Dear Fred,

There are many sayings about men who dance and men who don't. Some claim that good dancers make good lovers. Others claim the opposite. Some claim that you can gauge a man's sensitivity by his ability to couple with you on the dance floor. (Does he lead? Does he follow? Does he crush your toes? Does he dance for the mirror more than for you?) Some claim that a man who does not dance is a cold fish who is out of touch with his emotions.

There is the possibility of truth in all these sayings, and your mother may have been burned by a man who would not dance with her (I'm hoping it wasn't your father?), but for every man who supports these opinions there is another one who proves them to be just myths.

Do not be so fast to give up on him in this matter. I think there is a dancer inside every man. I also think there is a singer and a painter and a poet and a wild child inside every man. The trick is to unleash those inner creatures that have been suppressed. You should begin by playing a variety of rhythmic music when the two of you are alone at home. See what he responds to. Move closer to him and match his movements. If he doesn't feel self-conscious, he is more apt to respond naturally and comfortably to the music. Once the two of you are in sync, you should reinforce the moment by shifting gears into having sex while the music is still playing. (This very much follows the way you would paper train a dog, moving the newspaper closer and closer to the door until the pet finally makes the proper and permanent associations and is happily housebroken.) Discover your boyfriend's natural internal beats-per-minute, match it, sexualize it, work it and own it.

If your natural rhythm is Add It Up by the Violent Femmes and his is We've Only Just Begun by The Carpenters, you've got your work cut out for you. For me, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin is the song that matches my natural sexual rhythm, but Cazwell's Is It All Over My Face? is my natural dance music. That's right, I'm bi-rhythmic!

I'm guessing that your boyfriend may not dislike dancing as much as he perhaps dislikes what is commonly served up as dance music. He may also dislike dance venues with their terrifying volume and seizure-inducing lights. He may also not be fond of the drugs and booze around which most gay club music is designed. If that is the case, you really ought to admire rather than disparage the discriminations of his recreative taste.

If dancing is what you love more than anything, and if you must do it often for the rest of your ambulatory life, and if you can't be satisfied dancing alone or with a pole rather than a partner, and if you can't make it less of a priority than other activities that you both enjoy, and if you can't figure out how to unleash the natural dancer within him, then yes, you should run the other way - for his sake more than yours.