The Bolero Will Find Muscles You Forgot About...

We haven't posted to this blog for nearly 3 weeks. It's not like nothing has happened. We have traveled to St. Louis for Noel's 2nd birthday party. (We always like to be invited to grandchildren's parties.) Leslie has made another historic preservation Powerpoint presentation to Kiwanis, and I have been muddling along at work. Today we cleaned house for the first time in a month, and we are proud of our efforts. However, the rest of this post will be about yesterday's festivities.

Yesterday was another 5th Saturday round dance clinic--although this month it was on the 4th Saturday because the 5th Saturday follows Thanksgiving. Paul & Linda Robinson of Tulsa and John & Betty Stanley of Kimberling City converge on Joplin once every 3 months to hold an all-day clinic & dance. Both couples make a great sacrifice to do this for us in Joplin, and we really appreciate the opportunity to learn new dance figures. We have attended several in the past year, and all have increased our skills & confidence.

Yesterday's clinic was on the bolero. It's a Latin dance that times slllooow-quick-quick. It always starts with a slow side step. It's a workout for the legs, particularly the thighs, as it involves a lot of stretching and lowering of both legs. We had a 2 1/2 - hour lesson in the morning, then lunch, then a 2 1/4 - hour lesson in the afternoon. We learned several new moves, plus two new dances. This was followed by nearly 3 continuous hours of dancing Saturday night. By 9:15 my feet and legs had had it, but the last dance started at 9:25, and it was a jive that I requested. What was I thinking? Today I can hardly walk. Bolero is hard on you because of the stretching and lowering involved. But it is a cool dance, quite sexy looking. Below you see two pictures I took, which is why I am not in them. There were 10 student couples there, from Joplin, NW Arkansas, and NE Oklahoma. Six of the couples were Tanglefooters, the club we are in. In both pictures John & Betty Stanley are teaching. In one you can see Leslie paying close attention, like a good student.


It was an enjoyable, but grueling day. We hope to recover before the regular Monday night lessons & dance. By the way, we have about 30 student couples now, taking lessons from 7:00 - 8:15. They are a great group, very positive and enthusiastic. Also pretty talented, better than we were when we were first-time students!