Sentence Combining Practice #2Sentence Combining Practice #2

Practice 2 – With a partner

Directions:  Copy and paste the paragraphs below into a Google Doc.  Be sure to put both partners names at the top and one partner should share access with the other.  Together, break down the paragraphs one sentence at a time.  Every time you see a period, click “enter”.  Revise sentences so there is a balance between simple, compound, and complex sentences.  Then, put the sentences back together into paragraphs.

I believe in dancing.I believe it is in my nature to dance.  It is the virtue of the beat of my heart.  It is in the pulse of my blood. The music is in my mind. So I dance daily.  The seldom-used dining room of my house is now an often-used ballroom.  It is an open space with a hardwood floor, stereo, and a disco ball. The CD-changer has six discs at the ready: waltz, swing, country, rock-and-roll, salsa, and tango.  Each morning when I walk through the house on the way to make coffee, I turn on the music.  Then Ihit the “shuffle” button.  It’s Dance Time!   I dance alone to whatever is playing.  It’s a form of existential aerobics. A moving meditation.

Tango is a recent enthusiasm. It’s a complex and difficult dance.  I’m up to three lessons a week.   I also go out dancing three nights.  I’m off to Buenos Aires for three months of immersion in tango culture.

The first time I went tango dancing I was too intimidated to get out on the floor.  I remembered another time I had stayed on the sideline.  The dancing began after a village wedding on the Greek island of Crete.  The fancy footwork confused me. “Don’t make a fool of yourself,” I thought. “Just watch.”  Reading my mind, an older woman dropped out of the dance.  She sat down beside me, and said, “If you join the dancing, you will feel foolish. If you do not, you will also feel foolish. So, why not dance?”  And, she said she had a secret for me. She whispered, “If you do not dance, we will know you are a fool.  But if you dance, we will think well of you for trying.”  Recalling her wise words, I took up the challenge of tango.