The First Dance

I have two left feet. I'll be the first to admit it. Not having learnt to danced 'properly' while growing up (not counting the attempts at boogieing), my co-ordination was hopeless. I remember a friend trying to teaching me to jive. Quiet lessons in one-two-three were accompanied by notes and 'You must remember these steps!'

For a long time, I was able to jive only with him - no one else seemed to follow the same sequence. Perhaps they had different teachers, who taught them different steps...

When I visited my husband-to-be in England a few months before our wedding, we decided to address the problem. We practised dancing. It must not have been long before he realised the scale of the problem.

Cliff Richard's 'When the Girl in your Arms' was chosen as the song for our first dance. It's a slow number, easy to dance to (in hindsight!). We spent our days going one-two-three, one-two-three. This time, the difference was that I understood why were were doing one-two-three. I allowed myself to be led (boy, that wasn't easy!) and it seemed to be coming along.

By the end of the trip, I never wanted to hear Cliff Richards again.

We had a couple of practice sessions before the wedding. I'm happy to report that the First Dance went off beautifully without a hitch. I stepped on my dress a couple of times - no damage done except a slight tear to the hem.

After the dance, we were delighted with ourselves. That was until, a friend came by and whispered "I saw you counting one-two-three!"

Some lessons are not easily forgotten.