Our First Official Dance

Our First Official Dance

Our love story started years ago. Our best friend set us up and we said, “Best friends forever! Romantic NEVER!” for about a year that is how it was. We were best of friends.

In June my “best friend” graduated college and I decided I had to take him to Disneyland to celebrate the big occasion. While we were at Disneyland we stopped at the French Market Café for diner. We were sitting there enjoying our meal and the jazz band came out and started playing live music on the little stage. The band started playing love songs and dedicating them to us! We were not making googlie eyes at each other or holding hands! We were just eating a meal and talking! We laughed and told them no way! They then said, “We have the Disney Magic and know you two are in love!” A week later we were dating and six months later we were married! January of this year we celebrated our 32^nd anniversary.

Being a flute player I’ve always loved music and had a desire to dance, any type of dance. My husband is hard of hearing, ADHD and has a heart that does not beat in a steady rhythm. Music for him is voodoo. He can’t feel the beat or get into a rhythm. Dancing was not something we ever thought we could do. Many times we would go to Disneyland and watch the swing dancers at the Carnation Gardens. I would sit and dream of getting up and dancing but I will not dance with anybody but my husband.

Earlier this year my husband and I were talking about the Disney Cruise we are planning on taking in 2014. We talked about the things we wished we could do the next time we go. One thing kept coming up, we wanted to dance! We decided that if we wanted to dance on the cruise we would need to learn soon. We started talking about what style of dance we wanted to learn. One style kept coming back up as we talked, Swing!

In February we were at Disney California Adventure watching the dancers. There was a young man that was dancing with quite a few of the women that were dancing to the Reynolds Brothers (Ellis Island Boys) Jazz band. This is not an official place for the swing dancers to dance but there they were. As we were watching we saw a difference between the Swing dancing we normally see and the gliding style this young man was doing. After several songs my hubby went over and asked him what style of dance he was doing. He told us the style is called Shag. Shag is a less athletic style of Swing and is much easier to learn. Shag is a style my husband felt he could learn!

Earlier this month we decided to look on line and find information and video on Shag. We found several videos and even printable step by step directions for the beginner steps! We started practicing about 30 minutes a day! We are no Fred and Ginger but at least we can kind of move to the beat of the music!

Thursday of last week we were at Disneyland. We decided we would look for one of the bands that the Swing Dancers now dance too. Sadly none of them were playing Thursday. We were disappointed because we really wanted to dance our first “official dance” at Disneyland. The disappointment did not last long as we remembered the fantastic jazz band that had told us we were in love almost 33 years ago. Over to New Orleans Square and the French Market we headed.

The Royal Street Bachelors were playing at the French Market and we decided to step off to the walkway outside the French Market as there was no room to dance in there. We danced in the walkway around the fountain between the French Market and the Haunted Mansion. We did not care that we had only been learning for about a week and we were kind of tripping over our own feet. What mattered is we were dancing together. What made it even more romantic and special was the fact we were dancing to the music of a special band at the most magical and special place of all, Disneyland.

When the song finished people around us applauded.  Several came over and told us how sweet it was that we just stopped and danced together and how neat it was that we were learning.

This experience reminded us that anything is possible as long as you do not give up and you don’t care about any negative comments other people may make. For years we have worried about what other people would say about our ability or inability to dance. Now we know we don’t have to worry about it.

Step out of your place of comfort learn something new, do something wacky, have faith in yourself, give yourself a chance to learn something new and have fun!