{"id":7858,"date":"2016-04-27T07:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?p=7858"},"modified":"2016-04-28T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T16:39:08","slug":"i-dont-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2016\/04\/27\/i-dont-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"I Don’t Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DF-29558.DNG\"<\/a>In the movie \u201cWe Bought A Zoo<\/a>,\u201d Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) takes a huge risk in buying a zoo for his home.\u00a0 He took a giant step out of his comfort zone, and so I figured I would follow suit. Mine was on a much smaller scale, I asked a girl to come two stepping. Well I asked my friend\u2019s girlfriend to find me a dancing partner, but hey, I ended up with a real nice girl to dance with: Hannah.<\/p>\n

It sounds like something small, but dancing lives a country mile outside of my comfort zone. As we were waiting for just the right song to come on, my heart pounded. Other than the country music playing, nothing was familiar to me. \u00a0Most people expertly swung their partners around the wooden floors, completely at ease. Their complete confidence only made me feel more unsure of myself. All that was running through my head was Lee Brice\u2019s \u201cI don\u2019t Dance<\/a>.\u201d I thought back to my first inspiration for coming, Benjamin Mee, and his tagline quote of the movie: \u201cYou know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZmMFIganRQY<\/p>\n

(It sounds even better coming from Matt Damon\u201d)<\/p>\n

I took my twenty seconds of courage when I grabbed Hannah\u2019s hand and said \u201cAlright let\u2019s give this a shot.\u201d Thankfully, she was an experienced dancer and happily showed me how to two-step.\u00a0 I was, well, bad. I struggled to remember all three steps of two stepping. Maybe it was my lack of rhythm or the constant distraction of my partner\u2019s smile, but as George Strait\u2019s familiar twangy voice was filling my eardrum, I couldn\u2019t help but have a good time. Just like Lee Brice<\/a>, I was out there spinning her round and round\u2026 or at least trying to.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wanna take a break?\u201d Just the words I wanted to hear had finally come out of Hannah\u2019s mouth. I happily walked off the dance floor and took a much needed break. People watching while talking to Hannah became my favorite part. I could casually listen to some of my favorite country songs, and watch people slide across the dance floor in perfect unison. Giant belt buckles, bright shirts, and unique dance moves lead me to realize that I was deep in the heart of Texas.<\/p>\n

\"(Distracting<\/a><\/p>\n

As George Strait\u2019s \u201cCheck Yes or No<\/a>\u201d began to play Hannah looked at me and smiled. Before I knew it, I was dancing and singing along to one of my favorite country songs. This was the first time I had felt at all in rhythm, and although I didn\u2019t know too many steps, I was on cloud nine.<\/p>\n

While my second left foot slowly began to act like a right foot, I enjoyed myself more and more. Guided by Rodger Creager, Luke Brian, Eric Church, Randy Travis, and of course George Strait I stopped focusing on the steps and more on the experience.<\/p>\n

I have a huge thank you to say to Dusty, for giving such an open assignment that I could take a step out of my comfort zone, and Megan and Townley for convincing Hannah to come dance with me. But most of all, Hannah for teaching me how to two step. I am very blessed to have the people around me that I do, even if I am not blessed with the gift of dancing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the movie \u201cWe Bought A Zoo,\u201d Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) takes a huge risk in buying a zoo for his home.\u00a0 He took a giant step out of his comfort zone, and so I figured I would follow suit. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post-4","category-dancing-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7899,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions\/7899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}