I SINGLE LIFE
My Dancing Partners
A dance class for singles has an added twist.
E
ager to meet new wo-
men, I signed up for a
"Dancing for Singles"
adult education class at a
nearby school.
I arrived so early the first night
that the school wasn't open yet. The
custodian let me in where I waited
in the hot, stuffy gym. In a few
minutes, Larry, an accountant, ar-
rived. At 35, he was enthusiastic
about the class and the oppor-
tunities it would afford to meet new
women. Other men, all in their late
20s or early 30s, strolled in. We
made small talk and stood near the
door to await each participant.
The first woman to arrive was
cheerful, confident-looking, and was
about 65 years of age. The second
one was pushing 70. Our faces drop-
ped. The next woman was a few
years older. It seemed each woman
that arrived got progressively
grayer and slower. Only one woman
in the class was under 50.
At 6:30 p.m., our instructor, a
Liberace look-a-like, arrived with
phonograph in tow. "All right, ladies
Saul Schachter is a teacher and
freelance writer in Sea Cliff N.Y.
and gentlemen," he announced,
"let's line up opposite a partner." I
turned around and faced Edna, a
heavy-set woman, with a sad, but
hopeful face. Larry, the accountant,
was paired with Helen, a little
dynamo whose gray hair was tied up
in a bun.
I looked up and down the line.
It appeared all the men were danc-
ing with their grandmothers.
I tried to make light of the situa-
tion. When we began doing the
waltz, I whispered to Larry, "Maybe
we can double-date sometime." Dur-
ing the opening bars of the rhum-
ba, I cooed, "Edna told me I could
pick her up at 7 at Federation
Apartments."
Evidently, Larry was not amus-
ed by the situation for he failed to
show up the second week. Larry was
not alone. Five other men bowed
out.
I returned, and found the ratio
of women to men was now at least
3 to 1. In fact, there were only Rico,
Jan, Juan, Ernie, Bill and myself to
SAUL SCHACHTER
Special to The Jewish News
dance with 18 elderly women. And,
Bill didn't want to be paired up. "I'll
just watch," he said.
When the evening started, I
danced with Edna. But, with the
women far outnumbering the men,
I soon found myself in great
demand.
After one song ended, I dashed
over to Helen. Then I joined Jean,
did the rhumba over to Anna, and
shimmied back to Edna. I felt like
one of those rent-a-dates who has
been to 28 proms.
While I felt proud to be doing my
civic duty, I wasn't progressing very
well with my dance steps. Each
woman danced differently: Heavy
Edna was hard to budge, Jean
wanted to lead, and Anna, who was
hard-of-hearing, was always a few
steps behind.
Helen, however, was fairly
graceful and a good sport to boot. I
found myself dancing most of the 0,
time with Helen.
Conversations were awkward in-
itially. I told each woman that I was E
a teacher, but they revealed little of
themselves. Were they widowed? .g
Did they have children? I found :csi'
myself talking about meeting ac-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
63