Summer Ball

If you have checked out my facebook profile at all you may have noticed that my status not too long ago was about being sore from dancing the night away. Here is the story you have all been waiting for...okay, I'm just kidding, but not about the dancing. I think Tina is the only one I know who actually checks up on me on both this blog and facebook, so Tina this is FYI.

To start off, this is the only picture from the evening:

Annalisa, Anna (not a typo), and Alyssa

I accidentally left my camera in Andrew's diaper bag which went with him to our friend's house at the start of the ball.

At the end of the music camp week, our church hosted its Summer Ball. So a ball involves dancing, which Doug and I just don't do. We attended another dance a few weeks before and got to see what these balls are all about which was a good introduction for us. The Thursday evening before the ball we spent two hours in our church's basement practicing the dances that would be called out. We learned the Spanish Waltz (although the waltz part was quite lacking for us), Posties Jig, Virginia Reel, and others. I was worn out after the second dance and I realized that I am in great need of exercise. Anyway, the ball was held out of doors at a park. It was fun dancing on the grass surrounded by trees. The live band was good and everybody pitched in to provide treats. Annalisa even danced three of the dances - one with Doug, one with a boy from church, and our sweet friend Kelly (a guy, actually a single man, I should say) asked to dance with one of the girls which ended up being Annalisa. Alyssa spent most of the evening with all the little boys playing on a rock, but managed to get in a dance with her daddy. Doug and I had a blast and woke up with sore legs the next morning.

One particular highlight from the evening was watching our friends who brought their baby (just a couple months old) and put him in a front carrier that reminded me of a pouch while enjoying quite a few of the dances.

Unfortunately, the dance ended earlier than planned since a thunderstorm was coming in. I was pretty freaked out by it and was trying to stay calm for the girls. It was funny - we were dancing and the lightning started. Annalisa was scared and Doug and I were just laughing and telling her, "Oh, you don't need to worry about it unless you hear thunder," as thunder starts crashing.

So, in case you're wondering why our church would put on a ball, the point is that they are trying to recapture a Christian view of dancing, so obviously this was a far cry from any skanky dancing you might see at a public school prom. There are guidelines we try to follow, like singles can only dance with another single of the opposite sex for two dances unless they are engaged to be married. Also, guys have to take responsibility to make sure the ladies have dance partners. And girls can say no to anybody without any explanation and the guy cannot press the girl for a reason if she declines his request for a dance.

Of course whenever I think of balls, I always think of the conversation between Sir William Lucas and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice:

...Sir William thus began, "What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished societies."

"Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst the less polished societies of the world. Every savage can dance."

Yeah, I was definitely one of the savages on the dance floor that night.