Dancing the Night Away

You may not know it, but a long time ago, in a city not that far away, I was a dancer. I know, I know... now I'm a fat mom in need of a new hairdo and free liposuction.

I spent hours upon hours at the dance studio, bending and leaping, stretching and posing. Alas, genetics were not doing me any favors, and I was far too curvy to pursue a career in dance.

But that didn't stop me from dancing all the way through high school. I was lucky enough to snag choice roles in dance recitals/ballet performances: Captain Hook in "Peter Pan," the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz," and one of Cinderella's stepsisters in "Cinderella." I pretty much cornered the market on the whole bad guy thing.

Since then I have done some dance work in a few musicals, choreographed a few more, and held my tongue as I watched some really, really bad dancing on Dancing With the Stars. Oh, who am I kidding? It's fun to snipe at really poor dancers on TV, so I absolutely did not hold my tongue.

I was very excited to enroll Violet in dance lessons as soon as she was age-eligible. I dreamed of my darling in her little pink leotard and tights, stepping daintily across the stage.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Milo's kindergarten teacher was taking over the ballet lessons at one of the dance studios here in town. She and I got to talking and the next thing I know, I'm volunteering as a sub for the tap classes for this month.

So, yeah... I've been tapping my feet off on Monday nights. I sat in on a couple of classes in December to get a feel for what the instructor (a willowy young lay) was teaching. I felt pretty confident in the classes with younger kids, but was honestly quite surprised to keep up with the teens. I had no idea that pickups and wings and time steps were retained in deep muscle memory. It's been 20 years and I am blown away that I can still toss of a combo like I'd never missed a lesson.

Go me!!