STOMP, 2, 3 4, STOMP, 2, 3, 4

In our second group dance lesson, the Hero and I fared better than during the first group lesson. This was measured by the fewer number of times various instructors swooped in to separate us and show us what we were doing wrong. Alternatively, the fact that they interrupted us less could be taken as a measure of their belief that we were beyond help, but we choose to remain positive.


After our lesson, the Hero began to wax poetic about the waltz, which we had practiced to part of "Edelweiss." "I think of the 1, 2, 3 count as a rise," he said. "I try to rise with it and then gradually fall. It's very elegant. At least," he said, deflating somewhat from his rise, "in my MIND I'm elegant. Probably to anyone else I look like a piston: UP, down, UP, down..."


During the lesson, instructor Brandon talked about up and down movement too, in the context of bouncing during the single swing dance. "Don't bounce UP," he cautioned, as this would make our legs hurt after a while and we would definitely look like pistons. He advised us instead to bounce down, sort of crouching a bit. This would allow us to express our interpretation of the music in a non-piston-like manner.


It is also, I found, a good way to make your lower back hurt. But -- and this is an important point -- at least I did not look like a piston while hurting myself.


So doing piston moves is not really our specialty. What we personally are best at is The Stomp. This is our own version of the fast swing dances, which for most dancers consist of a marching step side to side and a "rock step" back to front. Most dancers enjoy these because the music is fun and, more important, they know how to DO the dances. Whereas to us, the swing dances are such a bewildering blur of movement that we must boil them down to one type of step: the stomp.


As long as we can hear the beat -- which is not usually a problem in songs like these -- we can do a firm, confident, and above all loud STOMP on each beat. We are not too particular about whether we are stomping from side to side or back to front at the same time, although Emily, another instructor, seems to place great importance on this. We don't hold it against her.


The Stomp is an adult variation on the Toddler Stomp, which is a dance well known to teachers of very young children. The Toddler Stomp is performed by a simple rocking back and forth from one foot to the other and is usually performed leadenly, with the toddler's feet showing extreme reluctance to be separated from the floor. 


Of course our Stomp is a much more sophisticated version. Occasionally, just to show off our flexibility and growing skill, we'll swing our arms around at the same time as we are stomping, although not necessarily in a coordinated manner. And sometimes we might even rotate and move about the floor as we are dancing, though I admit this is most likely to occur accidentally.


Our next lesson will include just Brandon and us. Alone, without all the other dancers to distract him from our technique, we may not be able to fool him. But he is very positive, and I have no doubt that after we are through with our lessons, he'll be able to tell the other instructors, truthfully, that we are two of the very best stompers he's ever seen.