I love this town

For the last 10 months, I’ve been teaching Latin dance-based fitness classes at various places around town. My classes are popular among good-humored women who are 50 or older, and so when I teach, I feel like I’m sharing something joyful with extended family. We do Salsa and the Cumbia, and all sorts of dances that involve shaking our hips in a manner that is new to most folks in my class. I dance my heart out, trying to give everyone in the class permission to do the same.

A few days ago, one of my dancers said she was finally satisfied with a hip sway that she’d been trying for almost six months. Her sister, who is also in the class, asked her how she did it, and she replied that it was the same movement she used when a cow leaned against her and trapped her while she was milking. She demonstrated, thrusting her hips quickly from side to side and calling, “Move over!”

I feel like I’ve really come home.