I just spotted this blog entry: http://stilllifeinbuenosaires.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/descending/ and think it really is one of the best things I’ve read about leading and following, ever.

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Music swirled up from the stern, pipes and single-string and drumming, soon joined by voices raised in song and the syncopated thump of feet on the deck. “Or we could dance,” [Imena] said. “For a while.”

[Maxime] grinned and gripped her waist, momentarily lifting her off her feet. “One dance, and then another,” he said. “That’s what this evening has been missing. Shall we head sternwards?”

“Here,” she said. “We can hear the music perfectly well.” And she wanted him all to herself. If they joined the celebrating crew, he would feel obliged to talk and dance with anyone who asked, and she could not be an anonymous reveler, either.

Without further discussion, Maxime swept her into a swirling couples pattern that she recognized from the duchies. The bounds of the deck weren’t calibrated for dances that traveled, but they made do, adding breath-stealing twirls and the occasional impromptu hop over a bollard. For a few steps, Maxime even lifted her, swinging her feet on empty air until she couldn’t stop laughing.

The music slowed and stopped. Gasping, she leaned on Maxime, her arms looped around his waist. He kissed her somewhere near her ear and lifted her off the ground once more, squeezing her tightly before he set her down again.

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Here’s a brief dancing scene from the end of THE MOONLIGHT MISTRESS:
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[Lucilla] shed her cape and apron in the changing room, opting for an overcoat instead, then wandered out to the terrace. A couple score of the ambulatory patients sat there, listening to a makeshift orchestra play whatever all of the musicians knew, or partially knew. Presently, it was some semblance of a waltz. She didn’t see Pascal. She circumnavigated the building until she found him on the path leading to X-Ray and her quarters.

“Looking for me?” she asked.

He turned to her and bowed, sweeping off his képi. “Mademoiselle wishes to dance?”

“My card isn’t quite full,” she said, and allowed him to sweep her into his arms. She slipped her arms beneath his greatcoat and held him tightly as they danced atop frozen mud. After a few minutes, she commented, “You’re a terrible dancer.”

Pascal bent and kissed her ear. “I am brilliant instead. Also, I know where you prefer to be licked.”
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“He forced me into it. Where the man goes, the lady must follow. I had no choice!”

Strictly Ballroom!!

(I’m a salsa dancer.)

I just finished reading a paranormal by Lynn Viehl, “Stay the Night,” where dancing was what got the heroine to notice the hero, and then gave away how much the (secondary, possible sequel-bait) villein was attracted to the heroine. In that book, it really was just about how the heroine loved to dance, and how dancing makes you notice another person.

As I’ve mentioned earlier in other threads, I’ve taken classes in ballroom dancing, and though I suck, I can tell you that it’s much more intimate and you have to concentrate much harder on your partner than with normal, modern dancing (which I also love). The biggest difference is that a ballroom dance floor is sort of like a time machine – the man always leads, and the woman pays attention and follows. Following is a really difficult skill to pick up, and if you don’t concentrate, you trip on yourself and trip up your partner. It’s much more difficult than steering and not bumping into people, which is about all the man has to do. After taking classes, I’m shocked that more dance scenes in historicals don’t have the couples falling down.

I think that’s why the dance scene in “Lord of Scoundrels” is my favorite, because it’s the only one I can think of where the heroine just gives up control and follows. Even though she knows Dain isn’t trustworthy, and that he’s damaging her reputation, she knows there’s nothing she can do about it in the context of their waltz, so she just follows and enjoys it.

Of unequal dancing statuses, Sherry Thomas at #22 above gives perfect examples of both the newbie and the exeprienced partners learning much more in the course of the dance lesson(s): THE PROPOSITION by Judith Ivory and LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase.

For me, Written on Your Skin simply didn’t pull on my heartstrings as BBYT or DoS did. I thought that the dance scene was nice, but not nearly so memorable as any of the interactions between Lydia and James (who I have a terrible crush on).