Crazy On Tap - last unclear urgelt word... help!

the final version of Urgelts essay... what is dance to me? nothing...

What is dance to me? Essay by Urgelt

What is dance to me? Nothing much!

As a boy I was far to shy to dance.

To place my gawky adolescent body on display, for all to see.

To reveal it's gracelessness would have been an unbearable humiliation.

In college, my girl friend compelled me to join her on the dance floor.

But in 1973 such dances amounted to little more than shuffling foot to foot with a drink in one hand.

In later years I didn't dance.

I walked, I played at sports, and threw parties, but no body danced.

If I loaded a canoe and headed into the back country,

against a stiff head wind on a wilderness lake - I wasn't dancing.

If dove head first down a steep hill to keep a volleyball from rolling half a mile down to the river - it wasn't dancing.

If I went to a show, I would see comedians, stocking back and forth on the stage,

punctuating their jokes with crude gestions - but they weren't dancing.

I saw elegant Shakespearean plays filled with fencing and passionate sword a quaise - but they weren't dancing.

I attended concerts under the stars on a blanket, laid on a wet grass, but I wasn't dancing.

If I went to an Alvin Ailey dance performance, it was to stare, slack jawed at the live bodies of dancers,

speaking the language, I could not, understand.

And now I don't dance. To even walk, I must lean on a cane.

And if I sway from side to side, or tap my foot and music fills my ears, it's not dancing.

If rain leaves a mud puddle in my path and I stomp gleefully, right through the middle of it, it's not dancing.

And if I twirl my cane and toss it in to the air for the sheer joy of it, it's not dancing.

What is dance to me? Nothing much!