4/18/08 Shake Your Bon-bon!

Have you guys noticed how warm it's getting outside? Mr. Weatherman said that we might reach 80 degrees today! (Of course, tomorrow will only be mid-sixties, but that's Tennessee for you). All this warm weather reminds me of vacation, and vacation reminds me of the beach, and the beach reminds me of swimsuits, and swimsuits remind me of the past 8 months where I sat on my keister and ate potato chips while watching tv. Not good.

I'm not overweight, but I have noticed some extra "fluff" around the old thigh area lately. We'll call it "winter padding". Except it's not winter anymore, so time to do something about it.

Enter: the samba! And the cha-cha! And the rumba! Oh yes Quirky fans, I have joined a dance class...and not just any dance class either...a Latin Dance class! This class has a lot of hip and rear shaking involved, and I just so happen to have plenty of both, so I figure that I'll be a natural. And if it works for Dancing with the Stars, it can work for me too!

Okay, so it turns out that Latin dancing is a whole lot harder than the stars make it look. First you have feet movement, then the hips start doing their own thing, then the arms jump in with yet more movement! And ya'll, I am just not that coordinated. I can get the feet part down if I really concentrate, but when I try to incorporate the hips, it all just falls apart. And the arms? The words "drunken flailing" would be generous. As bad as I am however, I'm having an absolute blast doing it. I find the key is to be able to laugh at yourself (because Heaven knows other people are). And really let yourself get into it. (I like to make up my own arm and hip movements as the music moves me. I call it Latin freestyle. It really confuses the instructor whenever I start improvising, but sometimes you just have to just let go and toss your imaginary bull fighting cape in the air, no matter what people think).

And woo buddy! What a workout! I couldn't move my arms after the first class. But that's okay, because arm movement is overrated anyway. The important thing is that it's good for me, and I enjoy doing it. That's really the key to sticking with something for the long haul. Now suddenly I'm finding myself salsa dancing on my way to the copier. And doing the rumba to the parking garage. And incorporating hip shakes and arm waves into board meetings. (Okay, this last one may be a sign that I should be committed, but the first two? That just means that I can't wait until my next dance class!)

So who cares if I have the soul of a dancer in the body of someone having what resembles an epileptic fit? I like it anyway. And it's important to like your body. Take pride in what it can do! Show it off!


I'll be showing mine off as soon as the Dancing with the Stars people return my many calls.