I don't even like dancing at weddings...

I expect to learn a lot from the upcoming dance (and dance history) lesson while dreading every minute of it. Having something of a performance background, I'm not exactly graceless in my movements, but when it comes to actual dancing, I've been prone to either hopping about like a chicken on crack (my wife's words) or doing the boxiest box step since Robert DeNiro lurched across the tile floor in "Awakenings."

Expectations? Since I know zilch about the language and grammar of dance, I expect to be blown away by the explanations of what every little toe turn or hip swivel means. Without that background, reviewing dance is kind of like watching the Super Bowl without knowing anything about the game. It's loud, it's green, and you know people are running back and forth to get to the other side of the field, but everything in between is a long blur. Sure, you can describe the costumes down to the last leotard, but making any kind of critical judgment beyond, "I was bored" or "I liked the Sinatra music" is well-nigh impossible.

As for dance in the context of musical theater, I'm more familiar with that (having been a theater critic for more than two decades), but the dance element would always get pretty short shrift in my reviews so I could concentrate on other elements I cared more about (book, score, performance). Heck, if I can get one good, meaningful sentence to add to my musical reviews about the dance elements, I'll be grateful to the class forever.