Good Ole' Down-Home Country

20/10/09
So I’ve been going to gym class twice a week, but this week the instructor is out of town so tonight Sophie and I went to check out this country-dancing thing just down the street from my apartment. I had no idea what I was in for, but it was better than just sitting at home. We entered a large dance hall that was decked out in American flags, cactus murals, and Native American dream catchers. Every inch of the room was covered in decoration including a wooden stage at the front of the room on which the dance instructor stood. Talk about a culture shock. This instructor runs all levels of square dancing classes that have about 50-70 people in them. The best students even put on performances for the community sometimes. I was very impressed at their level of skill. I mean, I’ve been trying (and failing) to learn “The Hustle” since I was a kid, but these French people have got down intensely intricate dance sequences. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fancy cowboy boots and hats outside of country-infused areas of the US. It was incredible and so very odd. They fact that the dance directions were being called in French did little to convince me that I was indeed still in rural south-western France, for all intents and purposes I had teleported to a mecca of country music, dance, and culture.