Dance Lesson

My dance coach intimidates me. He's kind of goofy but also very exacting. And sometimes it's hard to tell when he's kidding. I hate practicing on the same ice that he's on when I'm not in a lesson. I always feel like he's watching out of the corner of his eye and disapproving of my skating. I always want so very badly to please him during my lessons. I try to apply the specific instructions he's giving me while trying to also perform the dance well and to do so, I have to concentrate very hard. This concentration often shows on my face. Sometimes, it's just a look of pure determination. Once, while working on the swing dance, he told me to relax, that, "sometimes, you get a bit stare-y."

Recently, we were going through the ten-fox and doing the dance in hold. It was the first time we'd ever done it in hold and we never get through a dance in hold the first time. He always stops me to give me a correction. So when we got through the side pattern and started going around the end, I kept expecting him to stop me at any second. At the same time, I was trying to follow him and figure out how the partnering part was supposed to go. And while I was keeping up with that, I was trying to read him to figure out if I was on the right path. I see him giving me a strange look as we finish the pattern.

"Why are you giving me a funny look?" he asked me.
"You were giving me a funny look!" I explained.
"Oh, well that's because you were giving me a funny look."
Oh, well, that's settled.
"I guess we have a chicken-and-egg situation here," he quipped, "which one do you want to be?"
We both paused a beat and then spoke at the same time.
"I'll be the chicken."
"I'll be the egg."
"Oh, good," he said, "at least we're on the same page about something."