...and the Pursuit of Dancingness

Hmm, What’s new today? Another day off finally and time to think. It’s sunny outside and above freezing, in a radical departure from the oodles of snow that have been the norm here. Maybe I’ll sunbathe in my long johns.

As is my way, today will be full of updates regarding the seedy life I lead.

First off, dancing.
This is the only weekend day I’m off for a while and I haven’t been dancing in over a month. I decided on my last birthday (or thereabouts) that life was not worth living if I was not going to go dancing once a month until I die, lack of swing dancing venues be damned, so I’ve actively pursued it since then.

Going dancing is a delicate cultural pursuit particularly from a dating perspective. 1)If I go by myself, I’ll never go and even if I did I’m not sure how much mojo I would muster. I’d work it out I guess but I’d still have to pay my cover charge and at least 1-2 drinks before the men figured out someone needed to take care of me for the evening. I’m thinking 2 with the cluelessness of men here.

2)If I go with women, we’ll have an awesome time. But then we have to find men to dance with at the club, which can be a sketchy pursuit at times, although now that I’m the ripe old age of ___ I feel entirely unthreatened by Velcro Boys who can’t seem to get off me because I can always find a way to get off of them. Also, there’s no guarantee that anyone’s buying our drinks if we don't take men along. Finally, I don’t have that many girlfriends and the ones I do have are usually gainfully busy, so it’s a tough sell to get them to go dancing.

3)If I go with men, I have someone paying for my drinks whether he dances or not. If it’s a real date I won't pay cover either, although if we're not clearly on a date I should be prepared to pay mine (and then be very gracious when he pays instead). If he is a good dancer, by which I mostly mean willing and reasonably confident in his abilities, then I have someone to dance with all night. The problem with the good dancer possibility is that he might expect me to dance with him all night. I’m not going to lie; I like dancing with different people through the evening. Now if I am with a REALLY good dancer, he will know it’s more fun to dance with different people and he will do it too. Also if he's a good dancer, I’m way less likely to want to dance with someone else.

I went dancing at Halloween and the guy I was with was not some super dancer but he was willing and having a great time so it was fun anyway. If I’m with someone passive who says he’ll go dancing but then doesn’t dance, I’m still going dancing. But then he’s stuck watching me dance hard with other men, which seems kind of lame. I don’t play when I’m dancing. Just because you’re not on the floor doesn’t mean I’m going to dance any less dirty. If you want some action you need to get up on it.

The thing is you never know which type you’re going out with until you’re on the dance floor, and by then you’re already in it for an evening.