Skip to main content

I won't Dance (Don't ask me!)

Historically, France and specifically Paris, have always favored dance. Every opera in the late 19th century had to have a ballet. If it didn't have one in the German or Italian versions, the French would make them put one in. Yes, even Wagner was forced to add a ballet to Tannhäuser. So it should not have been too shocking to find that at parties in Paris there is always dancing. It shouldn't but it was.

If there are 10 people or less at a dinner party you are safe but once you hit critical mass, which I would say is about 25 or so, you will not be able to escape it. And I do mean escape. Here I am at a party. 



And this is after politely saying no, then insisting no, then saying ABSOLUTELY NO. 

You may wonder what is the problem? I love partner dancing. In fact, I spent the better part of 5 years dancing 2-step every Saturday night. The idea of basic steps and then variations from those steps appeals to me and I am good at it. There is something, though, to the "stand and jiggle" dancing that escapes me. I just don't get it. People tell me all the time, "Oh, there is nothing to it; you just go with the music." We all know that is bullshit. Look at the dance floor. There are the people who dance and it looks magical, there are those who look sexy doing it, and then there are the rest of us. Clumsy, with odd fits and starts. 

I have been told I look like a muppet when I dance and I have no reason to doubt this assessment. Also, there is very little in the pop music genre to make me seek out a solution to this (i.e. dance lessons or some other mentoring process). Jim, my ex, was an excellent dancer (sexy, never quite on the beat but rhythm was unbeatable) and Helmut has a swing style that, again, is very sexy. Me? Muppets all the way. 

So, I still think it is best I sit this one out. And the next. Don't ask me. Really.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cookies... the final act

So, I got a lot of interest in the cookie story (go to  Shaving the Yak  to read that post) and wanted to know how they turned out. So, here are some lessons I learned. The Oven Just because you can do mathematical calculations, doesn't mean you can change cooking instructions from fahrenheit to celsius easily. The recipe calls for a 375F oven. So, I pull out my trusty web browser and type "375 fahrenheit to celsius." Trusty Google tells me it is 190.556 celsius. Fair enough. But the oven goes in 25 degree increments. So, my first try is to set the oven to 200 and reduce the cooking time. This one cookie (I am smart enough to try them one at a time) is a charred briquet glued to the cookie sheet. OK, so, I try 175 degrees and keep the cooking time about the same. This time, a brown briquet glued to the cookie sheet. Hrmph. Obviously I need to keep reducing the temperature, but also I need to address the sticking problem. I tried greasing the sheet the way my mother did...
2 comments
Read more

Chronomically challenged

Parisians are ALWAYS late. I think New Yorkers run the gamut, but Parisians are late. They always have a good reason: traffic, the weather, kept at work, the Métro, the dog, the kids, garbage truck. But late. I am in a period of adjusting to this. My tendency is to be on-time. I call it the German in me. Helmut, who was born in Germany, is Parisian now and so I am alone in this bit of frustration. For the most part, people are 15 to 30 minutes late but for some it can be a bit extreme. For instance, meeting my friend Laure means scheduling a 1/2 hour (at least) for this arrival time. I want to emphasize, this is my issue, not Paris'. BUT There are extreme cases. One time Helmut and I were supposed to meet someone for dinner at (let's say) 8 (16h). She called and was going to be late. About an hour and a half after our original meeting time, we left for dinner. She knew where we would be, so she could meet us. At this point I had my doubts if she was going to come at all....
3 comments
Read more

Les Mots Anglais (those crazy English words)

Unlike many languages, French has a "learned body on matters pertaining to the French language," (from Wikipedia) called the Académie française or the French Academy. In the 60s and 70s, they were very strong and definitely was not letting those foreign words creep into their language. No sir. Well, something has happened. Maybe they are all dead (and no one checked), but French is becoming rampant with English words. I always get a laugh when I hear a new one.  One of the reasons French can be difficult is because one of the basic objectives of the language is to sound good. Unlike English and German, sounding good is all part of the show. There are things called liaisons that link the end of one word with the beginning of the next, to make it sound better. For instance, the word for "man" is homme (sounds like "home" without the h). Make it plural and it becomes les hommes  (pronounced "lay z 'ome"). The Z sound is there because it s...
Post a Comment
Read more