Chapter 21

Danny walked into the gymnasium where the dance was being held, with Val on his arm. She was dressed in an extremely nice gown, which showed off her figure in a spectacular fashion. He was smiling broadly, although what he really wanted to do was head home and go to bed. It had been a horrible week, with finals three nights (one night with two finals back to back) and a busy schedule at high school.

He escorted Val to a table with her friends. After a quick round of ‘hellos’ and ‘how do you dos’, he headed off to fetch a beverage for her. The line at the beverage table was long. It appeared that all of the boyfriends had been sent to fetch drinks, while the girlfriends compared dresses and dates.

Danny didn’t know the other couple at the table all that well. The female half of the couple was Sun, who as Steve had once pointed out, had a bubbly friendly personality. Her boyfriend was named George and he was a quiet individual. He tended to just sit back and watch what was happening.

Steve came up and stood behind him in line. “How are you doing, Danny?”

“I’m beat.”

“You’ve had a rough week,” Steve said.

Danny nodded his head in agreement. He looked over at the table where Val, Stephanie, and Sun were animatedly talking.

“I hope that I can stay awake long enough to make it through the dances,” Danny said.

Steve said, “I know what you mean. Thank God football season is over.”

Danny said, “I had to sit through a basketball game last night. We all went out after the game. I didn’t get home until after eleven.”

“That’s right. The cheerleaders are now doing basketball.”

“Yeah. The coach was looking over at me all night. I think he was hoping that I’d change my mind, put on a uniform, and play for the team.”

“Sorry.”

“Watching our guys get clobbered like that wasn’t fun,” Danny said.

“Are you sure that you can’t play?”

“I’m positive.”

It was his turn to get served. He said, “A bottle of the sparkling water, and a bottle of plain water.”

The person behind the table put out the two bottles and said, “That’ll be four dollars.”

Danny fished out a five and handed it over. Steve said, “They went up since the last dance.”

Danny took his change and waited while Steve was served. “I wish they had coffee.”

“You drink coffee?”

“Yeah. To tell the truth, this semester has really been hard on me. I’m basically taking eight classes with four of them being college classes. That’s a full load.”

“Well, you better paste on a smile. Your girlfriend is looking at you.”

Danny smiled and said, “I’m too young and immature for this. I’m lousy boyfriend material.”

“No you’re not. She’s happy with you,” Steve said.

The two young men made their way back to the table. The gymnasium was filling up with people, the noise was getting louder, and the sense of expectation was climbing. The music was going to start soon, and a whole new dynamic would begin. Those with dates would head out to the floor, while those without dates would nervously stare across the room at members of the opposite gender.

Upon reaching the table, Danny placed the sparkling water in front of Val and said, “I brought you something to drink.”

“Thank you. That’s so nice of you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Danny said.

The band got on stage and started going through some pre-show activities. Danny looked over at the band and said, “It looks like they are about to start the music.”

“I can’t wait,” Val said.

Danny said, “I don’t know if I told you this, but I don’t know how to fast dance.”

“It’s easy,” Val said. “You just get out and move with the music.”

“I don’t know any moves,” Danny said.

Steve leaned over and said, “Just kind of stand there tapping your foot and moving your arms like you’re doing the cha-cha-cha.”

“Are you kidding?”

“That’s what I do.”

Danny said, “I thought your mother taught you how to dance.”

“She did. She taught me to do the box step and the Waltz. In terms of fast dances, she had me dance to the radio. She would show me different ways to move to the music.”

“I don’t know any ways to move to the music,” Danny said.

Val said, “We’ll do a couple of the line dances. It won’t take you long to pick up the steps.”

“Oh, joy,” Danny said looking worried.

Val said, “Don’t look so worried. You’ll do just fine.”

Steve said, “Don’t worry about it. Everyone watches the ladies dance except if some guy is doing the spastic chicken.”

“What’s that?” Danny asked.

Everyone at the table laughed. Sun said, “It’s when a guy is moving his arms and legs like he stuck his finger in an electric socket.”

“Oh. I’ll try to avoid that,” Danny said.

Val said, “We’ve made all the arrangements, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“What arrangements?” Danny asked.

“Mrs. Shapiro said that the band was going to play two fast numbers, then a slow one, then two more fast dances, and then the Waltz. We’re going to dance the first two fast numbers while George and Sun watch the table. Then Stephanie and I need to change clothes. George and Sun will dance until they do the waltz. While they’re dancing, you and Steve can watch the table.”

“Okay,” Danny said. “Why do you need to change clothes?”

“We’re dancing the Waltz.”

“And?” Danny asked since that didn’t answer his question.

“We wanted to wear gowns that were more appropriate for the Waltz,” Stephanie said.

Steve said, “I didn’t know I was supposed to wear something different to dance the Waltz with you.”

“Your clothes are just fine,” Val said speaking to both young men.

“The music is starting,” Val said.

Danny said, “May I have the pleasure of this dance?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Val answered.

They went out to the dance floor. Danny looked around at how the other guys were dancing and just tried to imitate them. The fact was, all of the guys were more or less moving stiffly. It was pretty easy for him to move around stiffly. He glanced over at Steve and saw that he was moving pretty well on the dance floor.

The women, on the other hand, were making all kinds of moves. Val was moving, gyrating, moving her arms, and feet, and moving her whole body. Danny thought she was spectacular. He felt that she deserved a better dance partner. Watching her convinced him that Mrs. Shapiro was going to have to teach him how to fast dance.

There was about a ten second break between songs. Before he knew it, he was dancing the second song. He just kept doing what he had been doing during the first song. He looked around and all of the guys were doing just the same. The women were making completely different moves.

Danny moved around awkwardly until the music came to an end. There was a slight pause and a slow song came on. He took Val’s hand and led her back to the table. George and Sun were rising to go dancing even before they got there. At the table, Val kissed Danny and then headed off to the women’s locker room with Stephanie.

“I don’t like fast dancing,” Danny said.

Steve said, “My mother used to have me fast dance to music on the radio. I got to where I could do it.”

“I’m going to ask Mrs. Shapiro to teach me how to do it,” Danny said.

Steve shook his head and said, “There is no ‘right’ way to do it. It is kind of like improv; you make it up as you go.”

“I’m not good at that,” Danny said. “I like to think things through.”

What made it so bad, was that he had actually been doing quite well in the dance class. The difference was that there were fixed steps to the dances he was learning in dance class that he could perform. His job was to perform them well. That was easy for the Waltz and the Tango. Salsa dancing had been a bit more effort to learn, but at least there were some steps to it and a set of moves. Unfortunately, the steps of Salsa didn’t seem to transfer over to fast dancing.

Steve said, “I guess I actually prefer the Waltz. I know what I’m doing.”

“Same here. Everyone says to move to the music, but I can’t correlate what move I’m supposed to make with what the music is doing. I’m more comfortable with the Waltz and the Tango with the highly stylized steps. Salsa dancing isn’t quite as clear cut.”

“I know what you mean,” Steve said.

“I was watching Val dance. She’s amazing. She really does deserve a better dance partner for these fast dances,” Danny said.

Steve said, “I really liked how Stephanie was dancing.”

“I don’t want to sound sexist, but I think women are just genetically wired to dance to fast music like that,” Danny said.

The two guys turned their attention to the dance floor. There was one guy flailing his arms and legs around while at the same time, he was jumping up and down. Danny watched him for a bit and then asked, “Is that the spastic chicken?”

“Yep.”

“That looks ridiculous.”

“That’s right.”

“At least I didn’t do that,” Danny said.

“The women should be back by now,” Steve said. He looked in the direction of the locker room for women. The door opened and the two women stepped out. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He nudged Danny and said, “They’re coming this way.”

Danny turned to look in the direction Steve was looking. Then his eyes fell on Val. He took a deep breath. She looked like a million dollars in the formal long satin dress that was absolutely made for dancing the Waltz. It was a rich blue that fit tight around the top, and was full from hips to floor.

Danny and Steve both stood to welcome the pair back to the table. The timing was just right. The current song quit playing. The whole crowd booed when the band announced that they were going to play a recording of a waltz. As they shuffled off the dance floor, the two couples moved towards it.

The music started and the two couples began dancing. They flowed around the dance floor. The gowns worn by the women swirled and moved with each step. The gymnasium got quiet as people watched them dance. While many of the students there considered the Waltz to be one of those old geezer dances, they all had to admit that there was a sense of elegance and style to it that was missing in more modern dance styles. The female contingent all sighed watching them. The waltz is a romantic dance.

While the fast dances had seemed to last forever, the waltz seemed to be over before Danny knew it. He had been comfortable out on the dance floor. There was applause from the women who had been watching, when they ended the dance.

“That was fun,” Danny said while escorting Val back to their table.

“That was dancing,” Val said.

They reached the table and sat down. Val immediately took a long sip of her sparkling water.

George, who hadn’t said anything up to that point, said, “I wish we had known they were going to play the waltz. We could have made arrangements and joined you on the dance floor.”

“You dance the waltz?” Steve asked looking surprised.

Smiling broadly, Sun said, “His mother is a dance instructor. He’s a very good dancer.”

“She made sure that I knew how to dance,” George said. “I learned them all – Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Slowfox, Quickstep, Samba, Cha-cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, Jive, East Coast Swing, and Bolero. She’s teaching me the Polka, now.”

“The Polka?” Danny asked surprised by that particular dance.

“You never know when it might come in handy,” George said.

Danny nodded his head. He knew there were parts of the country where the Polka was still a very popular music style. He couldn’t remember if it was Michigan or Wisconsin, but one of them had the Polka as the state dance. If George ever did business in that area of the country, he’d at least be able to dance to the local music.

Val said, “In about eight songs, they’re going to play a Tango.”

“Oh, the Tango,” Sun said with a broad grin. She grabbed onto George’s arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. In a voice that practically cooed, she said, “I love to Tango.”