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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET |
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My mom, Piroska (redhead in Hungarian) Petrich, passed away at the ripe old age of 93, on Halloween night and I was in no mood to write my usual column for Folk Dance Scene.
My thoughts were only on the loss of my dear mother, until I realized that my love of dancing came from her and from my maternal grandmother.
In the Jewish belief, the true faith is determined through the maternal lineage. I wondered if that applied to dancing as well, and I am the last in the line of dancers.
My mom inherited her love of music and dances from her mother, who at parties would climb on the table tops and dance a lively csárdás. Mom turned the grief of her mother's death when she was only twelve years old into becoming an accomplished eurythmic dancer, high diver, gymnast, and track runner.
Later in life, my mom continued to dance and became an accomplished ballroom dancer, winning several medals dancing. She and her dance partner Bill, be found at least twice a week at the local dance places, doing a mean tango, swing, or waltzing to the lively music.
Her love of dancing must have passed to me as well. My wife and I have been folk dancing at least twice a week for more than forty years. Whenever there is live music, I love to let go, and get swept away with the happy mood. Thank goodness, there are no sturdy table tops. I just might climb on them, as my grandmother did, and really make a fool of myself.
My children on the other hand, are not very very interested in dancing, so maybe it is true that the lineage of faith and dancing is passed through the female.
How sad!
My hope is that maybe they will eventually get their love of dancing from my wife's lineage.
Printed in Folk Dance Scene, "DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET (32), February 2008.