Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 961, Learning to Dance.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 961.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Arthur and Martha about learning how to dance.
Let's get started.
You know that you've taken on an impossible task, right?
Teaching you to dance?
I'm sure you're selling yourself short.
No, really.
I have two left feet.
I'm completely uncoordinated and have no sense of rhythm.
I'm just not cut out for dancing.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
We'll first start by loosening up and swaying to the music.
You don't even need to swing your hips yet.
That's good because I don't think I can learn even the simplest dance steps.
Not only will I teach you some useful dance steps, we'll put together a dance routine down the line.
That seems like a pipe dream to me.
Nonsense.
Before long, dancing to you will be as effortless as breathing.
But until then, I'll look and feel like a dancing hippo.
Our dialogue begins with Arthur.
Saying is a phrasal verb meaning to agree to do something that is perhaps going to be very difficult, to accept a challenge, to do something that will be hard.
I've taken on an impossible task means I'm trying to do something that will be very difficult and perhaps even not or impossible altogether.
Arthur makes this into a question by adding the word right at the end and using what is called a rising intonation, where the voice goes up.
You're going right.
You are indicating that this is a question, not just a statement.
Martha says teaching you to dance is Martha doesn't think teaching Arthur to dance is an impossible task.
She says To sell yourself short is is a phrasal verb meaning to underestimate your abilities, to believe that you can't do something that you really can.
Arthur says, no, really, I have two left feet.
This is an old expression.
To have two left feet means that you are a very bad dancer, that you can't dance very well.
Of course, everyone or most people have a left foot and a right foot.
If you had two feet that were both left feet, well, you probably couldn't walk or dance very well.
That's what the expression is saying here.
Arthur says, To be uncoordinated is to be not coordinated.
To be coordinated then, means to be able to use your body in a way that allows you to be graceful, to do what you want to do with your body.
An athlete, for example, has to be very coordinated.
They have to be able to use their arms and legs and body together in such a way as to be able to do what they need to do in their sport.
Here Arthur is saying he is uncoordinated, meaning he's not able to use his body to do what he would need to do to be a dancer.
He says also that he has no sense of rhythm.
To have a sense S-E-N-S-E of something means to know about something or to have the ability to do something.
Rhythm.
R-H-Y-T-H-M is the regular strong points in a song, what we would call the beats.
Of Your ability to feel the beats is a sense of rhythm.
For example, a waltz, a formal dance, the rhythm might be 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3.
And in a different kind of dance, it may be 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, or 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4.
There are different accents, different strong points in the music.
Having a sense of rhythm is important in dancing, because you have to be able to dance according to the rhythm of the song.
Arthur says I'm just not cut out for dancing.
The expression to be cut out for something means that you are qualified to do something or you are prepared to do something.
It can also mean that you have the natural ability to do something.
I am not cut out for camping.
It's not something that I like to do and it's not something that I want to learn to do, because I don't think I would be very good at it.
I'm not cut out for camping.
Arthur is not cut out for dancing.
But Martha says, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
To get ahead of yourself means to worry about things that will happen in the future before you should be worrying about them.
It can also mean that you are focusing on what is going to happen later rather than what you should be doing now.
To get ahead of yourself would be, for example, to plan your wedding before you actually have met anyone to marry.
That would be getting ahead of yourself, although I understand many women do that anyway.
Martha says, we'll just start by loosening up and swaying to the music.
To loosen up is a phrasal verb meaning to relax, to allow your body and the muscles in your body to be relaxed, not to be tense.
Sway, S-W-A-Y, means to move back and forth once again to the rhythm or the beat of the music.
So Martha is suggesting that they just relax and move back and forth with the music before they actually start dancing.
She says, you don't even need to swing your hips yet.
To swing, S-W-I-N-G, your hips, H-I-P-S. means to move your hips back and forth.
Your hips are the part of your body on the side of your body where your leg meets the rest of your body basically,
Arthur says, that's good because I don't think I can learn even the simplest dance steps.
Dance steps are the individual movements or parts of a dance.
Martha says not only will I teach you some useful dance steps, we'll put together a dance routine down the line.
A dance routine.
R-O-U-T-I-N-E is a whole series of dance steps that that you memorize and are able to perform down the line is an expression meaning later in the future or eventually down the line.
I hope to retire to Hawaii someday in the future.
I do, maybe someday.
Arthur doesn't believe Martha.
He says That seems like a pipe dream to me.
A pipe, P-I-P-E, dream is a dream about something you want to achieve in the future that is impossible, that will never happen, that is not something that you will be able to do.
That's a pipe dream.
Martha says nonsense, meaning nothing.
You are wrong.
I don't believe what you're saying.
Nonsense.
Before long, meaning soon, dancing to you will be as effortless as breathing.
Something that is effortless, E-F-F-O-R-T-L-E-S-S, is very easy.
You can do it without trying.
Arthur is making a joke here.
He says until he learns to dance, he will look like a hippo That is dancing.
A hippo, H-I-P-P-O, is short for hippopotamus, which is a large animal with very short legs and a big belly and a big head that would, of course, look rather funny if it were to dance.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
You know that you've taken on an impossible task, right?
Teaching you to dance?
I'm sure you're selling yourself short.
No, really.
I have two left feet.
I'm completely uncoordinated and have no sense of rhythm.
I'm just not cut out for dancing.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
We'll just start by loosening up and swaying to the music.
You don't even need to swing your hips yet.
That's good, because I don't think I can learn even the simplest dance steps.
Not only will I teach you some useful dance steps, we'll put together a dance routine down the line.
That seems like a pipe dream to me.
Nonsense.
Before long, dancing to you will be as effortless as breathing.
But until then, I'll look and feel like a dancing hippo.
Dr. Lucy Say is definitely cut out for script writing.
And we thank her for being the script writer here at ESL Podcast.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
