Now, as a Texan man, I was taught early on how to two-step. It's a very simple dance that can be embellished and flourished to no end, and it's very easy to learn. Unfortunately for me, I haven't danced in a while, and I haven't two-stepped in a long while.
Last time I went to a dance club I was in Alaska, probably eight years ago, and they don't two-step. They just kinda bob back and forth. So the last time I actually two-stepped with someone who knew what they were doing, I was probably about sixteen years old, and by that time I'd grown out of country music and into rock/pop/alternative. I don't know that I was a teenager yet, the last time I danced to country music and enjoyed it.
So, we arrived at the club, which was packed, and I got my first glance at how much country music dance has changed in the 18 years or so since I participated, and my heart dropped. I think I was in the middle of the post Achy Breaky Heart line dancing craze of the early '90s the last time I paid any attention to country dancing, and so I was completely out of my depth.
Unbeknownst to me, my brother-in-law's friend is fully capable of competitive level dancing, and has been training my brother-in-law, and the cousin/friend duo, so everyone in our group had me at a disadvantage. There was an unfamiliar song playing, but I wasn't surprised. I hadn't really followed country music in a decade. The dance floor was jam packed, with people faster, flashier, and more skilled than I was, and so when the others in our group went onto the floor, my wife and I retreated upstairs to practice. I showed her how to two-step, and we were doing okay, until I realized that I was totally holding her in the wrong position.
I was always taught that the leader in a dance, drove the follower around the dance floor. Turns out, I'm a right handed driver (dancer, which is reversed from the norm, where the leader's left hand is clasped), and so I was driving in the follower position.
What a maroon...*sigh*.
Well, confidence shattered, she and I never made it onto the dance floor, and I felt like a grade a Jerk Face McGee for taking her dancing and not actually dancing. We've resolved to go dancing again, after some practice, and I'm actually looking forward to it, which surprises the shit out of me. I'm not graceful at all, but I'm trusting that she'll make me look good...
