David Does Irish Dancing at the Oasis

David nodded his head slowly. Then he looked at the two young women with a rueful smile.
"Yup, my mother won all the arguments with my father. Firstly, we went to live in Ireland and not in Spain. Secondly, I went to Irish dancing schools from the age of seven. But my father won in one matter. Through him I became fascinated by deserts and chose desert irrigation and desert reclamation as my field of study."

"Because of this, I went to study at the University of Chicago, where I met my friend, Parval. And I've a lot more to tell you about him later. But because of our work together, here i am at your oasis.""My mother, as usual, had the last word. She came with me to Chicago and made sure that I enrolled at the best Irish dancing school there. Chicago is full of Irish people, you know."

Rani, with a look of impatience, interrupted him.
"David! I'm so sorry but that's enough talking for the moment. Of course we want to hear more about you and Parval very much but first of all, show us some of your dancing."
"What? You want me to dance here? Now?"
"Yes David. Now. Please. We already know that dancing is a part of you. A part of you that intrigues us."
"Hmmmm. Well OK. Some Spanish dancing first. There are many forms of it. Depends on the region. Wait, let me think."
He looked down at the floor for a while before he turned to the younger of the two woman.
"Desi, please fetch a drinking glass half full of water."

When it arrived, he placed it in the middle of the wooden floor. Then he stood astride the glass with his feet slightly apart. He held his arms, bent at the elbows, up high.
The two women were fascinated.
On his request they began to clap their hands at a fairly fast rate.
He looked up at his friends and nodded. "Yes. That's it. Keep clapping like that."

He began to do small steps on the spot. Then he lifted one leg and kicked past one side of the glass and did the same with the other. Repeating these steps many times, he circled around the glass three times.
He changed the pattern by passing each lifted leg over the top of the glass for a few times.He stared at the glass while doing many small jog steps and then suddenly jumped and landed, perfectly balanced, with the sides of his shoe soles resting on opposite sides of the glass rim.

With his hands in the air, he remained there for a few minutes before carefully jumping up again and landing with his feet on the floor on either side of the glass.

The two women applauded enthusiastically. "Hey David, that was amazing."
"I'm sorry. I'm out of practise. I see that I spilled a couple of drops. In San Sebastian, there would have been no applause for me on this occasion."
"Now, David. That's not all. What about the dancing your mother taught you?"
"So now you want to see the Irish step dancing? Wait here. Don't go away. I'll have to go and fetch my dancing shoes for that."

When he came back, they first of all wanted to examine the shoes carefully before they let him put them on. They had examined the metallic inserts on the undersides with great curiosity..
"I'm glad about this wooden floor. You'll hear the clicks and the taps. This time you won't have to clap hands" he said.
He walked over to one wall where he flexed his arm and leg muscles. Then he began tapping his feet on the spot almost without any leg movement. His arms were at his sides with elbows bent.

He began moving forward. He swung a leg forward. When he returned this leg, he did a fast toe-heel-toe tap combination before swinging the same leg forward again. He did this twice with each leg until he had crossed the floor. There he did fast taps as he turned around and then he leaped into the air with one leg out sideways and quickly clicking the two feet together while in mid-air before landing again on the floor.

He repeated this leap and clicked with the other leg. Then he placed his hands on his hips and then doing a rapid tap dance moved back to the first wall.
He turned around and moving like a prancing horse, did high kicks until he reached the other side.
He then turned and bowed towards the girls with his arms stretched out to the sides.
Both Rani and Desi jumped up and applauded enthusiastically. He looked at each one in turn and then up to the ceiling. He seemed to be slightly exhausted but he had a smile. He looked happy as he breathed deeply a few times.

Rani reached out and took his hand and began to pull him.
"Come, you two. Let's go and have something to eat. But David, you're not quite off the hook yet. You still have more to tell us."
While they ate and drank tea, Desi looked at Rani.
"If David can dance like this, it surely won't take him long to learn some of our dances. He has the ability. He just needs the practise."
Rani nodded her head and said: "Oh yes! We've seen that so clearly here. But don't worry about that now, David. We'll discuss your dancing lessons with you later."