Three Things I learned from Dance Class

   When I was a kid, I was a terminal klutz. I could trip over a piece of thread. I also had hand-eye coordination problems. My hands and eyes not only didn't work with each other, I'm not sure that they knew they were attached to the same body.
   Someone suggested to my parents that enrolling me in dance lessons could help. I was willing to take them so my parents signed me up. Besides dance steps, I learned a few other things and I'd like to share those with you today.
  I was put in a class with girls that were younger than I. They were blond, blue eyed and had perfect dancer bodies. Their blond hair was either put up neatly into a chignon or in a bouncy, curly ponytail. Since I refused to comb or fuss with my hair in any way mine was short. They were thin and dainty looking. I was,well, bigger. Not fat,just bigger. (I think the women reading this will know what I mean.)
  I wasn't very good at first. I'd mix up my left and right hands. I'd be a step or two off. Sometimes it would take me a little longer to learn some of the steps. As time went on I got better, but I stayed mostly in the back row. It was obvious I had no talent whatsoever.
  That didn't matter to me. I liked dance class. I tried hard and did my best. That's the first lesson I learned. If you enjoy doing something, do it. Even if you aren't very good at it. You don't have to be perfect, just do your best. What I lacked in talent, I made up for with enthusiasm.
  I took tap, jazz and ballet. I didn't like tap or jazz very much. Tap dancing is hard work. I didn't mind the hard work part, what I minded is that I looked like a hippo. (Did I mention that I was not small and petite?) I tried not to look in the full length mirror when we had tap lessons. If I didn't look it wasn't too bad. Jazz was difficult for me. Moving freely didn't come easy to me. I didn't like shaking my hips or strutting. It felt unnatural and wrong. It was part of the class so I did it anyway.
  Ballet was my favourite. I liked the control, the precision and having to be centered. I liked how everything flowed. I like the stretching. In ballet, my size didn't matter as much. That was lesson number two. Sometimes you have to do things you don't like in order to do things that you do like.
   As I got further on with dance class we started to learn more complex moves. We learned how to do leaps and jumps. I did my best, but was not always successful. Many times I would land awkwardly, lose my balance or hit the wall. It was discouraging. It was also lesson number three. If you lose your balance, fall as gracefully as possible and then get back up and try again. With enough practice I was able to do the leaps and jumps. I even got to the point where I could hold an arabesque without falling over. If I had allowed myself to get frustrated, I would never be able to do these things.
  I took dance until I graduated from high school. My hand eye coordination had improved a little, but I'm still very clumsy. You could say that the primary aims of taking dance classes weren't met. I don't see it that way. What I did learn were lessons that have helped me many times over the years and I'm sure they will help many more times.