It is 4 am and I finished off a carton of ice cream, so I am writing this article.

When I was young, back in 1993, I went to my first Israeli Dance camp, which was at Blue Star in Ashville, North Carolina and the mother of all Israeli Dance camps, lasting seven days.

I met a women there who was half a generation ahead of me, but seemed a lifetime away. I will call her Esther. She was widowed and had grown children. She was nice enough, but I did not think much about her, as I ran around doing my own thing.

My community started holding the dance camp Machol Miami in the winters in Ft. Lauderdale. Each year Esther came and she always made a point of talking with me and getting in a partner set a night.  She made friends with another good friend of mine too. She liked to do the partner sets and she figured she had to line up partners. Not that I felt used.

I saw her around the country a bit at other camps and sessions on some of my travels. In a strange coincidence, it turns out at her regular group she dances with my second cousin-once-removed. Whenever I see her, she tells me my cousin says hello, which is a sweet connection.

For no other reason than our times of life, I never would have thought we would have become friends, but I have gotten used to seeing her and enjoy her company.

We have a good rapport. With some people you find you always have good conversation. This year at Machol Miami, I found myself hanging out and dancing with her as much as anyone else.

You never know where your  friends are going to come from. 

By Andrew Weitzen, IsraeliDance.info, IsraeliPartnerDancing.com Bronze Inc. (c) 2010.

Andrew Weitzen is the author of Partnership Dancing™, How to Communicate Every Step in Every Social Dance Unambiguously.