2003-06-23 - 11:27 a.m.

Headline: Dancing�

An item in the news states that mental exercise, like playing chess or doing puzzles, can help prevent dementia. However, to the surprise of the researchers, physical exercise doesn�t seem to make any difference � except for dancing. They�re currently conjecturing that perhaps the social requirements of dancing constitute some kind of mental challenge. By definition dance is patterned movement, which includes a large variety of dances. The intricacies of the patterns do indeed become a mental exercise. (If nothing else, you have to count.)

Despite all the dancing lessons I took as a child, I never considered myself a dancer. I would have liked to be, but certainly everyone else in the classes was a better dancer than I was. That was true through ballet, modern dance, and Music Workshop, which included dance as well as music appreciation. When I was about seven years old, I remember walking �downtown� every week � maybe six or seven blocks � with a dollar in my pocket to pay for the lesson. What amazes me now is that I felt perfectly safe!

Well, Music Workshop turned me more toward music, and then I was taking violin lessons instead of dancing lessons. Being private lessons, these were more expensive; now I was carrying two dollars. As I�m sure I�ve mentioned before, it�s not that I was a virtuoso on the violin, but I really enjoyed it more.

But when I was in high school, everyone took ballroom dancing. It was almost like a required class � except that it wasn�t part of the school system. Once or twice a week (depending on your budget, I guess), almost everybody I knew went to �Phil and Pat� to dance. We learned waltz and foxtrot, we learned Latin dances like the tango and the rumba, and we even lindied to �Rock Around the Clock.� Of course, classes also included etiquette like requesting (or accepting) a dance, as well as when one was permitted to cut in. Once again, I was far from the best dancer there, but I learned enough not to feel out of place at parties where people danced. Years later, when I met Husband, who was a very good dancer, I could at least follow his lead.

In college I discovered folk dancing � mostly Israeli folk dancing. It was all tied up in liking the music and the people I met and, as often happened, there was this cute boy� Long after I lost interest in the boy, I was still dancing with my friends � even on television.

Well, I still don�t consider myself a dancer, particularly since Husband lost interest in it even before he broke his hip. (So I�ve lost my partner.) But when I compare myself to the young people I know, I begin to think maybe I�m more of a dancer than I thought. (Asked to classify the movements of a certain rock star, I once answered �epilepsy.�) Maybe I should dig up some of my old records and see if I remember the steps. The effort of remembering should add a few years to my brain.

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