A husband tells his wife, who really wants to learn to ballroom dance, “Sorry honey, I’m just not interested.”
The conversation in his head goes more like this: “If I go, I will make a fool of myself. She’ll be annoyed with me. I won’t be able to catch on and lead her. I’ll step on her toes or knock her knees. It will be a disaster. Better to just avoid the whole thing.”
Poor guys! It’s perfectly natural to be worried about being embarrassed but the dirty little secret that everyone who’s ever taken even one ballroom lesson is this: Everyone messes up. And everyone succeeds.
Men and women both step on toes. Lose the count. Fumble.
Forget whatever embarrassment happened way back when at the junior high dance. You were gangly and awkward, your voice was changing and you were embarrassed about every little thing. There was nothing wrong with you. And there’s nothing wrong with a man dancing today.
In America, men are either worried about being embarrassed if they ballroom dance or they’re concerned that someone will question their masculinity. Wrong on both counts.
Everywhere else in the world, ballroom dance is a competitive sport as important and impressive as soccer. The men who dance in other countries are virile, manly, coveted. There are gay dancers everywhere and straight ones, too, and they’re all wonderfully in shape, talented, and dedicated to their craft.
Think about how in love your wife will be with you if you take the first nervous step into the studio, to do something together. Think about how it will deepen your connection, how you’ll have a new hobby to share, how you’ll get in shape while having fun.
Nearly all the people who come into our studio just want to be comfortable, confident, social dancers. Like any other sport, ballroom dance begins with the fundamentals and once you’ve mastered them, you can enjoy the sport.
Yes, even you.