I developed the 'birthday girl idea' as part of my mental preparation for the Aussie adventure. I was planning on meeting lovely people and making new friends through dancing while being out there all by myself.
However,
I was quite worried I might end up standing in the corner of a dance floor alone
not being seen or danced with. That idea came from my first experience dancing
away from home. A little group of us Brighton dancers got some tickets to the
Swing Patrol Christmas Ball in London (2014).
I
was very excited about that and just blown away by the venue. The ball took
place in a spacious tent with beautiful lighting, two dance floors, bars and stunning
Christmas decoration. It was so impressive that it made me feel very small as I
was only used to dancing upstairs in cosy pubs. I had a couple of warm up
dances with some of my friends but they were all more experienced than me and
disappeared sooner or later onto the dance floor to explore new dancers.
Easier
said than done!
I
looked around and tried to spot somebody who was not on the way to the busy
dance floor, in deep conversation with someone or sitting on a chair looking
rather relaxed.
There
weren't many good set ups like that around but there he was! A lead standing by
the dance floor all alone, looking very much in dancing mood, even bouncing
slightly to the music. I pushed myself as hard as I could and started walking
towards him. One … two … three steps … almost there when out of nowhere this stylish
looking follower popped up right next to him on the other side.
He
turned around to her, nodded and they made their way to the dance floor. To
avoid being caught coming from the other side, I sheepishly turned around as
quickly as possible and headed back to the safe table pretending I had
forgotten my drink!
Despite
that ‘setback’, I still had a really good night and loved the Swing Patrol
performances as well (I made it a plan then to look them up as soon as I’d get
to Melbourne), but I wasn't very impressed with myself by the way I’d handled the
‘finding a dance situation’. To be fair, I was offered a dance twice, collected
one compliment about my dress and did manage to grab that very same lead for a
dance after all. However, this can't really be called smooth!
So
I came up with the ‘birthday girl idea’. A badge! That’s it! Saying: “It’s my
birthday, please dance with me!”
If
I stood in a corner alone wearing that, there was no way people wouldn't notice!
Somebody would come up to me to wish a happy birthday and ask for a dance! Good
plan in case I didn't manage to leave the corner ;-).
When
the badge eventually arrived I couldn't believe it. I can't remember what it
was called when I ordered it but it was the size above ‘huge’ as I didn’t want
it to be too small. Well, that’s exactly what it was … the size above huge! Anyone from a kilometer away could have
easily read it!
Of course I then couldn't figure out where to attach the badge and still be able to still dance comfortably … not so easy for a girl ;-)) ... so I decided against taking it in the end and before I left Brighton I left it as a present for a special friend to guarantee him the birthday dance I wouldn't be able to provide.
In
the end I almost managed to get a smaller version of a birthday badge. My
lovely Kiwi friend designed one especially to go with that one dress I took
travelling. He ordered it in New Zealand from the States and it was sent to
Aussie for me (wow! modern day technology J!) Unfortunately it
got a little delayed and I also never found some social dancing on my actual
birthday. Therefore I’ll keep it safe for next year.
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