I’m sad that my generation doesn’t have any dances. The last one I remember learning came in handy at a slew of sleepovers – the Macarena. Thanks, Dance Mix ’95.
But seriously, aren’t dances little cultural touchstones that we all deserve? Movements to sear a moment in time on the brain. I’d like one, please! Look at the revival of Motown nights and periodic swing dancing that pops up in the city (which verges on the violent). If there’s an appetite for mechanical relics, why can’t we rehearse something new?
Look (not that it’s new) I like slow dancing (timeless!). It a) gives you a break and b) lets you legitimately embrace someone. But unless I’m at a high school dance (which for the record I no longer attend) or someone’s wedding (where I usually dance with my Dad), those opportunities are rare indeed. What does it mean to dance now, everybody?
Now when I go dancing I feel lost in a sea of self-conscious gyration. We all just do our own thing(s) with questionable eye contact. Individualism? Not a chdance.
I just want to dance with my baby!!
Hey hey, not so fast. We have the cooking dance:
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=cooking+dance&pbx=1&oq=cooking+dance&aq=f&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=991l2356l0l2476l13l11l0l1l1l0l127l965l8.3l12l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=a965486bfdfd71be&biw=1280&bih=909
I urge you to become a master chef.
Revisionist history revises incessantly. In 1962, I was 12 with a big radio with 10 D-cells and lots of tubes – it weighed a ton. The Twist was getting a bit old – Let’s Twist again was receding. The Hucklebuck and the Stroll and even the Bristol Stomp all this pre Beatles and post Elvis was getting complicated. And after delivering the Toronto Telegram just as the Cuban Missile Crisis was heating up (post Bay of Pigs) and the Diefenbuck (@92.5 cents US) was outraging Canadians, Dee Dee Sharp took the world by Storm with the Mashed Potato Time.
Like everyone was just like totally blown away – there were only two types of people in the world – those who could do it and those who wanted to learn it.
Different times but you always totally knew when a new dance sensation had hit and for however short a spell just before Surfin’ USA – this defined life almost exactly 50 years ago tonight…. Give it a listen….especially as she reviews all the dances of the day in the lyrics … see how many you recognize – if none – I forgive you….