Dance as if No One is Watching

I like to dance as if no one is watching. I dance at wedding receptions, office parties, at home with my kids, and even when I am home by myself. It is freeing and is one of the times when I feel most like the real me. Just the joy of moving your body to a rhythm is so pure and so true — so why is it that so many Middle and High Schools are canceling Homecoming and other dances?

When my older kid was a Senior in High School in 2004, apparently his class of students acted so badly that dances for the rest of the year were banned. Some of the kids came to the dance inebriated or were sneaking alcohol into the venue. They were dancing inappropriately and were confrontational to the chaperones.

Ever since then, parents are required to sign contracts agreeing that if called, they will come and pick up their child if they are found to be violating any rule of said contract. More than one child suffered from alcohol poisoning at dances that year.

It was not just at High School level. At Middle school, church sponsored dances, parent chaperones were asked to break up any couples slow dancing. Right. I am a petite person compared to many adolescent boys and girls and I am expected to be intimidating enough to separate a hormonal couple of young adults slow dancing-can you guess what they would suggest that I do?!

My daughter who graduated from a Henrico County High School tells me that dances at her school went as follows. If you were caught shall we say, “dirty dancing”, you would endure the flashlight of shame shining on you. You get a non-removal bracelet put on your arm. If you are caught a second time, you are kicked out of the dance.

My niece graduated from a High School in Chesterfield County two years ago. I was appalled when I heard that every girl who intended to go to Prom had to in advance, model their chosen dresses for the administration to pass a modesty test!? I would have felt so demeaned parading around in front of these ‘authority figures’ judging the girls only on their attire. I liken it to the feeling of violation one experiences at the nations airports these days.

So apparently, ‘those in charge’ can tell you what to wear, and how to dance.

I agree that seeing your teenaged kids and their friends ‘grinding’ etc., on the dance floor is unnerving. But, may I remind you that The Monkey, The Dog, The Frug, The Bump and The Lambada, among many other dances that we all did and enjoyed had been banned at different times for being too suggestive. My sainted Grandma was a flapper-oh the horror…!

Yes, I can see everyone’s point-of-view. I am a parent and would cringe if I saw a boy trying to ‘grind’ with my daughter on the dance floor. But dancing is fun!

One solution I read about would be to teach kids in school gym classes fun line dances such as The Electric Slide, The Stroll, numerous country dances. Or how about the “non-touching” dances like the Watusi, The Pony, The Swim, The Hitchhike, The Funky Chicken, or The Twist?

Then again, the Twist was once explained by one member of Chubby Checkers entourage as “Like putting out a cigarette with both feet, and wiping your bottom with a towel, to the beat of the music.” Pretty suggestive….

Yes, I love to dance as if no one is watching — let’s just hope that our kids learn the real joy of dancing in appropriate ways that allows them to enjoy it too. And maybe that means “dancing as if everyone is watching”?