MY DANCE DREAM CAME TRUE LAST NIGHT

For years, one of my dreams has been to get back to dancing. Just plain old dancing on a dance floor with lots of other people. I always had some "reason" I couldn't: I didn't know of anywhere to go; I didn't have a big enough group to go with; my body was stiff and out of shape.

Yesterday, I spied a postcard advertising Brooklyn Museum's First Saturday and this one was called "Celebrate the Magic of Dance!" The back of the card was filled with a lineup of films, speakers, and interactive dance-related events. I took the card home and said "Come on, Mike - let's go!"

So we got on our tennies and motored over to the museum. First, we stopped in the cafe. It was packed with people of all colors and ages. Then we went to watch a very energetic guy named Ifetayo lead a West Indian dance class for the public. He got lots of the audience involved - young ones, men, women. I stayed on the sidelines.

Then we went and looked at the special exhibition - The Black List Project. And then listened to a student guide give a Sign Language-interpreted talk about the project.

Finally, we mozied over to the Chicago House Dance Party deejayed by DJ Quentin Harris.

First, Mike and I did some subtle boogeying on the edges of where people were dancing. Over time, we moved closer and closer to the middle of the dancing until we were a few bodies away from the DJ.

It was so fun to be smashed up against other people, other people who were also dancing their hearts out. (See photo above taken by Mike on his cell phone.)

Even though we got home late at night, I turned on the t.v. and watched the movie Save the Last Dance. I shed some tears because the main characters played by Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Harris both get their dreams: "Sara" gets into Julliard to study dance and "Dereck" gets into Georgetown to be pre-med.

So Sara, Dereck and I all had our dreams come true last night!