Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Five - Do You Love Me?

Original by the Contours




I could not dance.  Yes, I'm Hispanic, and I should have that inner rhythm, but I seriously could not dance.  I remember going to dances in high school and just sort of moving along with the rhythm, but I didn't really dance.  And, my good friend in college laughed at me during that freshman year whenever I tried dancing because, well, I sucked.

During that summer between college freshman and sophomore year, I started going to 18 and over dance clubs with my friend P.  He challenged me to not care about what anyone thought as we danced.  And, how we danced.  We went to various clubs from local small clubs to larger LA beach clubs.  And, we danced and danced and danced.

I watched the other people around me and started to copy their moves.  And, as I did so, I gained a lot of confidence.  I remember once being at a club with no one dancing and P and I being the first ones on the dance floor to get the night started.  Yeah, that was fun.

When I came back to college that fall, I remember my friend asking me where I had finally learned to dance.  I told her about going to dance clubs all summer.  "Dirty Dancing" came out later during that year, and it soon became like a theme song for me, because I remembered the time when I couldn't dance.  Plus, being that mom had listened to 60's music while I was growing up, I actually knew how to "mash potato" and how to "do the twist."  Do you...?