Waltz of Her Life

"That's very nice," she told him. "I've had many teachers who weren't so thorough."

As he held her, Roger shrugged. "Going with what I'm good at, I guess. When Tony was here he used to talk about dance position all the time. He said he could do an entire lesson on just dance position."

"I remember Tony," she said. He had left a little more than a year ago, just before she'd made her last visit to the studio.

"He was a nice guy," Roger said. "He taught me a lot. Now let's just do a few basics, make sure we mesh together."

At first he led her through simple boxes, the kind boys did at cotillions. Gradually, though, he traveled and pivoted with the step so that their waltz took on the form of a graceful diamond across the floor. He then took her into a promenade, which gracefully became a side pass, as they traveled in a line, rising and falling, as Roger would gently nudge her in and they would meet and their palms would touch.

With another flick of his wrist, he brought her back in front of him, danced a couple of traveling basics, and started a twinkle. Knowing that she could not press against his diaphragm, which would have been best, she paid full attention to him and tried to feel his lead through his arms instead. They spun around and he used the momentum to raise his arm and pass her through a turn.

The sound of clapping coming from the other side of the studio startled her. Jared said "That was nice! Hey, why don't you go ahead and put a waltz on so you can do the real deal?" Jared's student had also been clapping, and she smiled at them. Roger chose a nice, classic song, Les Bicyclettes d'Enfant, which Linda had always enjoyed much more than the Anne Murray song May I have this dance, which was often played at the parties.

When Roger returned to Linda to take her into dance position and start their waltz, he stopped a few feet short of her and regarded her for a moment. "You have the nicest smile," he said. "You really love this, don't you?"

"I do," she replied.

Roger started off simply, with a few basics and a promenade. As he felt more confident, he led her through another promenade with a brush step as they floated through a rise together.

She was enchanted: that was a step she'd rarely seen or danced to, one that usually happened only in demonstrations or routines. The long strides took them into a corner, and Roger took her into his arms for a reverse twinkle, which Linda followed only because she'd been paying such close attention.