Get in the floorboard

During my junior year of high school some friends and I took a Country/Western Dance class at Amarillo College. It was off season in football and I was not playing basketball, so going to Amarillo one night a week with friends and taking a dance class sounded like fun. As it turned out, I ended up being the only guy who went. We had several other guys lined up to go, but when push came to shove, they backed out. That did not stop us from having a great time. The group consisted of myself, Codi, Tobi Ann and her sister Samantha, their mom Nikki and her friend Cathy. It turned out that our group being lopsided with women was a good thing, because the class would have been heavier on men if we had an even group. Our class was a motley crew of colorful characters from the Amarillo area. A few couples of varying ages, a handful of single men, one of which rode his Harley to the class, and a couple of single older women.

Country Western Dance Beginning was the name of the class. We all had varying degrees of skill, but my group all knew how to two-step. We learned to box step and waltz and also learned a lot of line dances. It was shocking that not everyone in our class knew how to do the cotton eyed joe. The Panhandle crew really excelled the night we went over that one! Gold stars for everyone! We learned a line dance to the song Wild, Wild West. Before you start singing in your head, this was not the version Will Smith did for the movie. This song is from the group The Escape Club and is from the early 90's. The line dance was a lot of fun, although I cannot remember one step to it. This is probably just as well, as I have not been to a dance hall and heard that song in a long time.

My cousin Jake told me something when I was in elementary that has always stuck with me. I attended Cotillion during the summer of my 5th and 6th grade years. We had theme nights every week and one week was country/western. This was also the last time I wore a bolo tie in case you were wondering. I remember telling him that we were learning line dances at Cotillion and he said "Coleman, line dancing is for fat girls." For those of you who do not know Jake, he is an excellent dancer, so this was advice I took to heart. Does this mean I quit line dancing? No way! It does mean that I fondly think of Jake and laugh anytime I am about to participate in a line dance. Back to the story......

We had a great time taking these classes. We got to know everyone in the class, but not so well that we felt bad about making fun of the on the way home. The guy who rode the Harley seemed to be quite fond of Nikki and Cathy and would dance with either of them as much as he could. I remember the first ride home in Cathy's van. He had been dancing with both of them that night and had been thrusting his pelvis into their hips while on the dance floor. We came up with several witty nicknames for him. Mr. Thruster and The Pelvis. Impressive huh? The Pelvis was the one that stuck. Over the weeks The Pelvis became increasingly fond of Nikki and Cathy. They were both invited to take a ride on his Harley, but declined due to lack of interest. I think he got the message toward the end, but he would still dance with them as much as he could.

Betty was one of the older women in our class. I danced with her several times and we both did okay. I was nervous dancing with her sometimes because I was 17 and she was in her 60's. She was a really nice lady though, which makes this next part so funny! She had a sort of dialed down beehive hairdo, but it was still a beehive! We had been working on a new dance that night, which one escapes me now. We had several turns and spins. Toward the end of the song I spun her under my arm and did not raise my arm enough as she went underneath. My forearm brushed the top of her head. When it did it set her beehive off tilt! The funny thing is that she did not even notice! Her beehive went from a 45 degree angle on the back of her head to a straight up 90 degree point on the top of her head. I immediately began to come unglued. I was trying so hard not to laugh. Codi was dancing near me with The Pelvis and she saw the whole thing go down. To this day we do not know whether she knew what happened. For all we know she went home and took the beehive off and never knew the difference. I sure hope that was the case!

The ride over and back to class ended up being just as much fun as the class itself. Cathy always took her van because we had a large group and it had the most room. It was an older model van, although I cannot remember what kind. We called it the Wanky Wagon. Cathy was an elementary teacher in Panhandle. This was the only way I knew her prior to the class we took together. Turns out she has a wicked sense of humor! She and Nikki would ride in the front seat of the van on the drive over and back. They told us that if they ever saw a good looking guy passing us on the highway that they would yell "Get in the floorboard" and we would all have to hit the deck. This never happened, but was always brought up on subsequent trips. To this day, Cathy still says that to me when she sees me. I was home at Christmas and ran into Thriftway to get some celery (and a can of fake snow. Just kidding REK fans.) I was walking down the aisle looking for things on my mom's shopping list when I heard her yell across the store "Get in the floorboard!" It still always makes me laugh.

Come to think of it, I do not remember anything I learned in that class. I guess their is something to the old adage of "use it or lose it." Codi and I did learn a pretty cool routine that could be done to any faster country song. I remember doing it at every school dance our junior year and everyone thought we were pretty cool. At least that is how I remember it!