I've been wanting to dance. Like really really wanting to dance. Wanting to lose my mind in dance kind of dance. Forget about everyone and everything for a spell dance.
It's been a while.
I posted an open question on Facebook looking for recommendations for a club in the south bay; I'd be going with Raul (Nicole's man and my friend of 13 years now), and it wouldn't make sense for us to go up to SF, logistically. And old coworker from Barnes and Noble suggested a once a month electro-house DJ party hosted by a friend of his to coincide with downtown San Jose's SOFA district 1st Fridays art walk. It sounded pretty promising.
Raul agreed, as did my friends Kenneth and Dave and new friend Jen. Kenneth brought John, his longtime friend who is visiting from Fresno, and we made a group of it for
Today's New Activity: The Workout
I'm not sure why this monthly dance party is called The Workout. I guess the idea is that it does turn out to be quite the cardio routine, if you're doing it right that is.
I was super excited about tonight until I visited the photos on The Workout's Facebook page and noticed that nobody in the crowd looked a day over 23. I started to get all self-conscious, thinking I'd be too old, be dressed wong, look spastic on the dance floor, etc, etc. But Raul's and Kenneth's insistence that they didn't care about the demographic gave me the little push I needed, and when we got there I saw that it didn't matter anyway. Not only were there plenty of, ahem, slightly older folks there, the place was so dark that a lot went undetermined, and there was a wide range of attire.
Anyway, who CARES about all that stuff, right? We were there to dance, so the details didn't really seem to matter once we got there.
I was a bit shy at first, given that when we got there there was exactly one man--one very high man--dancing all by himself. Raul was game to be next out there, but I needed just a *bit* more of a crowd to be wooed. Three people later, I said what the hell, let's go.
And two and a half hours later, sweaty and exhausted, we stepped back in to the cool night air and straight over to La Victoria, the only possible place to go. What happened in between there was nothing more or less than a lot of moving to music. Feeling not thinking, moving not thinking, letting go and not thinking, for once.
I highly recommend it.
Raul and I plan to make a habit of getting to this little shindig whenever we can. Every time I dance like that I'm appalled to think of all the time I've wasted NOT dancing like that. It is so very good for my soul and state of mind. A good release and an energizer, all rolled into one. If only the gym could be this much fun...
Zumba.
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