Dancing Queen.

I love to dance.
Whether I am good at it is another matter.
I only know, that when the right music starts to play, I am the first one out on the dance floor.
I do not have to be persuaded or told twice.
I need no partner.
I do not care who is watching.
I will dance alone or in a room full of people, all I need is a music that captivates me. A melody with a rhythm or a beat, that makes me want to move.

I am not the only one in my family. My sister shares this passion, with one crucial exception; she actually makes it look good. We inherited our love for dance from our parents, both skillful dancers. Still, to this day, I own one of the numerous beautiful, custom made gowns that my mother has had made for the many balls, she and my father would attend as a young couple. It is a silver-blue evening dress, in a timeless cut and I hope one day to be able to wear it to an event it was designed for.

Each year, in the period stretching from February to April, ballroom dancing events were held almost every weekend in grand old hotels, when I was a child in the former Czechoslovakia. Both my parents loved to attend these, together with the circle of their friends. I recall how excited my mother was when she finally got her finished dress delivered and she was getting ready for an evening out. She always looked beautiful.

Of course my sister and I never got to experience ballroom dancing, but we became true 'dancing queens' at any discothèque we would attend when we were younger. To us it was not important who asked us to dance or whether we would be dancing alone. We usually just moved to the dance floor as soon as we arrived and left it at closing time. We were joined by various dancing partners during the course of the evening, but they all would leave us quiet rapidly, when they realized we had no intention of doing anything else but dancing.

Gone are those days and I cannot recall last time that I danced in public. But put the right music on and I will be taken back in time and place, becoming the queen of a dance floor. If not in skill, at least in passion.

Below is a rare clip of ABBA's gigantic hit "Dancing Queen", as it was performed for the first time ever publicly, in honour of the King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the night before he was to marry Silvia Sommerlath in June 1976. You can briefly see the young royal couple in the end of the clip.

Happy Monday everyone.
And don’t forget to dance.