Do do do do do do do do...Do the Hustle

Ah...the sounds of the 1970s. Just thinking about my private lesson May 27 still gets me moving my shoulders and humming Van McCoy's famous tune. You know what I'm talking about - the hustle.

The dance made me so dizzy. Find a spot on the wall and stick with it until you face the opposite wall and then find a spot on that wall. Now switch. Switch again. And again. The basic footwork to this dance is pretty easy. It's keeping coordination while spinning around for three minutes that really gets you.

Thank goodness this wasn't the only dance we worked on during the hour.

We started off the lesson reviewing Tango style and sharpness. I needed a lot of work on my following skills, but I still couldn't help myself; I'm pretty sure the fact that I couldn't stop laughing was one of the many reasons why I had such a difficult time. Well, that and an instinctive fear that my toes were in very real danger of being stepped on.

We reviewed the five points of contact - something that I still have to remind myself of nearly a year later. And then it was time for some serious fun.

I love dancing West Coast Swing. It's really laid back and still decidedly ballroom dance. David taught me to follow the wall; the lead switches back and forth between push and pull connection. Plus, the music usually is a lot of fun.

Still, the only music that keeps running through my head at the moment was released nine years before I was born and creates images in my head of John Travolta's funny strut in Saturday Night Fever. Do do do do do do do do...Do the Hustle.