All She Wants To Do Is Dance!

Pam Pollock
May 2021

I admit it – I have two left feet and I am incredibly klutzy.  I trip over my own feet!  I have no rhythm and I seriously cannot dance.  I only went to one school dance my entire life – and that was either in the 6th or 7th grade, where I met my middle school boyfriend Bruce.  His mother had starched his shirt so much that it scratched my face.  I should also say that he was much taller than me and I stepped on his toes repeatedly during our slow dance.  I think we broke up soon after...

I have pretty much refused to dance with my husband, no matter how much he implores me to join him on the dance floor.  I once did dance with abandon at a muzzleloader rendezvous – I got so into the mountain man music that I threw caution to the wind and hopped, jumped and threw my legs about in the middle of the field.  It hurt to walk for three days afterwards.  I also danced with my husband and my daughter at her wedding, and let me tell you, I shocked everyone.

It’s not that I don’t love music – I do.  And I love to watch people dancing.  I love to see bodies swaying and moving.  It’s just well, I have no coordination.  My daughter took dance lessons from her paternal grandmother for 13 years.  I once told her that even though I did not dance, my feet and soul were soaring along with her as I sat enthralled in my seat at the dance recitals.She’s an exquisite dancer and I would literally sit and cry while watching her on stage.

My daughter and her husband have four children, 3 of whom are girls.  Like their Momma, they love to dance.  Mackenna, the oldest, is the technical dancer – she thinks the movements through and strives for perfection in her routines.  And she likes to include some gymnastic routines in the dance numbers that she performs for me at her house. When she was around the age of two, she would dance and then take a deep bow and just beam up at her adoring audience, who were showering her with thunderous applause.  Now, at the age of 8, she is a little shyer about her dancing, although she continues the Pollock side of the family’s tradition of taking dance lessons and she still has the audience captivated with her graceful and poised dancing.

Althea just turned 6 years old, and she is our little firecracker.  She is ALWAYS performing, no, really, she never stops!  She sings and dances with abandon, no matter where she is.  She loves to choreograph her own dance routines.  Her freestyle (or street) dancing is something to watch as she improvises and composes her dance moves on the spur of the moment as the music plays. Althea is happiest when she is entertaining a crowd, whether it’s on the dance stage, in her living room or at the local trampoline park!  Her enthusiasm for life and her love of dancing makes everyone smile.

Ophelia just turned two and she is the baby of the family.  Her interpretation of dance at this stage of her life consists of running around frenetically.  She will stop periodically and grin mischievously at her audience.  She also likes to shake her booty.

Our only grandson, Declan is four years old.  He is much like his Gaga Pam, and sits on the couch and observes the dancing, although he has treated us in the past with an awesome Flossing routine.  He prefers to play Monster Trucks and drive his little dune buggy around and around our house, shifting into reverse and then back into drive so he can spin the tires.  I can relate to him on that one – I kind of like spinning tires and driving fast myself – and I am usually tapping my toe on the gas pedal and performing a dance jam to my XM Radio tunes with a little air guitar thrown in at the red lights….  - Girls’ photos by Crystal Adamosky Photography -