Todd’s Two Cents – How come we don’t dance?

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Age doesn’t matter. When you go to a good wedding dance, everyone is dancing kids, grandmas, teenagers, 40 somethings, etc.
  3. Clubs, discotechs, bars, etc. clear some space for dance floor.
  4. 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