often go along to dances in the hope that they would be as free as she was watching here, yet they had sadly disappointed. Her dance partners had always rigidly followed each step and been so serious about insuring they were following the correct technique, she sometimes wondered if they cared more about insure the dance was right than actually enjoying the dance itself!
So here she was again, at a dance, all be it one that was like she had always imagined dances should be like, and she had barely taken 3 steps from the door! In the past she had always had to go up to a guy from the group who was resting on the side and ask him to dance with her in an attempt to force herself into the dance. Sometimes it resulted in the guy firing back a load of questions about what styles she knew to make sure she was up to the task of dancing with him, sometimes they had even taken a glance at what she was wearing and quickly, and not too discreetly, walked else where and started to discuss her with the other dancers.
It was for this reason that Jenny didn’t like dances…so why was she here again?
As she rested on the outside watching in on the dance, it happened. A guy came up and asked her to dance! She had never had this happen before at any of the previous dances! She politely turned him down pointing out that she was still unfamiliar with the dance styles and moves the other dances were doing and didn’t want to make a mistake. The guy told her it didn’t matter, opened the invitation again (which once again Jenny quickly refused for lack of confidence) and so the guy invited her to sit with some of the other dancers who were resting and have a drink.
Jenny couldn’t believe it, she had never been welcomed by the other dancers like this! Usually the other female dancers got very upset at the thought of competition for dance partners and yet here they were talking to her as thought they had been friends for years. She had been invited to dance by 3 different men since the initial offer and although she had so far turned down every offer she had certainly grown in confidence and the other girls had been encouraging to give it a try, even if she got it wrong, no one would care.
And so she accepted an offer, and there she was dancing, free, getting her steps wrong, stepping on toes…and yet she was free. Surely this was what dancing was all about.
