Q. I am helping to organise my brother’s 18th birthday
party. Too late we find out that our grandmother has given him the ‘treat’ of booking an old-timer’s band which can only play waltzes, etc. None of us wants to hurt Granny’s feelings but none of my brother’s generation can do that sort of dancing. How can we avert this disaster?
Name and address withheld A. Turn the problem to your advantage by putting the word around that everyone must try their best to make a fist of waltzing so as not to disappoint the well-meaning granny. Enliven the proceedings by kicking off with a traditional holly and balloon waltz. Herein the men have holly strapped to their backs, the women balloons, and the woman who survives the longest without her balloon being burst will be the winner of a prize. Everyone will be secretly delighted to be forced into old-fashioned intimate physical contact with their dancing partners. You can even make a feature of the debacle by giving out dance cards, bossily doing the first three partnerings yourself to counteract shyness. Your naiveseeming granny may turn out to be cleverer than you think.
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