dancing – Dating & Dining

Jason’s Take

Linda and I are taking dancing lessons, which means we are also always interested in finding places to dance.

Enter’s Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill. They’ve got live music at least 4 nights a week, and the biggest dance floor I’ve seen in the western suburbs.

It’s gimmicky, it’s country, and the giant guitar-shaped bar can be irritating to walk around, but it’s fun.

The food…sucks. I’ve never been happy eating there. I’ll occasionally get an appetizer, but I try to avoid it. It’s all greasy and not worth getting.

The music, however is good. It’s almost all some blend of country and rock, which makes for fun music to dance to.

If you’re going to dance, I recommend getting there about 9. That’s when the music usually starts, and by 10:30, there are so many obnoxious drunks standing around the dance floor that dancing is almost impossible.

I know some people are offended by waitresses dressed slutty, but it’s not that bad. It’s a bunch of attractive women in shorts and tank tops that don’t leave a lot to the imagination, but they fade in to the scenery pretty fast. By your third visit, you hardly notice. I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

So I’m a country girl at heart, even though I grew up in a city suburb; put me on a horse and I’m in heaven.

So naturally, I like country music…really anything with a good beat is alright with me, but I mostly listen to country. So ever since Jason and I started taking our dance lessons, it only made sense to use what we are learning on a regular basis, right? Toby Keith’s Bar and Grill is really close to us, so, duh, it makes sense to shake our groove thing there!

We had been there a couple of times before to eat, but I don’t think I’ll ever order food there again. It seems to be just one step up from fast food for twice the price, however it’s an awesome place to go to and listen to live country music and, with a bigger dance floor than most places, this works for us really well!

But only if people that just stand on the dance floor and hold drinks and don’t dance taking up space on the dance floor get OFF the dance floor! (editor’s note: Or just die!) Oh gosh, that’s so annoying!

We found out that you don’t need to know how to line dance to be able to dance there, however, I wouldn’t mind learning some of that, just not the Achey Breaky that I was thought back in Jr. High School. Swing dancing works well with just about any up-beat song! Get a bunch of turns going and you look like a pro! And don’t worry if you fall on your ass, we have seen that a few times out there!

There is almost a live band every night, and most are really good. Also it’s only a $5.00 cover on Friday and Saturday nights, and there is no cover for Sunday – Thursday. Great way to practice dancing and have a few drinks, or just to have some country fun.

3 out of 5 pants off

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Jason’s Take

When we got married half a lifetime ago, we decided to take dancing lessons for the reception. And we rocked it.

A few months ago, Linda found a Groupon for the same studio (Fred Astaire in Eagan), so she signed us up, and we’ve been going every week since.

And we’re still rocking it.

Chad and Beth are our instructors and they are good at what they do. Once you get past the beginner stage, you’ll pick four dances to focus on. Their theory is that it’s as easy to learn 4 dances as it is to learn two, because so many of the steps are similar. We learning the Waltz, Rumba, Swing, and Tango. Just like Gomez and Morticia.

Some guys are going to read this and think they can’t take dance lessons because it’s too girly. All I can say to that is that dancing is foreplay. There ain’t nothing un-manly about foreplay.

And seriously, if you go there, tell them Jason and Linda sent you. You’ll get a discount and we’ll get a free lesson.

5 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

A few months back, Jason and I were looking to going out on dates to connect with each other. I looked on Groupon and found a beginner group dance class at Fred Astaire Dance Studio. I found some more information about the place and found out that this was where we took dance lessons at before we got married, now in a new location.

I kept this as a total surprise to Jason, not giving any hints as to what we were going to do. When we got there I saw the biggest smile on his face and he was super happy to do this with me again. I felt like I did something right and was also super happy.

After we did our Groupon special–an unlimited month’s worth of beginner group lessons for only $69.00–we decided that we should make this a hobby to get better at. So we signed up for a beginner package deal. Plus, if we had friends to join up for any classes we would get a free class and friends would get a discount on their package classes.

Ballroom dancing is something that you both have to work at, just like a relationship. You have to work together to sync up, and when you do, magic happens!

I have to admit that when we go out dancing at local places, I love being the girl that others girls look at while I’m dancing with Jason and they are thinking, “I wish my boyfriend would learn how to dance with me like that!” Actually Jason is the one who pointed that out to me, when we are dancing I’m totally focusing on him.

5 out of 5 pants off!!!