MYSTERY OF THE TEXAS TWOSTEP

CHAPTER FIFTY:

THE NEXT STEP

Written by Rick Archer 

LIMBO MONTH TWO Tuesday, NOVEMBER 27, 1979 THE MORNING AFTER FRIGHT NIGHT

When I awoke the morning after Fright Night, I could barely move.  The combination of extreme stress, many hours of dancing and four beers had taken quite a toll on me.  Ordinarily I was not much of a drinker.  However I would not have gotten through last night otherwise.  Emotionally drained from the wild night, I paid the price with a hangover.  I figured taking Emily and Sissy for a walk would clear my head, so out the door we went.  Sure enough, the moment we started walking, I felt better. 

Autumn leaves were falling and there was a chill in the air.  Despite my grogginess, I was in a very good mood.  The brisk November breeze felt good.  I could hardly believe how much fun I had last night.  And what a relief!  I felt like Atlas after someone lifted the world off his shoulders.  It had been a long time since I had been this cheerful.  As I watched falling leaves swirl in the air, I felt optimistic for the first time in ages.  I finally had a goal, something to work towards. 

I took stock of what I learned last night.  What a relief to discover what I had taught my Stevens students had been close to correct.  I marveled at my good luck to hitch my wagon to Glen's Ballroom dancing.  Sometimes it is better to be Lucky than Smart.  The Foxtrot was indeed a close match to the 'New Twostep' and the German Polka was a close match to Country Polka.  I would have preferred to take credit, but in reality it was just a lucky guess.  Considering night was my first visit to a Western club, how was I supposed to know the 'New Twostep' was a near clone of Foxtrot? 

I had witnessed a dramatic improvement in my Western dancing last night.  Starting in 1974 with my Mistress Book-inspired Disco Dance Project, it had taken over three years to become a good Disco dancer.  However, it only took three hours to become a fairly good Western dancer.  Thanks to all that practice, I had gone from mechanical to fluid.  Considering how analytical I tend to be about dance footwork, I was tickled to think a type of learning had taken place beyond my conscious control.  Having spent the past two years immersed in non-stop Disco, my skill allowed me to acquire Western dancing at a rapid clip.  Learning to dance Disco made acquiring Western much easier.  My progress was good news, but it also contained a warning.  Without the new Foxtrot moves I used to get through last night's class, I would have been toast.  I made a note to ask for Glen's help during today's private lesson to cook up further Foxtrot inventions. 

I did not it at the time, but the answer to a very serious future problem was right there at my feet.  As I walked the dogs, I noticed I was doing an odd little skip on the sidewalk.  Once I realized I was enjoying this skip, I continued.  Ordinarily I don't skip when I walk, so this quirk was peculiar enough to draw my attention.  Curious, I tried to analyze what I was doing.  My feet seemed to have developed a life of their own.  I maintained a cute little 'Three Straight Steps' progression with a bit of a pause on the Fourth Step.   1-2-3-Pause, 1-2-3-Pause.  The skipping was fun, but it was weird because I had never done this footwork before.  This skip had to be related to something dancing the Twostep last night, but what was it?  

As it turned out, there was a hidden message in the skipping footwork that I completely missed.  If I had caught on, it would have saved me untold misery during a major crisis I was doomed to face exactly one year from now.  On the other hand, we would have missed reading about another exciting adventure where I made a complete fool of myself.  I still had a lot to learn before this was over.

Tuesday, NOVEMBER 27, 1979 THE TRAIN IS LEAVING THE STATION

In addition to my curious skipping step, my mind cleared during the long walk in the brisk November air.  Fright Night had been nothing short of a miracle.  Considering all the gambles I took, the odds suggested I should have stumbled.  However, every gamble worked.  Amazing.  I was convinced my continued good fortune must have a Supernatural explanation.  Even the thought of Jeff coming to visit Jennifer did not have the power to break my good mood.  Too bad about Jennifer.  She was starting to feel like a lost cause.  Maybe I should add something.  When I speak of a Charmed Life, that was something of a misstatement.  Yes, I seemed to lead a Charmed Life when it came to my dance career.  However, when I speak of my love life, I was definitely cursed.

Last night I felt a powerful rebirth of ambition.  Once I realized my dance career was poised to have a Second Chapter, I shoved my girlfriend problems aside and focused 100% on my dance career for the first time in ages.  I decided to stop worrying about things I could not control and concentrate on what I could control.  I wanted to maximize the benefits of my Fright Night experience.

The moment I reached the door to my house following my walk with Emily and Sissy, I made a snap decision.  Based on last night's success, I decided to go all in as a Western instructor in January.  That meant I should offer an eight-week Western class in the Class Factory catalogue for January-February 1980.  Realizing Country-Western dancing could turn out to be a Pot of Gold, there was no time to waste.

To be frank, I considered my relationship with Class Factory to be something of a small miracle in itself.  Starting in September 1978, for the past year, I had offered Disco classes through Class Factory.  This program had been the perfect vehicle on which to grow my Disco business.  After splitting the proceeds of my Beginner classes 50-50 with Deborah Gordon, many Class Factory students turned around and signed up directly through me for follow-up Intermediate and Advanced levels. 

In other words, many people started as Class Factory students, but they became Rick Archer students when their 8-week Beginner class ended.  This was unbelievable good fortune for me.  The biggest problem for a start-up business is finding customers.  New businesses have been known to spend a fortune in advertising.  Not me.  I had no need to advertise because Class Factory did the work for me.  It struck me as very odd that Deborah was paying me to send me customers.  Shouldn't it be the other way around?  However, I wasn't going to kick a gift horse in the mouth. 

Now that I had moved past my bad attitude, I was ready to embrace creating a Western dance program.  Now for the Supernatural element.  I had done this once before with Disco.  The blueprint was right in front of me.  Unlike Disco where I had stumbled every step of the way, this time I had a pretty good idea what steps to take to repeat my Disco success.  I even had a new hangout.  Cowboy would serve nicely as the Western equivalent to my dearly-departed and much beloved Pistachio Club.  Best of all, last night I enjoyed hearing a pleasant new type of Western music.  Perfect.  The women were beautiful, Cowboy was a palace, and the dancing was fun once I got the hang of it.  The upcoming Western Era no longer seemed quite so bleak.  In fact, I felt very optimistic.

My first step was to call my friend Deborah over at Class Factory.  This would be one of the most important phone calls I ever made.  Since Class Factory would be going to press with the January 1980 schedule any day now, I prayed I wasn't too late.  I estimated anywhere from four to six hundred Disco students had found me through the Class Factory in the past year.  Wouldn't it be nice to repeat that same energy with Western?

When I reached Deborah, she said my phone call was an odd coincidence.  Suddenly worried, I asked, "Oh really?  What happened?"

Deborah's response made me sick in my stomach. 

"I just left a message on the answering machine of some guy named Derek.  I was hoping he would teach Western dancing for the Class Factory. 

Oh, my word.  Please tell me I am not too late.  "Uh, gosh, Deborah, why didn't you call me first?"

"Don't you remember?  Last summer I asked you about it.  You said you didn't know how to teach Western.  Not only that, you swore you didn't want to have anything to do with Country-Western.  You seemed pretty adamant, so I assumed you were the last person to call."

I frowned.  Yes, now that she mentioned it, I did remember that conversation.  Deborah had caught me at a bad time when I was locked into my 'Death of Disco/I Hate Country' phase.  Due to my tragic love life and my disgust at the Cactus Club, I had brushed Deborah off without a second thought.  Hmm.  That was then, this was now.  Talk about cutting it close. If it hadn't been for last night's attitude adjustment at Cowboy, I would have missed this opportunity completely. 

Feeling nervous, maybe it was not too late.  "I've had a change of heart since then.  I am ready to teach a Country-Western course for you."

"That's awesome.  I would much rather give this country-western opportunity to you than some stranger.  Not just that, I very much appreciate your loyalty following Ted Weisgal's raid on my Class Factory instructors last summer."

We had never discussed this before, but I was glad she noticed.  Coming from Deborah, a woman I greatly admired, I was flattered.  I was also beyond grateful that the door was still open to teaching C&W classes.  How very curious that my change of heart coincided with the last possible day to add classes to next year's Class Factory schedule. 

"Listen, Rick, I want to finalize my schedule over the weekend.  Would you mind dropping by my office tomorrow to hand in your January dates for the new Western class?"

"I will see you sooner than that.  In one hour I have my Tuesday morning dance lesson with Glen.  His studio is right across the street from your office, so I will drop by around 11 after my lesson."

Deborah said that would be great.  After I hung up the phone, I was a bundle of nerves.  I shook my head in horror at the close call.  I had procrastinated so much that I had nearly lost this invaluable resource to another man.  It upset me that I had reached Deborah just in the nick of time.  Yet again I wondered if the Universe was looking over my shoulder.  It seemed like no matter how many times I dropped the ball, the Universe made sure I would succeed in spite of myself.  Behold the power of Dumb Luck. 

Suspicious

Lucky Break
Coincidence

THE MYSTERIOUS ABSENCE OF C&W TEACHERS

When I dropped by Deborah's office later that morning, she was happy to see me.

"Rick, I am so glad you called this morning!!  You took such a worry off my shoulders."

"I don't understand.  What are you talking about?"

"After you called me, that other instructor phoned back.  Derek told me he was a Ballroom instructor, but he was willing to learn to teach Western.  In other words, Derek doesn't have the slightest idea how to teach Country-Western.  If you hadn't called, I would have gone nuts."

So the guy did call back.  And he was willing to give it a try.  I had caught the train mere moments before it left the station!  I shook my head in wonder.  This incident was yet another reason why I seemed to be living a Charmed Life when it came to Country-Western dancing.  Unbelievable.

"I am really glad I called this morning."  Understatement of the century.

"Me too.  You know, I went through this back in 1978 when I first met you.  Lance Stevens was the only person in Houston willing to teach a Western crash course.  Here we are a year later and I still had trouble finding a western teacher.  What's going on here?  Why are there no Western instructors?"

"Gee, Deborah, I don't know why you were so worried.  You know full well that Lance Stevens knows how to teach Western dancing.  You could have called him!"

I was teasing.  I knew Deborah despised my boss.  As expected, she gave me a dirty look. 

"Are you kidding?  I would never hire Lance Stevens to teach a class again if my life depended on it.  I have a secret to tell you.  After my bad experience with Stevens, I wasn't about to make that mistake again.  Without your knowledge, when you first started teaching for me, I sent a girlfriend and her husband to take one of your Disco classes.  She reported that you are courteous to your customers and effective as a teacher.  I was so pleased that my first impression of you was accurate."

Recalling our fortuitous meeting during the summer of 1978, I thanked my lucky stars for meeting Deborah when I did.  This woman had opened the door that allowed me to create a program of my own. 

"I am glad you recognized that I am nothing like my boss."

"That's true.  But you know what, last week I actually did think about calling Lance Stevens.  That should show you how frustrated I was getting.  I have been getting some random phone calls about Country-Western dancing.  I decided I needed to hire a western instructor in case there is more interest as we get nearer to the movie's debut.  I went through the Yellow Pages last week and called five different Ballroom dance studios.  No luck.  No one knows how to teach it and no one even seems interested.  One studio gave me the phone number of some guy who learned to dance country up at Texas A&M, but he never called back.  Another studio referred me to this Derek guy.  So I have a question.  Do you have any idea why are there no country dance teachers? 

I nodded.  "I know exactly what you are talking about.  You are saying the same thing a lady named Sandy told me three months ago when she hired me to teach Western dancing for the Meyerland Club."

"What did she say?"

"Sandy said, 'I've been looking for someone to teach this class but so far no one seems to know how or show any interest.'

"Interesting.  Do you mind if I ask a nosy question?

"Of course not."

"How did you learn?"

I gave a rueful laugh.  "Let's just say I got lucky.  A bunch of rich Jewish ladies went on a shopping spree for the new Western fashions.  Then they decided to throw a Western-themed dance gala to use as an excuse to wear their new clothes.  After Sandy went out and hired a western band, the women suddenly realized none of them had a clue how to Western dance and neither did their husbands.  Sandy's next step was to hire a western dance instructor only to discover they didn't exist.  She remembered me from a Disco class I had taught earlier in the year, so I got the call.  The money was amazing, so I lied through my teeth and said I knew how to teach it.  Then to my dismay I couldn't find a western teacher either.  Thank goodness an old girlfriend named Joanne bailed me out."

A concerned look crossed Deborah's face.  "You took the job before you knew how to teach it?"

I shrugged.  "Uh, yes, kind of.  I figured I could pull it off."

Deborah shook her head in amazement.  "You took quite a gamble."

"To tell the truth, ordinarily I am extremely ambitious and I go after what I want.  But I did this entire Western thing backwards."

I explained how Joanne helped me, then added how Glen turned the corner for me. 

"Once Joanne's 'slow slow quick quick' suggestion helped me guess that Twostep was similar to Foxtrot, I was able to persuade Glen to help.  Then he was able to help me with the German Polka as well.  I gambled that German Polka was similar to Country Polka and took it from there."

"Am I hearing you correctly?  It sounds like you had no idea what you were doing."

"You are right.  I didn't have a clue, but why let that stop me?  I just needed to know more than my students, so each week I learned just enough to stay one week ahead.  For the past few months I have been learning how to teach Western as we went along."

"In other words, you figured this out on your own."

"Yes and no.  I was the one putting the puzzle together, but Joanne and Glen were instrumental in giving me clues.  Let me add that I made quite a fool of myself in the process."

"What do you mean by that?"

"There were several moments when people asked questions that I had no answer for.  I was forced to bluff my way through tough spots on more than one occasion."

"And you didn't get caught?"

"There were some close calls, but I always to seemed to squirm out of danger."

"So why did you learn and no one else?  The movie debut is just around the corner.  If you could pull this off and you say the dancing isn't that tough to learn, then why didn't someone else besides you recognize this opportunity?  Why is there no one but you?"

Hmm.  Should I mention my Charmed Life?  Probably not.  She already thinks I am weird enough as it is.

"That is a good question.  Glen told me the Disco and Ballroom teachers he knows are prejudiced against western music.  Another reason is that the Ballroom and Disco crowd is the direct opposite of the western crowd.  That's why they don't want to have anything to do with it.  In addition, no one knows if there is any money to be made teaching Western dancing.  Like I said, the dancing is pretty easy to learn.  Most people can pick it up on the spot if they can find someone to help them."

"What do you mean?"

I had an idea.  "Stand up, Deborah.  Let me show you the Prairie Twostep."

"No way!  I've never danced Western in my life.  I have no idea what to do!"

"That is my point exactly.  Western is so easy to learn, you don't even need lessons.  Here, let me show you."

Despite her reluctance, Deborah agreed to give it a try.  I put my arm around her and showed her original Prairie Twostep.  Here we go.  'Step-touch, step-touch, walk-walk.'   As expected, Deborah picked it up in no time.

Deborah looked surprised.  "That's a piece of cake.  Is that all there is to it?"

"Yes and no.  Apparently up at Texas A&M, there was an evolutionary breakthrough.  I don't know the details, but a new style of Twostep emerged.  Would you like to try it?"

Deborah nodded.  "Sure."

This time I taught her the New Twostep, the one I called 'Texas Twostep'.  After a couple slow slow quick quicks around her office, Deborah caught on.

"That was completely different.  Did you make that up?"

"Sort of.  I started with the Aggie Twostep and modified it with Ballroom Foxtrot patterns.  I did that more or less to save my dance career."

"What do you mean?"

"The Prairie Twostep is too easy.  That is what worries me.  Once people realize how simple Western dancing is, the cat will be out of the bag.  I am very worried there is not enough complexity to Western dancing to sustain the next stage of my dance career.  So I decided to change things up and pray my students will like it."

"What will you do if it doesn't pan out?"

"I guess I will try computer programming.  But I won't give up until I give it my best effort.  In the meantime, there's your answer to the missing C&W teachers.  No one is teaching Western because some hate the music and the others figure it is too simple to bother with." 

"I don't understand something.  I have never partner danced in my life, but it was easy to dance with you.  Why is that?"

"It's called 'Following', Deborah.  If a man knows how to lead, he becomes a girl's best friend.  My friend Joanne said she learned everything she knew just by following.  Joanne loved to irritate me by saying she never had pay a cent to learn Western."

I imitated Joanne's voice.  "Oh, gosh, Rick, why should I pay for it when I can get it for free?"

Deborah smiled.  "I see her point.  So do you expect any interest in your class next year?"

I shrugged.  "Who knows.  As things stand, almost no one in Houston knows how to Western dance.  It's brand new to everyone I know.  But the problem is that no one will need lessons.  The girls can pick it up just like you did.  If the guys can get a buddy or a girlfriend to show them the Prairie Twostep, they are good to go.  Country dancing in its current state is so easy that none of the dance professionals want to bother with it.  They are convinced there will be little need for teachers which is another way of saying there is no money." 

"I agree with you.  When I was looking for a teacher, I asked my friends if they knew someone.  They all drew a blank.  Other than you, no one knows a single thing about Country dancing.  Personally, I think the music is awful.  What's your excuse?  Why aren't you prejudiced towards the music? "

I winced.  "Good grief, I was the biggest bigot of all!  Until recently I was just as prejudiced as everyone else."

"What changed your mind?"

"I heard a different type of Western music that I like a lot.  I was surprised to learn some of the music isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was.  Plus the new C&W clubs are much more attractive than I was led to believe.   I am embarrassed to admit this, but my prejudice was based on ignorance.  Once I saw the big picture, I realized how foolish I have been.  I think Country dancing has the potential to become a lot more favorable than I expected. "

Deborah smiled.  "Well, good for you.  I'm glad it worked out for you.  Let's hope Western will be as valuable for us as it was for Disco."

I crossed my fingers.  "Amen."

On my way home, I thought about our conversation.  Based on what Deborah had said, it did not seem like I had much competition.

None of this made a bit of sense.  Cowboy had been with us since last February and now it was almost December.  Over the past ten months, I had yet to hear of another western instructor.  This was crazy.  Surely there were others who saw the potential in Western dancing.  Or maybe not.  

As it stood, it looked like I had a head start on everyone.  Oddly enough, this happened once before with Disco.  On the day Saturday Night Fever came to Houston, I had no competition.  In a city of one million plus, I stood alone for an entire month before other teachers could react.  Maybe lightning would strike twice.  If so, this unexpected development might become the opportunity of a lifetime.