In our family, it was taken for granted that you would dance.

Here’s my mom at about age six, in Newton, Massachusetts, about to be the bride in a show called “A Kewpie Wedding.”

Photo Credit: Woodman Family Collection

My sister Lee at a performance in Delhi. Of all of us kids, she got the furthest in ballet, advancing from flat shoes to point.

Photo credit: Woodman Family Collection

I didn’t escape participating in Woodstock School talent shows.

Photo credit: Woodman Family Collection

In addition to classical dance, we learned ballroom dancing-—box step, waltz, foxtrot, cha cha, and jitterbug. Thus prepared, we went forth, dressed in our best, to face the agony of wallflowerdom or the joy of a full dance ticket. (No, we didn’t actually have tickets, but I see I am clutching a little beaded evening bag, probably borrowed from my mother.)

Photo credit: Colby-Sawyer College Archives

At my parents’ frequent parties, we felt it high privilege to stay up and dance with the grownups. Here, Lee doesn’t quite come up to the armpit of family friend John Marsh.

Photo credit: Colby-Sawyer College Archives

My mom at a club in Delhi with another family friend, Ujjal Singh:

Photo credit: Colby-Sawyer College Archives

Tripping the light fantastic. That very expression makes me want to get up and dance!