The Balboa Park Dancers

"Now Goge, put left foot back before you slide."
 I will try it again Toko.
 The sweet Japanese lady had more patience than a anyone I had ever seen. I never did get the hang of the fox trout but that did not stop her.
  "At lest you get excize."
   The Balboa Bay Club meets every Friday and Sunday evening. Tonight over two hundred showed up to learn the Foxtrot and Salsa. The groups form inside the ballroom. There is beginning, intermediate and advanced.
 I  plunked down my twenty dollars to become a member of the Ballroom Park Dancers. Three dollars is all I will need for admission from now on.  My objective is to put my name up there with other greats: Fred Astaire, Kelly and  Ginger Rodgers and etc
   Tonight I decided to move up to the intermediate class and let Mr. Cup Cake work with the less talented. My instructor now was Mr. Swiveler. Like me, he wore black pants and a blue shirt to go with his blond hair and great personality.
   The smallish Japanese girl tried to help me with the Foxtrot . "Count four steps and put back foot back...that better." I can't remember having more fun. My shoes no longer fit and no longer did I perspire profusely. I was getting myself into ballroom shape. I thought now about saving a couple hundred and buying dancing shoes.
  I sat in the corner to take a break. A lean Japanese man scribbled notes on a pad of paper. Ease dropping, numbers and lines marked his notepad. Cameras from two others filmed some of his steps while Mr. Swiveler move his  mentor,  hips in and out - as well as up and down. He was poetry in motion-and I wanted it.
   One Japanese dancer was instructing her awkward husband how to move his hips. He just did not get the hang of it. Slogans like "touch heal", "bend knee" "half turn" and of course "swivel your hips" were called out by our mentor.
  After the hour lesson we took a water break before entertaining the Salsa. Tired earlier, now I felt wound up like the old Elgen watches of the forties. Salsa was a lot easier for me. I found steps from one dance crossed over to another. My body felt fine tuned like that old Elgen 50 dollar watch.
  The free dancing began later, but I felt too tired now to continue. After all, this was my second weekend night of lessons. The next Friday dance is Party night. Finger food, and dips is also on the ballroom menu. Cruisin is looking forward to seeing ya. Remember, Park Blvd and make a left on Presidents Way to get there.