Blog: Gotta Dance

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On Sunday morning I had a very early appointment. With SHOWBIZ!

For LO! after YEARS of talking about it I had finally managed to book Steve and I some TAP DANCING LESSONS, and the way it came about was UNUSUAL. A few weeks ago I was sat at home, in my M&S Relax-At-Home Trousers (definitely NOT Pajamas) when there was a knock at the door. This happens very rarely as people usually have to buzz to get in, so I went and opened the door to find two young ladies there, looking a bit surprised to see someone IN at that time of day. They were going round handing out leaflets for a dance class they were doing and explaining about the other sorts of dance work they do. I smiled politely but wasn't listening very closely as something was bothering me. It was only when they left and I looked at their leaflet that I realised what it was - they were twins!

A few minutes later I had ANOTHER sudden realisation - they'd mentioned "dance lessons"! Hadn't I been going on at Steve for YEARS about how we should learn to do a bit of Proper Dancing for the SHOWS? When we'd done our "tap dancing" during A Very Special Relationship in Moon Horse VS The Mars Men Of Jupiter it had always gone done really well, so imagine how well it would go if it was ACTUAL tap dancing, not just us waving our feet about! And here were potential tutors right on my doorstep!

Steve agreed to the plan, arrangements were made, and so it was that on Sunday just gone I met with Emily and Jess from The Twin Swing and went down the road to meet Steve at a local DANCE STUDIO in Maryland. Who knew such things existed?

As soon as we got in the room Steve took his trousers off. I thought this was a little odd, but apparently this is normal for dancers, and he was just putting his special Dance Trousers and Dance Pumps on. He IS trained in Performance Arts, I suppose, so knows what he is doing and, as it turned out, was WISE to bring a change of clothes because CRIKEY we didn't half work up a sweat! We started off with STRETCHES and then the girls showed us some BASIC TAP. I felt pretty good at his point, as the "tapping one foot on the floor" was just about within my reach. Unfortunately things got a LOT more complicated, with all SORTS of jumping around, stamping, wiggling of ankles and basically DANCING going on.

It was pretty knackering, but I didn't mind that as much as the BRANE MANGLING that went on as I desperately tried to keep up. My colleague, MR JAZZ HANDS, seemed to cope better me, but it was hard remembering what went where and when. Jess and Emily were VERY patient, working up the ROUTINE gradually around us, and by the end we'd got the IDEA if not the ACTUALITY of the whole thing. We finished by VIDEOING first them doing the routine (so we'd have something sensible to help us remember what we were meant to be doing) and then me and Steve doing it (so we'd have something to show when we got home!).

Looking back at the video later I was amazed by how ALMOST GOOD it looked - they'd picked some FLASHY moves that were fairly simple to do, and I reckon that with six months of practice we'll almost be able to DO them. The twins had PLANNED for us to do some "comedy" moves, but as Steve wisely pointed out, the fact that he and I are even DOING proper tap dancing will hopefully be MORE than amusing enough!

It was a GRATE morning, and brilliant to meet people who are REALLY GOOD at something that looks so AMAZING. I must say tho, my back has been killing me ever since!

posted 20/1/2015 by MJ Hibbett

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