Dancing with the Class

OK, so I haven't written anything all week.

Don't think that I'm in the least apologetic.

I've been far too Busy.

And now it's friday evening exactly one hour & sixteen minutes before my Bedtime Curfew. So I'm going to dash this off in a kind of Virginia Woolf Stream of Consciousness Style in time to read some of 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier before I have to turn the light out. I've seen the, is it Hitchcock Film? with Sir Larry Olivier & that Simpering Sister of Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine many times. Also the mini-series with Charles Dance & Emilia Fox & Dame Diana Rigg.

So I kind of know the plot. Or at least I think I know it. And then something Really Big Happens which I've totally forgotten about which makes me wonder about what else in my Own Life that I may have Forgotten.

Perhaps you are wondering what I'm doing with my freshly waxed & tinted eyebrows standing in the middle of a School Hall surrounded by young adolescents of both genders.

This is what I did last evening.

For some weeks our Year 8 girls have been given Ballroom Dancing lessons. So did the boys from a V. Grand Catholic Boys School. But not together.

Last night was the culmination of the lessons & the first time that they had met as a group. I went along to supervise & take photos.

Travelling in the early evening by bus with 101 excited girls to the V. Grand Boys School was Torture. I felt as if I was in the middle of a Hen's Night on the Karaoke Bus that often parks across the road from my apartment on a saturday night.

How could I possibly have volunteered to do this, I wondered?

Halfway through our journey, we stopped the bus & the Head of Science made everyone who was chewing gum take it out of their mouth & put it in a tissue & put it in their blazer pocket. Then they were reminded about The Importance of Self-Respect which is a topic that I've often pondered over these last thirteen months.

We arrived at the Imposing School Hall & met Miss Marion Beaumont who was the Principal Dancing Instructress. One look from her & her Dancing Assistants & our girls, who were previously acting like they'd just sculled ten gallons of Red Cordial each, suddenly turned into Fairly Silent Lambs. The transformation was immediate.

They were told to line up in single file. The boys were already inside the hall sitting in a large circle waiting. But we couldn't see them, the doors were closed.

When Miss Beaumont gave the signal, the girls were given their cue to enter & walk in a circle around the boys until they were told to stop. The boys stood up, shook hands with their partner & then the music started.

It was completely wonderful.

The Waltz, the Canadian Three Step, The Pride of Erin & perhaps some Boot Scootin.

All done with the kind of Military Precision that would have done D-Day Proud.

No one had time to get out their Phones & start texting.

Sadly, it's time for Bed & 'Rebecca'. So I can't say much more. And I'd like to say something really naff about the Youth of Today. But I'll let the photos tell you that story.