Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Dance Seniorita, Dance.

The pulsating rhythm of Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5 filled the hall. All ten of us, arrayed in two rows, danced in unison behind our instructor. Tita Nora, looking youthful at 80 years and despite her torso being slightly bent perhaps from scoliosis was still the epitome of grace in executing the Latin dance. Some ten minutes earlier, she patiently showed us the basic steps that we would be doing.


That was the start of our dancercise routine for that morning. Cynthia and I learned that our village association was holding free dance exercises every Monday and Wednesday from 8 to 9 am at our Village Hall. We both agreed that it would be a good idea to put our sixty-plus year-old bodies to some rigorous yet fun filled activity. The hot summer days brought on a certain amount of lassitude to our daily lives. It was time for some change.


The mambo routine was followed by a cha-cha number. Once again Tita Nora first showed us the steps then came the music. One..two.cha-cha-cha. I looked at my co-participants and felt a twinge of awkwardness. I was the only guy around! However, inasmuch as the other ladies were all senior-itas and didn't seem to mind my presence, I decided to continue swaying to the cha-cha beat.


After one hour Cynthia and I were drowning in sweat. It seemed that every single pore of our skins were oozing with perspiration. And it felt good! We thanked Tita Nora and promised to return to the next session. 


We walked slowly home, our hearts beating to the captivating music of the mambo and cha-cha-cha.