Passion

Joe Posnanski posed the question "What is your passion?"  He embarked on a project with a writer friend to identify and write about Passion Across America.  Joe is an award winning national sportswriter, one of the best in the country.  But anyone who has read Joe's work understands he is equally, if not more, astounding when he writes about his family, his passions, everyday ordinary things.  But I digress.

In an article he wrote, he asked what the reader's passion was.  I gave it some thought, turns out it didn't require all that much thought.  Once I eliminated my children - not because they aren't my passion, they are, but that's going to be everyone's answer either because it's true or the respondent thinks that should be the answer.  So I took it a step outside of the default obvious.  What is my passion that is mine and not society's expectation?

At a younger time in my life it would have been baseball and the Chicago Cubs in specific.  They still are an interest, but due to life experiences and changes, they are no longer a passion.

Coming in a close second is the a capella group, Straight No Chaser.  Actually in a tangential way we will soon discover, they are connected to my absolute passion.  A few quick words about SNC.  They are nothing short of incredible, awesome, unbelievably brilliant.  There are a few posts on here extolling the sheer - I don't have the proper over the top adjective to provide right now - of their music and live performances.  After further review I realized that I am obsessed with SNC.  They are my obsession.  And they introduced me to my passion.

Dancing.

"Dancing?" you say?  Yes dancing.  It has completely saturated my soul.  I've tried to figure out why and I'm  not sure I have my finger on it yet.  There are contributing factors to it, but I don't know that I've nailed the single, specific reason.

How did it start?  Well it goes back to Straight No Chaser.  I was watching videos of their tour and while I can't sing to save my life, I watched these guys not only sing but put on an entertaining show full of choreographed moves.  I remember thinking, "Man I would love to move that smoothly and have that rhythm."  That thought moved to "I should take dance lessons."

So I googled dance studios in my area and found that I passed one (Dance Fun USA - Aurora, IL) virtually every day in the normal course of my errands.  Who knew?  So I stopped in, signed up for their introductory package and after the first group lesson I was hooked.

Since I didn't know what I didn't know, we (my instructor Peggy and I) decided to cover a variety of dances instead of learning just one.  We've dug into Swing, Latin and Ballroom.  And while I'm perfectly inept at all of them, that in no way reflects the talent and abilities of Peggy and Amy (another unbelievable instructor I've coerced to teach me).  They are phenomenally talented, creative and supportive in their teaching efforts.  But even they are limited to the abilities of their students.

Dancing is my passion.  I have learned (with the help of Peggy and Amy) how every day things are a part of dance.  It's nothing that they have pointed out specifically but through their instruction and breaking down of dance steps and moves, it becomes so blatantly obvious that much of our day is a form of dance.

In partner dancing you have a lead and follow.  The lead suggests a move and (hopefully) the follow agrees.  So I've noticed similar parallels in every day life.  When I drive and I put on  my turn signal, I'm indicating what I want to have happen next.  That's an obvious one.  But even more subtle, driving in a parking lot if I move my car slightly to the right, I'm indicating to the oncoming car I would like to have them pass me on my left.

If you're standing next to someone and need to reach around them to get something, if you nudge them to the right so you can get around on the  left, you're leading (suggesting) that they move to the right.

I fall asleep with songs running through my head and to those songs I am envisioning the moves Peggy and Amy taught me or I'm trying to create something new.

When driving to a destination for work, I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten in the car thinking "Ok, I need to turn right at the next intersection.  Then a song will come on the radio and I will start dancing the song in my head, thinking of moves I know or moves that I could try.  When I get to the intersection I've turned left instead of right or driven straight through.

One time on a country road I needed to turn right about a mile down the road.  I started dancing a song in my head and eventually I looked around wondering where I was.  Turns out I was about a mile and a half past the road I needed to turn on.

Since I began lessons I have read numerous articles about how dancing helps people on so many levels.  It delays the aging process.  It improves balance, blood flow.  It provides social interaction and human connection.  And I don't care about any of that.  Those are all ancillary benefits.  Certainly huge benefits, but that's not why I dance.

Why do I?  I'm not sure.  I know Peggy, Amy, the other instructors and the environment at the Dance Fun USA studio is a big part of it.  I've been exposed to other instructors briefly and it wasn't fun.  Had I walked into another studio almost three years ago, I may not feel the same way.

Or maybe I would.  Maybe dancing has always been my passion and I would have found the proper, supportive, creative environment eventually.  Fortunately for me it happened on Day One.

Another benefit I've heard about dancing is increased confidence.  I can totally see where that makes sense.  But so far, three years in, I haven't experienced it.  Oh, when a song plays I'm confident I know what dance goes with the music and I know the basic steps to that dance.  Peggy and Amy have taught me well.  But I have not found the confidence to go out to a club and walk up to a perfect stranger and ask them to dance.  Have I EVER done it?  Sure. But not often.  If someone asks me to dance, I'm there and will do my level best to give them an enjoyable experience.  But, so far, I'm not comfortable in my abilities to ask someone to join me on the dance floor with the expectation of having them enjoy themselves.

Every week I work with Peggy and Amy I try to learn something new or polish something I already know.  Often times I feel like I'm regressing instead of progressing.  They insist I'm making strides of improvement, but I'm not convinced.

Yet with the trepidation of asking someone to dance and feeling like I'm getting worse instead of better, I can't get enough of it.  I think about it every day.  I practice in my kitchen, in the parking lot waiting to pick my son up from school, in the grocery store aisles.

What's the end game?  Winning a competition?  No, nothing that easy to identify.  Less than a year into my dance experience I was at a ballroom watching an amazing lead dance with multiple follows, whisking them all across the floor.  The follows all walked off the floor with smiles that would challenge the brilliance of the sun.  At that point I knew my dancing goal.  To make my follow feel beautiful.  Will I ever accomplish that?  Most likely not.  But it's been said that a dog that catches its tail stops chasing.

What's your passion?