In late December this past year, I went to a Latin Dance Party in downtown Minneapolis. I had met someone online and they were Latina and I thought hey, why not try something different. I was very pleasantly surprised. At this party, which cost $20 a head, there were 300 people dancing to a 10 piece band. It was a ton of fun! I enjoyed the night immensely.
Now I must say I like to dance. I am not a particularly good dancer (especially with a bunch of Latinas), but I am uninhibited and my partner and I danced pretty much non-stop for 2 hours. We are in our mid-sixties, so I was impressed with my friend and myself.
It was a couple days later when it hit me; How come we don’t dance anymore? For my generation, it seems opportunities to dance has fallen off a lot recently and I have witnessed and been told by the younger generations that they too, don’t dance as often as they used to. Now I went online and found there are others concerned about this issue and give reasons like the millenials are self conscious, are always on social media, the intrusion of a virtual you has made people unwilling take and chance, pop music today is geared toward listening and not dancing, etc, etc…
Couple observations of mine:
- Men, it starts with you. Get off your butt and dance. It’s good for everyone. For your kids, for your health, etc. Seriously what the hell.
- Age doesn’t matter. When you go to a good wedding dance, everyone is dancing kids, grandmas, teenagers, 40 somethings, etc.
- Clubs, discotechs, bars, etc. clear some space for dance floor.
- I prefer live music (we should support this more) but a dj works just fine if people dance to it.
I don’t really feel anything is actually broken that a few good men and women couldn’t fix.
- Next time you’re at a bar and hear danceable music, grab (ask nicely) a woman and dance.
- Musicians learn some music people like to dance to.
- Don’t forget to dance around the house and teach the youngester about a wonderful and ancient way to express yourself where there are no rules so there should be no judgement.
Keep dancing – Todd
Here is a tutorial for those of you interested in starting from scratch. J