Who dances? I don’t know if it’s cos I live in an alternative/hippy area, but my position on dancing is one of bewildering confusion…

At any party the 70s funk comes out and - boom! - folks start making grooves - especially women. It’s like some explosion of movement just waiting to be set off

I will dance on occasion - often cos I’m bored rather than “moved”, but I’m always impressed by people who are driven to dance and do it w style. The fellas definitely seem in the minority here - is it a confidence thing? Gender roles? What’s yr take?

(And yes, very aware that this shows me as the middle aged old bastard I am!)

Iancee wrote: Sun Jun 15, 2025 11:18 pm my position on dancing is one of bewildering confusion…

I'm with you on this one. I dont understand dancing at all. By that I mean the "cool sexy" dancing. As in cheerleaders/popular music videos. I guess historically it was just a precursor to The Rut but now it is with no rut after the dance? Prolly great fun for the dancer but for the audience howTF are we supposed to react? "Cool dance, yes, I now have a wee stiffy. That was the intention of your massive arse gyration dancey dance wasnt it? No? OK. Uhhh..."



ps obvs I am an extremely uptight tighty whitey white man with zero affiliations to any of the dance organisations in my community.

I used to love dancing. Dancing at the reception was the primary selling point for attending weddings when I was young; you can't get down in your socks to "Rock Lobster" with a young woman who is funny, cool, and looks just like Marisa Tomei if you don't get up and dance. I also used to occasionally used to go to this dance night in Denver on Friday nights that played new wave and what have you, had an absolutely great time. I have fond memories of going to techno night at a bar in the red state midsize town where I live and getting called "fag" by the regulars on my way in and out and my friends talking me out of fighting them.

I miss it a lot sometimes. I still groove, but don't get down like I used to.

Dancing is NOT CRAP, wtf.

My wife and I have been doing Lindy Hop/swing classes for a little over a year and go dancing a couple times a month. When the kids fly the coop, it will be more often. We dance with each other maybe one-third of the time and with other people two-thirds of the time.

It’s the most not-crap thing ever. Total joy.

I can imagine my experience is pretty relatable to many on the PRF. My engagement with dance was shockingly minimal for a music maker. At some point in my late 20's being around people who really dance, that I had a bit of a problem getting out of my head and cutting loose. Playing in an afro beat band one of our drummers was from Togo and taught West African dance. I went enough to realize I can fully engage and that it's really good for my brain but not long enough to be any good.

Now I try to be in the moment at weddings and things and not be awkward or self conscious.

Broadly speaking, Not Crap, but it often means having to engage with the shittiest pop music of the day which I really don't want to do.

Never crap, but for me to do it and enjoy it the context has to be right.

Tree wrote: Mon Jun 16, 2025 8:01 am Dancing is NOT CRAP, wtf.

+1

Just because I'm not good at it doesn't mean it's crap. Far from it.

I dance at shows when the music warrants it, no one's really paying attention.
At my wedding, however, I was reluctant to bust any moves b/c I felt that all eyes were on me.

N/C

Never used to like it. And as a drummer for the past 50 years, it's not like I don't have rhythm. When I was in 7th grade, my parents insisted that I go to something called Fortnightly, which was a ballroom and modern dance class held at our junior high and it straight up sucked. Put me off dancing from that time on. Only went to 2 dances in all of high school.

Then I got married late in life to the most wonderful person and now we dance in the kitchen to old school country music from time to time and it's pretty great.