Life Musings

I've been taking some lindy hop dance classes. In these classes, followers rotate among different leaders. That helps people learn how to lead and follow more effectively and get used to different styles.

Unfortunately, it also means that you occasionally get saddled with a partner who's very difficult to work with. For example, one of the followers in this case is almost severely overweight. Now, I've danced with a good number of overweight partners before, and as long as they can still move well, it's not a problem. Some of them, however, move very sluggishly. This makes everything difficult, as it feels as though you're forced to haul them around the dance floor. Very frustrating.

Because they can't move energetically, it also throws a lot of the footwork off. Again, very annoying. It's unfortunate when you know that you have the moves down well, but you simply can't do them because your partner is throwing everything off.

Is this simply because they are carrying a few extra pounds? I don't think so; as I've said, I've danced with a lot of overweight women who could still move well on the dance floor. I think the problem is that some people become overweight partly because they do move sluggishly. That is, because they've gotten used to moving slowly and with minimal motion, they do wind up putting on the extra pounds. And of course, the extra pounds then make them move even more sluggishly.

At least, that's what I suspect. If I'm wrong... well, please understand that no malice was intended.