I'll dance like an Elephant!

I read a blog post*and that gave me the inspiration to write this:) I have always been a useless dancer:) and I mean it, all the talk of people flowing with the music and letting the music flow over them might as well be for a different clan, music and I dont click in the way of dance.

A few weeks ago I was playing table tennis with a chinese friend and she was trying to teach me how to serve her way which I can tell you was really smooth, she asked me to bend my knees and try to synchronize my bending with the release of the ball like a 'dance' I guess. After several failed attempts she blurts out 'excuse me but I thought blacks were supposed to be able to dance', I smiled at her and remarked that this particular black babe has no musical genes in her bones!

I have always loved to dance but my grotesque attempts to imitate Michael Jackson or my Niger Delta/Yoruba sisters wriggling movements which involve the use of all parts of their bodies has earned me the most humiliating laughter so that I conserve my energy and dance for the four walls of my bedroom.But if you earn a place as a trusted friend, I'll probably honour you with a dance.

I don't know why I was blessed with a seeming lack of well coordinated movements, for I love to dance. I see myself in my head stepping on the dance floor with seeming ease and of course well synchronized movements of my arms and legs and all those other parts my people use to dance:). I guess its a combination of shyness,the awe I experience when I'm in the presence of excellent dancers and heavy legs.

My mum always recounts the tale of our exploits as children with glee. We were hauled off to ballet class at tender ages. I guess there was a thought that maybe the 'no dance gene' had skipped this generation of kids:) Anyway on our first day of classes, we were asked what sort of animals we wanted to dance like, Im sure other children chose the most graceful animals to imitate, swans, antelopes etc. Even dogs and cats can be considered graceful in some ways. When it came to our turn to announce ours, my twin and I piped up in our little voices 'we want to dance like elephants':))

Im not sure what our teachers thought but I'm sure it was obvious that they were stuck with trouble. As I don't know any ballet dances now, it is obvious that we did not last long in those classes. Elephants don't dance and all their movements are heavy and cumbersome, so children who want to dance like them would probably be better watching others dance than be dancers.

I attend a church where we are not enjoined to 'bere mole and mujojo' thank goodness so I have been saved from disgracing myself and being described in the song 'To ba le jo, oti solorun ni gbese' as the ungrateful one who refuses to praise the living God by dancing like David did:)

Anyway if I have to dance in Public, one caveat move out of my way for when I dance, Ill dance like an elephant:)
*The blogpost that inspired this post can be found here- http://www.bagucci.com/2009/11/strictly-not-dancing/

Written when I was unable to sleep, so it may read like the writings of an Insomniac!