Dance Lessons!

No pics of this one, but last night, E and I went for a ballroom dance lesson at Arthur Murray. Before the lesson, we went to Finale--my new favorite place to eat in Boston--where we shared a Caesar salad and white pizza with rustic chicken. Finale is known for its desserts, so we got creme brulee, which was topped with lots of yummy fruit, and a fair trade chocolate/whipped cream parfait that came with raspberries and cookies! Mmmm..... It was a really fun, reasonably priced romantic and classy way to start our evening.

The first thing we did at Arthur Murray was a private lesson with our teacher Lauren, who looks like an adult Peppermint Patty. She worked on the foxtrot (we learned how to walk around a corner--a useful skill so as to avoid walls) and the swing (she taught us how to do a simple turn both for me and Eric). At one point, I was supposed to reach my hand over Eric's head, and he would walk under it....that didn't work so well because my arm didn't make it that high! Ha ha ha!

After our lesson, we went to the group class with the other beginners; the leaders got in one line and the followers in the other, and then we rotated every minute or so for the hour. I found it was a really illuminating way to get 30 second soundbites of someone's life: when I was partnered with the balding older gentleman, we talked about how he planned on coming for one lesson and now has been at Arthur Murray five years; when with the man in the striped shirt, we talked about his upcoming wedding and how he feels like he's not getting any better at dancing; when accompanied by the fella in the wine-colored shirt, we discussed his engineering internship.

In the last hour, we went to the center's dance party, where we got to try out our moves. We switched partners here too, and they taught us how to correctly approach and leave a dance. So here are some tips for our wedding:

1. The leader (usually a guy) approaches the follower (usually a girl) and asks him/her to dance. They go onto the dance floor and foxtrot, cha-cha, or bolero it up!

2. At the end of the dance, the leader raises his left hand and the follower twirls under it, releasing herself from dance hold. Then they clap, each saluting the other, and the leader escorts the follower back to where he left her, thereby not leaving her stranded on the dance floor!

Can't wait for you all to practice your moves on the big day!

P.S. Did I mention that we went to our dance lesson 12 hours after the early morning bootcamp at our gym?