Dancing
I was educated solely with girls from the age of six to eighteen.
This had a lasting impact on my ability to interact with the opposite sex. I had an older brother, who was no help to me whatsoever, and a glamorous sister, fifteen years my senior. She had a stream of attractive boyfriends, and I used to watch wide-eyed as she prepared for an evening out, knowing I would never be able to achieve her level of sophistication. I overcame these obstacles to some extent, of course, but was always shy and never managed the easy relationships with young men that other girls seemed to enjoy.
Anyway, at the age of eleven, I duly went off to the next stage of my state education. Dancing was part of the physical education curriculum. We learnt country dancing -Strip the Willow and Sir Roger de Coverley, Old Tyme dancing - the Veleta and the Military Two-Step, and ballroom dancing - the Cha Cha Cha and the Foxtrot. We galloped sweatily round the gymnasium, enthusiastic but not completely enamoured of the exercise.
All the staff members were women. (The appointment of two male teachers a few years later caused a great buzz of unnecessary enthusiasm.) One of our PE teachers was a particularly good ballroom dancer, but I’m afraid we callow lasses didn’t appreciate her skill as we watched her spinning gracefully round the assembly hall with her female partner. Our comments were uncharitable at best. We had little interest in anything other than ourselves.
When we were about fourteen, the school organised a ‘formal’ dance and we all dressed in our finest. My mother was a talented needlewoman and made me a very pretty deep pink Empire line dress. Our pleasures in those days were simple, and one of the highlights of the evening was commenting on what everyone else was wearing. After all, we were accustomed to seeing each other only in our hideous green school uniform. We danced together decorously, the bolder girls inviting teachers to partner them.
I wonder what those women made of the event. Many of them, though they seemed ancient to us, were probably in their late thirties or early forties and had possibly lost fiancés in the war. It must have felt bittersweet to them as they twirled around the parquet flooring in the embrace of adolescent girls, some of whom, in the time-honoured manner of single sex schools, had crushes on them.
Looking back, I applaud the magnanimity of those adults in volunteering to supervise us and accept invitations to dance, or maybe they had been coerced into it by our less than amiable headmistress.
Oh what a poignant post! Were your sister and brother educated in single sex environments as you were?
ReplyDeleteI was just going to ask that question too , Debby. I was lucky to have gone to school (Catholic school) with mixed cohorts.
DeleteI was also curious what your uniform looked like? Was it a religious school you attended?
It;s also funny to read your comments about your PE teacher. During school, I never paid much (if any) attention to art or history or geography. I could ace the exam but I never really explored the subject or asked questions ....and then as I grew up, the stuff I thought I liked, I never did more off and found myself esp. drawn to history documentaries and buying books on art history.
I went to "mixed" schools, boys and girls and never really made friendships with either, but we did have dancing lessons and I remember learning the Barn Dance and the military Two-Step, but at the only school dance I ever attended, I was asked to dance only once, by a teacher, and halfway around the floor the heel broke off my shoe, so I sat on the sidelines until it was all over. There was one term where my class learned "square dancing" and/or "folk dancing" to be able to put on a show for the school's "Open Day." I loved it! Other classes put on gymnastic displays, baking displays etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat a poignant and beautifully told memory, full of grace, humour, and quiet reflections on youth, longing, and the quiet strength of those women who danced with you.
ReplyDeleteI loved that kind of dancing but probably because we were raised on it at community gatherings in the village hall. By the time I got to high school virtually no one our age danced like that any more (except our parents).
ReplyDeleteI went to a mixed primary and high school but that didn't help; I thought the boys in high school were sweaty dimwits. Only at uni did the boys take better care of their hygeine, clothes and language :)
ReplyDeleteI went to an all female cathol9c convent prep school; dark blue gym slips, navy coats, felt hat and fawn woolen gloves in winter, blazers straw boaters and white gloves in summer. Both secondary schools were single sex; the grammar where I learned not so be so was 'so posh' and later a boarding school where I learned I wasn't 'posh enough'. Then university in the north when I discovered, guess what, I was 'too posh' all over again... ah well it takes all sorts and I learned to be several of the sorts!
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