The first dance in 1962 Derby

     Continuing the story of the young Iraqis of Derby .........                                             

The boys began to sneak into Derby town center individually or in pairs at night to look at the shops cafes and people.  They were excited to see young men and beautiful young girls walking down the streets hand in hand, and in a few occasions kissing at street corners.

One night Hama returned totally flushed and exited. You never guess what I did tonight, he said: I put my hand around a beautiful girl's waist, and my cheek on her cheek. He posed to see the reaction of the group who were all ears then bombarded  : she sat on  my lap  !  .

Hassan : Stop, now tell us from the beginning.

Amjad   : Yes, from A to Z.

Hama   : Well, I was walking down the main street when a middle aged man came to me and said his name was Peter and that he has a small social club which he runs as a hobby and asked if I would be interested to have a look.

We climbed a narrow long stair. Peter opened the door and we came to a hall. In one corner there was a gramophone with some discs and around the room there were some chairs.  Soon after our arrival a number of young men and women came and after greeting Peter and paying him an entrance fee of one shilling (The Pound was 20 shillings in those days), stood by waiting for the music. Peter explained that he takes this small fee to cover the rent of the hall .Peter introduced me to the people. He put on a record and came back to me and said watch me I will show you how you can dance.

 He asked one of the girls to help him. She didn't mind.  He took  the girl's  right  hand into his left hand and raised  high,  then placed her right hand on his shoulder  and his right  hand round her waist and said now look at my feet ;  one ,two ,three , … one , two , three .

Her right foot moved  smoothly  with his left foot forward to the left  followed by her left foot and his right to the right in a swing movement then his right  back a little and her left  joins his right  in a stop position before resuming the same movements again  . Peter and the girl went round the hall swaying beautifully with the music then came back to me. Peter with a respectful bow to the girl and another bow to me invited me to dance with the girl.

 I meticulously followed the instructions and after a few stepping over the poor girl's toe nails I got the hang of the dance.  When the music went soft and slow I was a little bit naughty and moved my cheek on to her cheek and held her a little bit tight.

The boys were following in their minds Hama's vivid description as he was at the same time acting the whole episode. So when he stopped they shouted on him to carry on.

Hama said: Very sorry but that’s all.

Falah: No that’s not all. What about the sitting on the lap?

Hama: Ah, yes. They have a play they call musical chairs I think. They place chairs in the middle of the hall back to back. The number of the chairs is less than the number of the   people present. When the music starts everybody go dancing around the chairs. When the music suddenly stops the men rush to secure a chair to sit on, the girls and the remaining men will have no chairs.  The girls are obliged to sit on the lap of the nearest sitting man. The men who failed to grab a chair would only have to wait for a few seconds before the music starts again and everybody joins joyfully dancing around the chairs waiting for a better luck when the music stops.  

Needless to say god old Peter had four new customers the following night and a total of five shillings contribution to the rent from the young Iraqi guests of Derby.