Who Do You Want To Be?

Find Out on the Dance Floor

Who are you?

More importantly, who do you WANT to be? The dance floor is your safe sandbox to find out.

Like mild mannered Clark Kent stepping into a nearby phone booth, dancers sneak into the ballroom, rip off their boring daytime persona, and reinvent themselves with every song and every dance partner.

We are the perfect ones do it. Our generation had the Summer of Love, then the Free Speech Movement.

Santa Cruz is the perfect place to do so. While other cities have grown into high-tech San Franciscos, or neo-con Berkeleys, our wild and fruity Santa Cruzans still pride ourselves as the identity reinvention capital of the world.

Finding your alter ego in dance is not hard (so much easier than a career change). The easy thing about a dance persona is that it’s so temporary — like a fake tattoo you can peel off anytime. In fact, as soon as you exit the dance hall--POOF!-- it disappears.

Costumes are not required, but can help. Simply wearing an interesting hat can be enough:

Big Fedora for Tango, French beret for Java

(fake cigarette dangling from lips is a plus), or shoes, snazzy, two-tone shoes – BAM! -- you are a Spiffy Spats Spike a Lindy Dancer.

A vest of any kind is good for a whole bunch of dances, particularly the recently popular Sea Shanties, transforming you into Wellerman Willie.

And a name … you gotta have a dance name.

Here’s a few more: Wafting Wanda – Want to fly? Waltz like a breezy glider, an ephemeral snow storm swirling about the room, your gown of silvery gossamer swirling Swarovski crystals, sparkling from your flowing mane.

Tangential Tad -- Sharp and edgy Tango, you prowl in the dark of night, exploring the hidden underbelly of your predictable daytime niceness.

Fantastic Freddie Foxtrot—Most of the week, he’s in the garage, a transmission mechanic in greasy-coveralls. So of course his alter ego is a polished Foxtrotter, sporting a dapper white jacket, pink carnation tucked in the breast pocket.

Surfer Stomping Stella -trades her sleek business suit for a rumpled Hotline t-shirt, board shorts and messy salt-encrusted hair to go wild with the Surfer’s Stomp.

Viennese Rocket Man –He battens down the hatches to spin his partner into outer space.

This was my quiet and gentle dance friend, Tom (who recently passed away RIP). Though half my height, I swear he grew three feet taller as we danced. With his great waltz technique he could spin us out of this world into heavenly bliss. Though his spirit has departed, he’s left years of happy partner dancing memories in many dance partners’ hearts. So, dear reader, now you must be like Tom and make more beautiful dance memories.

Argentine Ardith – Most know her extrovert side, filling all empty air with chatty banter, but in the dark corners of the ballroom, her alter ego withdraws into the stillness, filled only with Tango music. She shares with her partners a wordless, subtle connection, with the nod of a head, and the close, closer, closest of dance embraces, a single red in her pocket.

Perhaps you’re a city slicker, ready to become a Texas Tanya, Yeehaw Yolanda, Cowboy Cody, with Country 2-Step?

Or if you’re normally straightforward, a linear, one-thing-at-a-time type, test out the subtle flirtation, cat and mouse chase that you crave by becoming Cha-Cha Charlie. Attention-shy wallflowers can turn into Samba Sam -- with its sizzling bigger than life Carnaval dance, born from the street Parades of Rio de Janeiro’s Mardi Gras. Feathered headdress and sequined thong costume not required, but a big, attention-getting parade attitude is.

Uh oh, I’ve already run out of room here, with too many dance passions to mention and too little space: Salsa, Polka, Kizomba, Zouk, Bachata, Schottische. Like 31 flavors, of ice cream, or a cellar of fine wines, each offers its own slightly nuanced flavor to inspire and delight.

Yes, such partner dances can definitely transform you —if you let them.

Who knows where you will end up, and who you will become? But be assured our social dance community, is a safe place to test it all out and find out who the next real you is.

Or besides picking a dance genre, pick a simpler branding that people recognize you by. This is good if you are the consistent, non-creative type.

“Bandanna Bob” up at Friday Night Waltz is never seen without his headband. “Singing Tom” is the guy who sings opera while he dances, quite well, in fact. (NOTE: make sure your branding is a positive one, like theirs, nothing annoying or you will repel dance partners)

Yet, for me, none of the above quite fits, because every dance I dip my feet into sparks a new hue of flame in my soul. I cannot be limited to only one dance personality. So to contrast my daytime plain loyal old WYSIWYG me, I have chosen for my dance nickname the most intriguing, all-encompassing label: “Mystery Woman.” The quizzical look on my new partner’s faces is my delightful reward.

So, to become the best version of you that you are meant to be, let your dancing community help you test out the New You. After all, the most satisfying way to find out who we are is by interacting with others who reflect our true and best worth back to us. Let’s find those people who do that for us. Even better let’s BE the ones who do that for others too, whether on the dance floor or in life. That’s what life is all about, right?

Dance with you soon (whoever you choose to be next).

DISCLAIMER:

This article is NOT generated by the awesome new Chat GPT AI bot, that just came out this month, but by my old-fashioned, highly imperfect “AI” (Actual Intelligence) brain.

Thus it will contain no cat-inspired comedy. However, last night “Mr. Dance Tech” Richard

P. did show me a cool new Chat GPT inspired dance move: Cross-Step Waltz-pivot on count 2! Therefore, despite the looooong waiting list

I just signed up for it. Watch this space for improved robo-wit in future stories.