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THE DANCE FLOOR — I remember very vividly being 9 years old and seeing "West Side Story" for the first time. Something about that movie made me realize how athletic and cool dancing is. Maybe it was the leaps and twists the actors were doing, but I thought it was awesome.
From that moment, I wanted to be an incredible dancer — someone who could amaze people with how high I could jump, turn with grace and impress the socks off of anyone who saw. I went into our unfinished basement and started trying to dance. It was a disaster. At 9 years old, I was over 100 pounds and had the grace of a newborn deer.
As I grew up, my dancing was atrocious, but I still wanted to dance. A friend of mine had got into break dancing and had a move he wanted me to try. Basically, I would put him on my head with him on his belly stretched out like Superman. I was supposed to spin and then stop, but the force would keep him spinning on the top of my head.
Of course, we never practiced it. We just talked about it, and then at a school dance we thought we'd pull out the move. I got him on my head and we started spinning. We had some inertia going, and then I stopped. He kept going and so did my head. His shirt twisted around the top of my skull and whipped my head around as my body stayed put. I think the crack of my neck could be heard over the blaring music. I couldn't look over either shoulder for about a week and I never tried the move again, for fear of killing myself.
It's stories like this that make me both love and hate the video of this gorilla.
This mammoth ape is playing in the water and then does one of the most spectacular spin moves I have ever seen. It's smooth, graceful and downright beautiful. I love it for its sheer awesomeness. I hate it because I am a human with a college degree who nearly broke his neck trying to dance, and this primate is making it look easy. My jealousy is high right now.
Good for you, gorilla. I guess I'll keep working at it.
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