*****This happened in January, but I had so much fun I wanted to post it on my new blog!*****
I had a fabulous day dancing on Saturday! Here is a picture of Jonathan Roberts and I this past weekend. Jonathan Roberts is one of the professional dancers on the TV show Dancing with the Stars. He was most recently paired with Marie Osmond.
I have been wanting (needing) to get back into dance. I haven't had the opportunity to do much dancing since I moved to Arizona, and I need to get some exercise! Anyway, I received an e-mail that a dancer from Dancing with the Stars was going to be in town doing some workshops and I thought that it would be fun (as long as I didn't make a fool of myself because I am so rusty)! So I decided to try and hopefully just have a good time.
I got to the studio and there were about 40 or 50 people taking the class. The first workshop was waltz. I was flattered when Jonathan asked me to help him demonstrate part of the dance. The class went on and he asked me a few more times to dance with him! I was just hoping that I wouldn't make any huge mistakes!
At the end of the waltz session he asked me to do the whole "routine" that he taught us so the class could see it and they could get it on video tape. This is when I totally went blank and forgot the whole routine! I was horrified!!!! I asked him to start over again and he said OK. I was waiting for him to stop and completely start again but he just did another basic step and then started right into it. I wasn't expecting it, so for the second time I made a fool of myself! It was so embarrassing!!!! Especially because I was doing it fine before and it was being video taped and stored for all eternity! Needless to say, after that workshop I went up to him and apologized for my poor dance show!
We had a short break and then we had another dance lesson. This time it was cha cha. Now, I do not have much dance experience in cha cha but I do know the basics and do enjoy doing it, although I don't have the whole Cuban motion thing down yet. I was thinking to myself, "Please do not ask me to help you during this session." Well, when he did, I couldn't really turn him down so I did the best I could. During this class he asked me several times as well to dance with him (fun but nerve racking, especially since it had been roughly a year since I had been dancing)!
At the end of the cha cha lesson he asked me to help him again. Of course I went, but while I was walking to the center of the dance floor he said, "Your name is Jennifer right?" I must have given him the strangest look because no one there knew who I was! I had been dancing at this studio three times before, but like I said it had been a LONG time! I slowly said, "Yes," still trying to figure out how he knew my name. Then he said that he picked me because he wanted to throw me of guard and show the class different ways of doing the swivel moves he taught us. I thought to myself, "Great, now this time I don't even have a CLUE what he wants me to do!" I do know how to follow, so that is what I did. I don't know if I did exactly what he wanted me to do, but I did the best I could! At the end of the syncopations he also mentioned that you could do it faster. Then we did four swivels, a quick 360 turn, and a head whipping dip. It was SO FUN! The whole class applauded at that demonstration. At least I hope I redeemed myself a little! ;-)
I never did figure out how Jonathan knew my name. The only thing I could come up with is that he asked the dance studio owner who I was. I know that he recognized me because I have danced with him before, but I am sure he didn't remember my name (unless he has an unbelievable memory). The owner must have looked at the dance registration and I must have been the only name he didn't really know. CRAZY!!! During the three hours of dancing I was the person that he asked to dance with him the most. I was extremely FLATTERED! I don't know if he liked dancing with me or the studio owner asked him to dance with me so that I would start taking dance lessions at his facility!!! Either way I was on cloud nine!
