Get down on it — just watch the eyebrows!

The joys of retirement dancing when your partner develops his own style of leading.

My husband is very sporty and very competitive. He likes to ski, play tennis, sail catamarans, and golf. Over our 30 years of marriage, he has patiently endured my ineptitude at his chosen sports and stoically tolerated my habit of launching onto the dance floor at the slightest provocation.

What can I say? I love to dance and can’t resist a little wiggle in my aging hips whenever an appealing piece of music wafts in my direction. Whether squished between stadium seats at a concert or making a complete spectacle of myself standing on a bar top, I’m always ready to ‘get down on it’ whether anyone else wants to ‘get down’ or not.

My hubby is happy to grab my sagging posterior as we slow dance to Ed Sheeran around the kitchen, but in a more public setting, he is less inclined to venture onto the dance floor. It’s just not his thing. I knew formal dance lessons were never high on his list of retirement priorities.

So, imagine my delight when our son kindly gifted us a Groupon for introductory dance lessons in preparation for his wedding. He rightly thought we’d like to progress from our usual foot-to-foot shuffle for the reception dancing.

Miraculously, over three patiently but enthusiastically delivered lessons, we learned the basics of the Rumba, Hustle, and Salsa. With me in my new, comfy (ready to dance all night) wedding sandals and him in his (always shiny) penny loafers, we were ready to tackle any four-beat tune the wedding DJ may throw at us.

This being our first foray onto a public dance floor in a few years (thank you Covid,) we were relieved that we could use our basic Rumba and Hustle to sashay to pretty much any tune. Tackling the Wobble and the Cupid Slide may not have been my finest moments- but what the heck, I’m sure no one was looking at this aging hoofer.

Once home, I assumed all thoughts of dancing would be forgotten. But I was wrong! My lovely husband agreed to extend his full slate of retirement activities to include a little shuffling around the dance floor. Yes, we signed up for another package of lessons.

Now things have started to get a little more complicated with rotations, turns, and second position breaks — I love it, but it brings us back to the fundamental challenge of our uneven dancing experience. Tradition dictates the gentleman leads. But that assumes he knows where he’s going.

So, last week, as we practiced our newly learned advanced steps, I dutifully waited for the recommended signal for a turn. I was anticipating one of the standard cues- a raised hand, slight pressure on my back, a loosened grip. I was holding my breath and smiling through gritted teeth at the endless repetition of the basic steps… slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, and fighting the urge to just start the darn turn on my own.

And then, just as I was about to lose it, I noticed a subtle raising of my partner’s eyebrows, delivering a slightly questioning look- shall we?

I am a patient person. I’ve been waiting 30 years for us to sharpen up our dancing skills, so if I have to learn his technique of leading with his eyebrows, then so be it. I will gently glide into the next move and grin at my patient partner with a wink!