Dance began to be important in my life when I was in high school in the 1950's and didn't dance, because I believed I couldn't dance.  I'd tap my feet and sway with the music - wanting, desperately, to join my friends in, especially, the Jitterbug and Cha Cha. But, every time I tried to dance, I'd wind up feeling clumsy and incompetent.  So, I stayed away from dances and consoled myself with being more physically competent on roller skates at "Skating Parties" (popular back then and only a fond memory now).

        Dance continued to be important in my life because of the envy I continued to feel when watching others dance - at weddings, parties, or other events - and the desire to join them, especially in those elegant, partnered, ballroom dances like the Waltz, Jitterbug, and Cha Cha.

        Enter Jeff - my partner in crime, life, and love, and (guess what?) another person who believed that he couldn't dance!  Three years ago, after years of my suggesting that we sign up for ballroom dance lessons, he finally agreed.  We enrolled in a "Never Danced Before" class - which we would wind up taking not once, but twice!

        Our confidence as dancers has continued to increase, and we have moved on to more challenging and rewarding classes.  Last summer, we found ourselves dancing at a friend's wedding, and this year we've begun to seek out other "out of class" ballroom dance opportunities.

        Now, dance is important in my life for all the right reasons; it's become a journey away from past negativity and feelings of incompetence and into a new and wonderful connection with my favorite partner in dance, and life.  The journey includes outings to preceding the healthy, enjoyable exercise, and fun, of learning to dance together.

        When I was a child, I remember seeing a wonderful movie from 1945, "Anchors Aweigh," featuring the fantastic dancer Gene Kelly.  Mr. Kelly played a character who meets an animated mouse (Jerry from the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons).  The mouse character is a king who wouldn't dance, and, more importantly, one who believed that he couldn't dance.  In a famous segment, featuring the very early mix of live and animated action, Gene Kelly's character gently encourages, and the teaches, this reluctant mouse to dance.  When they both are, finally, actually dancing, the mouse exclaims, with unmitigated joy, "Look at me!  I'm dancing!"

        At times, now, on a dance floor with Jeff, when we're in the groove and executing some ballroom dance moves we've recently learned, I find myself smiling and (silently) shouting, like that mouse king who believed he couldn't dance, "Look at me!  I'm dancing!"  And that joyful feeling I get when we dance, more than anything else, is why dance is important in my life.

Merrily K. Swoboda