Shall We Dance?

So it's really late & I probably should be in bed right now, especially since I have a big day tomorrow. I'm going to Bethel on a boat. It's super cold & I have to really outsmart mother nature with layers, but I'm so excited. Which makes me think that I'll have a lot to write about after tomorrow. But something happened tonight that I wanted to write about. So I figured the time is now!

Tonight was a fundraiser for Search & Rescue involving fiddling. I had no idea what to expect but my students were telling me it's so fun & I can't miss it. And all that for a good cause! There was tons of talk about dancing. So my roommate and I go.

They were setting up the music (which turned out not to be the groups that were supposed to come due to weather) and the kids are running around & everybody's talking about wanting to dance. There's only a couple of adults and the crowd is mostly elementary kids. Let's just say the 1st & 2nd grade teachers were very popular.

A couple of songs are played and the kids are bopping to the music, asking us to dance with them. I'm picturing the type of dance I'm used to. Where you stand around and just move to the music. No problem! Let's go.

I have a group of kindergartners and first graders and we are in a circle holding hands and just dancing. And that's when I look around.....there were several kids dancing around me.....the two step. Yep, kids were in partners dancing to two step.....one fifth grade boy was dancing it beautifully with his third grade partner. They didn't just move to the music...

Now here's where I felt a little funny, I don't know how to two step. But I figured the fifth grade boy would probably show me how.

Who needs a fifth grader when you have a first grader? The other girls in my group ran off and there was just one first grader left. I told her I didn't know the steps and she took my hands and led me through the two step. Have you ever been led in the two step by a first grader? There's a lot of missteps and it felt more like a four step, but it was the cutest thing ever.

My night would have been awesome just for that moment alone.....but there was more to come.

So there's a young lady who is severely mentally handicapped. She's very sweet but she's a lot to take at times.

Well, this young lady had asked me if I'd dance with her earlier in the night. I said yes thinking we'd just stand around and dance. I was feeling uncomfortable dancing the two step with her. I didn't really know the steps, I didn't know if that would be socially okay.....I was just really out of my comfort zone.

But since I said yes, she was counting on it. She waited while I danced with the little girls, she followed me while I helped some people set up for the event, and she sat next to me while I sat down for a bit. But of course, I couldn't disappoint her. Comfort zone or no comfort zone, she'd be heartbroken.

So I tell her, "Okay, ________, let's go." And we are the only two people dancing. I felt like the whole room was watching me while we took hands.

Have you ever seen pure joy radiating from someone? This girl 1) knew how to dance and 2) LOVED it. She was so happy dancing and it shone from her in a way I had never seen. It shone from her smile, her eyes...I mean she just beamed. She kept looking at my roommate so happy. Sweat started running down her face and she just kept on dancing and smiling. She never said a word but just danced around the gym with this huge smile on her face. Even if I stumbled the step, she'd laugh a little and continue on.

I totally forgot about the other people in the room. A couple of the older elementary girls had partnered up and began dancing around us. I felt guilty that I had felt uncomfortable before, because I had never seen such joy dancing. It was a simple step but she threw in a couple of spins just for fun. When the song was over she clapped and went back to sit down....never saying a word.

This night had some moments I'll treasure. I wish I had done a better job of describing her joy. I've seen a lot of dancing, but I've never seen a dance like this. I'm so glad I danced with her. Both my two step partners touched my heart....and taught me a new dance......