Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Insight on Instep

Last week I started back to class. Not with a dog, but as a gopher. I knock on doors to nowhere, dole out retrievables, and smile nonstop watching these incredible dogs and their selfless trainers.

Some years ago I attended a wedding polka. Not knowing the dance steps, I sat on the sidelines mesmerized by the fluid movement of the dancers to each foreign call. Watching the dogs as Eileen called M & M positions (so-called because the dog's movement from position to position creates an M), the memory was revived. Instead of swirling skirts, swirling tails. But the gracefulness and synchronicity were the same. Each partner in step with the other.

And I marveled again at the beauty and intricacy of the dance.

3 comments:

Peggy said...

You can't polka? Really? Weren't you paying attention in gym class during the winter indoor dance module?

Speak(er) said...

I'm not that much older than you - but my gym classes were never co-ed!

I know this may be hard to believe, but with all the athletic gifts my folks passed on, rhythm wasn't included. Dang!

Anonymous said...

in fargo, the presentation sisters, most of them right off the boat from the auld sod, danced their brogans off in the cloister, but they didn't think we students needed to know this kind of thing. our religion classes were sprinkled with their "true" stories of young women dancing with the devil (always very handsome and suave).

but you don't need to go to skool to learn how. and you sure as hey don't need to be GRACEFUL or have RHYTHM. the polka, especially the polish version they dance in n. wisconsin, is mostly hopping around. so next time you have to stop in a roadside cafe on your way to the woods, ask the waitress to have them put on a polka if there's no juke box, grab one of your kids, and just start hopping. nobody will care what you look like.

IT'S FUN!!!