| Do you have two left feet? Most of my students do. | | | | less entitled to learn because she was so obviously |
| Or at least that's what they tell me on the phone | | | | worse than the students around her. They both |
| before scheduling their first lesson. I have yet to | | | | came to group classes for years, cheerfully holding up |
| meet someone with two right feet! | | | | everybody else in their attempts to learn the basics |
| The point is: most people, men especially, are told | | | | over and over again! |
| they can't dance over and over during their life times, | | | | So how do you explain the fact that most men have |
| and eventually they start to believe it! In it's essence, | | | | a two left feet complex, while no woman ever |
| America's Two Left Feet problem is the same as | | | | does? I'd have to blame it, yet again, on our culture. |
| America's weight problem. We are told over and over | | | | We grow up with the idea that it is ok for women |
| that we are hungry and must eat the | | | | to dance, but if a man dances, it makes him less of a |
| high-calorie-and-fat concoctions produced by fast | | | | man somehow. We think being able to dance is a |
| food restaurants. It is all around us - TV commercials, | | | | part of a woman's femininity, and not being able to |
| bill boards, internet, newspapers... And likewise, my | | | | dance is a reflection of a man's masculinity. Obviously, |
| male students are told they can't dance over and | | | | this wasn't the thought pattern in days when partner |
| over by their wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers, and | | | | dancing was the norm. And people from cultures |
| even some dance teachers! | | | | where everybody dances for any reason, or with no |
| It is true that some people have major problems in | | | | reason whatsoever, like some Latin American |
| learning how to dance. Those people will never | | | | cultures, for example, don't suffer from Two Left |
| become professional dancers, or even good dancers, | | | | Feet syndrome either. |
| but those people are very rare and far in between. I | | | | Times are changing, however. Partner dancing is back |
| have only met two such people during my teaching | | | | in style! And though it sometimes seems that our |
| career. And, ironically, they were both female! | | | | culture is not ready for it, we are taking the first |
| Surprisingly, nobody had ever told them they had | | | | steps to changing the archaic mindsets. I applaud |
| two left feet, so they happily took their dance | | | | those of you, gentlemen, who decide to ignore the |
| lessons 2-3 times a week for years, annoying the | | | | stereotype and take the time to learn how to dance, |
| living daylight out of their husbands, who in both | | | | whether for your partner, or for yourself. And I |
| cases, were much more talented then their wives. | | | | applaud those of you, who tell me that you have |
| Neither of the women ever thought of herself as | | | | two left feet, but you would like to dance anyway! |