My Old Journal: Dance Moves

NaBloPoMo – Day Twenty-six

As found on page 250 of my old journal:

THE “SLAP LEATHER” by me (11:27pm 02-20-94 Sun.)
This weekend I was able to go home and spend time with the gang! I was so happy. [My next sister in line to me] has just completed a PE [Physical Education] segment on line dancing and was showing me how to do some of them. (You don’t have to do them to country music…)

So, here is one of the funnest ones I learned:

The Slap Leather
Note: After #8 you will be facing the direction of the #2 arrow. REPEAT in all directions.

[see diagram below]

Click to enlarge…

The above moves look pretty complicated, but if you follow the steps, they are pretty simple. And, if you’ve ever done the dance before, once you start, it all comes back to you, even without the diagram.

Learning this dance was something I’d totally forgotten about until I read it in my journal. I’ve committed a bunch of other dances of my day to memory, but this is the only one that I wrote down.

Do you remember when the real Michael Jackson could really dance? (Not this fake, pale, make-up’d eccentric…the real Michael Jackson of 1984?) I was in fourth grade, and I could do the Moonwalk like you wouldn’t believe. Granted, I could do it best in my socks on the wood-floor, but I’d mastered it with my shoes on any surface, too! I can still do it. Behold my mad skillz, yo. (Okay, I totally said that in a deadpan voice in my head, and it was pretty funny.)

Around that same time, we had a friend who could do the “worm.” I just wasn’t as good at that, but in all honesty, I never tried very hard. It looked painful, and break-dancing just wasn’t my thing. I just wasn’t into having that much of my body touch the floor.

I wanted to be a Fly Girl. I loved watching the Pacesetters (a dance team) at our High School. In reality, my skillz were not as powerful as my enthusiasm, and I never even considered trying out for something like that. I was happy to watch from afar and try my own dance moves without the pressure of the spotlight.

When I was in college, we used to dance to the music videos on MTV, and we learned some pretty killer moves. Gee, that was back when they actually played music videos on MTV.

Wow. I feel so old.

And, before anyone asks…yes, I can still do the Macarena, perfectly, thankyouverymuch.

Even after I graduated from college, I used to spend hours on the weekends dancing at clubs with my friends. It was so much fun! I haven’t done that in a while. But, I will say, I still spend hours on the weekends dancing…only it’s in my living room and my partner isn’t even 3-feet tall yet. My, how times have changed…