"He Fell Under Me!"

He Fell Under Me!

There I was … at "Dance-A-Rama", a dance weekend in the woods of Connecticut put on by one of my favorite contra-dance bands - Wild Asparagus. There was this really beautiful woman - also a great dancer - whom I had been pining for all weekend... But alas… she was sharing a tent with someone. So you gotta figure she's out of bounds (sigh…)

I had danced with her a couple of times, and we really enjoyed dancing together. Then at the last dance on Sunday afternoon I had booked the next dance with her, and it turns out that it's a Tango! Oh Yeah! I learned a One-Step Tango back in Michigan, and can lead (virtually) anyone through having a real dramatic and fun Tango. This is where I live!

And sure enough… it's a really great Tango, and I'm pulling out all my best moves, and she seems to know what I'm going to do even before I do! We are clicking, we are communicating, we are together… we are Dancing! It's all going very well, and then I sniffed the band getting ready for the last chord (sometimes I can outguess the band - especially if I know the tune). And so I figure I'll dip her for the classic, dramatic Tango ending...

As I begin to lower her into this way-too-cool dip I realize that I've picked the wrong knee. I had a motorcycle accident a while back, and I've got a couple of wires and staples in my right knee. Sometimes that knee cannot be counted on, and this (of all times) is one of the times that it can't be counted on… Remember how I said she could sense what I was going to do even before I did? Well, as I'm lowering her into the dip I realize that my knee is not going to hold. She sees it in my face, and I see it reflected in her face, and we both realize this is going to end badly. We're both headed for the floor...

Ohmygosh!!!…

Horrors!!!…

The gods smiled on me, though. I played football for a couple of years, and got pretty good at throwing my (admittedly small) weight around. So just as I'm about to fall on top of her I "tackle" her, by flipping her 180 degrees, with me landing on the floor, on my back, and her landing right on top of me - nose to nose. We are both stunned… She looks into my eyes and says, "You didn't fall on me … It's alright". In telling the story later she was heard to say, "He fell under me!"

Well, of course I'm as red as a beet, and she (being ever the elegant lady) offers to give me the next dance so I can "make it up to her", and regain some of my composure - which just Tangoed out the door, along with any hope I might have of ever feeling suave, sophisticated, and debonair again.

And then, There I was… a couple of years later at the first night of the Wild Asparagus, St. Croix dancing vacation. And there at the top of the floor is this beautiful woman that I know I've pined for, and danced with before… I ask her for the next dance, and she says, "sure!" As we're waiting for the caller to start the walkthrough, I say, "I know I've danced with you before, but I can't remember where or when."

And she says, "It was at Dance-A-Rama… You dipped me!"