Dance Your Ass Off

Dance Your Ass Off

When I was young, dancing was a big part of my enjoyment. We always had parties where dancing was the expected entertainment. We had slow dancing, jitterbug dancing, bumping and grinding, disco dancing, dancing the twist and five different kinds of line dancing. We danced all night and sweated like Sumo Wrestlers. 


We ate and drank and sweated it all out before the party was over. We marveled at the best dancers and laughed at the ones who couldn't keep a beat. The music was infectious. The songs from the best groups were created to be dance music not just listening music. If the music had a great beat and was easy to dance to it sold well. Nobody really cared what the words were as long as the beat was right. Very few songs had deep intellectual messages.


The slow songs were love songs and the fast songs had very few lyrics. New groups created songs that would use different dance steps to make them popular. The Diamonds created The Stroll. Chubby Checker created the twist. Some of the kids created their own line dances and we would all follow their lead.


There were dance contests. There were dance TV shows like Soul Train and Bandstand. In those shows the kids on the show danced. They were the show. The best dancers were allowed to stay from show to show. I had my brief stint on Bandstand. I had to take three busses to get to the show after school, but, it was well worth it to be able to dance on TV. I really loved to dance. All the bullshit going on in my life and the world was gone while I was dancing my ass off.


Dancing was a big part of our lives and our happiness. Then the seventies and eighties happened. People stopped dancing and started listening to the words. It was a time in our history where young people were angry at the establishment and our country's politics. The Vietnam War was the catalyst for groups wanting to send a message. Although, this was the most meaningful time of young people's lives, it limited the number of songs that were just fun to dance to.


In the eighties and nineties, young and old people stopped having dance parties in their homes. They went to concerts where they just stood up and cheered. They went to venues (like Raves) where the music was so loud you couldn't talk to the person next to you. The crowd was so huge that all you could do was listen to the music and jump up and down. No more line dancing. No more new dance steps. No more bumping and grinding. Dancing was not the reason you got together - it was all about the music. You had to go to a wedding or a special event to dance.


Today, dancing is almost a lost art. Yes we have TV shows like "Dancing With The Stars," but now we're watching not participating. I guess nobody wants to sweat like Sumo Wrestlers anymore. Since I'm from the good old days, my wife and I have parties with our friends and play oldies and dance our ass off.  Everybody has a fabulous time dancing.


I believe the kids today would rather go to a party and just listen to very loud music while getting stoned.  The closeness you feel when slow dancing or even fast dancing with your friends is gone. Getting laid has replaced slow intimate dancing. I'm all for getting laid, but how about doing that after you had fun dancing your ass off.  You can do both.


Other than a party, where do 40 - 80 year old people go to dance? Very few places exist so we eat and drink at bars while listening to a piano or piped in music. Sometimes my wife and I get off our stool and find an open space, at the bar, where we can dance. People like watching us because they see we're having fun. However, in a bar with over a hundred people, two seniors and maybe one other couple are dancing. Everybody else is watching.


Dancing is great exercise, stimulating, embraces another human being and a shit lot of fun. We need to find a way to put dancing back into our lives. We need to get our kids to enjoy dancing. We need restaurants and bars to give some of their eating and drinking space to enable at least four couples to dance.

We need to sweat like Sumo Wrestlers while laughing and having fun Dancing Our Ass Off!