As I was getting to know my new surroundings during my freshman year at the University of Indianapolis, I happened upon Silk N Lace Gentleman's Show Club. What really caught my eye was the sign outside advertised that Silk N Lace trains amateur dancers. I was fascinated and interested in this possibility much in the way I was fascinated and interested in traveling and living with carnies for a summer just to see what happens. Skip ahead a few years later and I'm driving down Madison Avenue with some friends - we were probably coming from somewhere classy like Olive Garden or Old Navy. I pointed out the sign ( yes, still training amateurs!) and said something to the effect of, hey doesn't that sound like a funny thing to try? Without hesitation or any hint of curiosity in their voices, Friend 1 and Friend 2 said, "No." Um, ok. I didn't want to be a stripper, guys are gross enough to be around when you have your clothes on; I just wanted to know what the life of someone who works there was like and how can I get some of those moves!
Not one to let my dreams go unrealized, this past Friday night I took a Cardio Striptease class at All About Dance in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. (This was my second attempt at taking this class - the first time I showed up too late for one session and too early for the other and was assured that the Cardio Hip Hop class would be awesome instead. It was not awesome.) I thought a lot about what to wear to the class, but settled on my favorite bamboo capri leggings and an old pink and white "Girls on Fast Wheels" t-shirt. The instructor came in the room and she seemed too clean to be a Cardio Strip teacher. I was hoping for some old reformed stripper who turned over a new leaf and decided to mesh her passion for stripping with the common decency of physical fitness and leave the stage for the dance studio. Whatever. I did appreciate that the enthusiastic instructor turned the lights down, it seemed to help turn down my humiliation that throughout the entire class I was not able to master the first move in the routine. Overall, the class was fun. It was a really great workout and it helped to confirm that I am a horrible dancer ( I think I'm too tall or something). The 'on the floor moves' left me with bruises up and down my legs and a cut near my knee from the cute zippers in my favorite bamboo capri leggings. Final assessment- I did not miss any sort of calling as a dancer of any kind. I had a great experience at All About Dance and would love to go back and maybe take a class with a friend. *Disclaimer- I will only take a class with a friend who is a worse dancer than I am.
