dancing zorbas

they called them the dancing ladies, i called them the dancing zorbas...i couldn't help the connection made in my mind. a dance troupe in east mesa had volunteered to help out with our summer kiddos program by teaching folk dancing once a week. all a bit suspicious and wary, katie and i drove to meet them and get a sample of their moves.

we arrived at a "retirement" community that wouldn't let us in the entrance because it was a "member's only" entrance, so we had to drive around a city block to enter in the correct entrance. The man just told us to turn right and keep going, so we did, weaving through small little houses with manicured lawns and stale looking desert scenes strategically placed.

the front of the house was surrounded with cars and upon entering the house the smell of old hit me. it was a smell of old mixed with some strong scent of a flower. the lady who welcomed us was called nan. i smirked at her dyed red hair and bright lipstick. she wore dancing shoes with socks that folded down at the ankles. this attire seemed to be the uniform for the lovely elderly ladies as they all sported the fold down socks with saddle type shoes, except for josephine in her nice moo moo and ballet shoes.

they introduced katie and i to the group, several ladies within the mid 80's range, one randomly placed 40-something woman, and then jack, my favorite, who sat in the corner with a blank stare on his face. i loved him from hello.

nan wanted things her way and one might guess that she could have been a teacher or a drill sergeant in her earlier years. she was intense, and not nice. the other ladies were all smiles as we went over the logistics until we got to the good part, when they sampled the dances for us.

the white plastic tape went into the tape player, nan turned up the volume, and while the crackling tape played a bad recording of an old folksy tune the ladies joined hands and started skipping, doing "the vine" and the "tap"...which nan informed us we wouldn't understand cause we hadn't learned these terms. Josephine was so little, and like a little sprite. she smiled as she performed, hopping and skipping around, so pleased with her little body in that huge moo moo. they did some sort of chest bump thing as two of the sides of the circle approached one another and then the other sides followed suit in chest bump style. josephine smiled at me when the song was over and said she loved that part the best. i smothered my laughter and kept it on the inside.

nan spouted orders as she put in other tapes, "we need four, get up and do it, the four of you!" this was for the partner hand dance, "me, me, me and then you, you, you" she tried teaching katie and i when i said it looked complex. we asked for the macarana and one of the ladies said she couldn't do it, it was just too hard.

nan put on the tape and began to count out the beat, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. ummm.....who knew you could have a count of sixteen with music like this?! i laughed as she got to the teens where the "hey, macarana" part was and you're supposed to shimmy. she did a four way pelvic thrust so precise it made me feel awkward and i looked over to jack in the corner to see if he was watching. he was. katie and i got up to dance along and try and help nan get on beat...she didn't.

the logistics began again, just the final times and places to sum things up and nan shouted towards the corner, "harriet, harriet...please be quiet!" she continued on discussing with katie until again she stopped in mid-sentence and walked over to the ladies sitting next to me, waving her finger as i was nervous she was going to knock someone out. "harriet! i can't hear a thing with you jabbering over here! be quiet!" harriet responded, "it was josephine this time, not me!" and as nan walked away i watched as harriet and josephine slapped at each other in cat-like fashion, mocking their scolding...

it was more amusing than i can express and katie and i laughed with tears streaming down our faces the whole way back to the office. today was the best day ever, basically! i wish i had a picture...