Well - it appears my buddy Ramana got me this time. Dancing. Not in my wheelhouse - that is for sure. I went to one dance in junior high and I think 4 or 5 in high school. And that includes a Junior Prom and a Senior Ball. I went to a Christmas dance and a Sadie Hawkins dance - that's one where the girl invites a guy and is responsible for their dressing the same (jeans and shirts). I was at other dances but I went with my buddy Brian and lugged equipment. I was a roadie of sorts. And I loved hearing the New Chessmen play live. I have always loved live music.
As I have said before, I was painfully shy and the thought of having people watch my large self dance pretty much kept me away from dances and the dance floor. We even had a segment of PE class that "taught" dancing. I tried the cha cha - maybe once. I was not a particularly good waltzer either but I liked that slow stuff the best. I mean there was no fake yawn and stick the arm around the girls shoulder like in a movie theater - slow dances they could just snuggle close if they liked you. My first real girlfriend was a very cute, 5'2" blonde and I am 6'2' so that was nice. So was she -very nice and a very close friend these days. She knows where many of those teen age skeletons are buried. She may have helped bury a few - LOL. She was my date to that Christmas dance.
You can travel all around the world with dancing. There was the dance of love in Brazil
How about the Locomotion here in the USA? When this came out I was visiting friends at Lake Tahoe and flipping burgers at their place- the Minuteman Cafe
Now I must confess to a bit of a fib. I did say early on that dancing is not in my wheelhouse. I did spend two years in a Polynesian dance group where I performed Tahitian (yes in a grass skirt), Filipino, Samoan (knife and fire knife), Maori (hakas were actually a lot of fun - here is a sample of the New Zealand national rugby team performing one before a game - Kamate) and Tongan dances. Gotta admit - that was a lot of fun - and No Ramana - NO PHOTOS EXIST LOL. I was actually a decent Samoan knife dancer - the required hand-eye coordination IS in my wheelhouse. At least it was back then. How and why did I do that you might ask? My friend, the future Ranger Rick and his family moved to Hayward from Hawaii and got involved in dancing through the Walnut Creek Recreation Department. Rick got all of our friends to join and off we went. There was a big annual show in Walnut Creek and we took jobs whenever offered - did several frat shows and danced in dance competitions.
Tap dancing, ballet and the like is an entirely different matter. Those folks offer some of the most graceful, athletic performances you will ever see. They are truly amazing. The athleticism is astonishing and it is easy to see why for decades athletes have taken ballet courses to improve grace, balance and even more. that was going on over 50 years ago when I played HS football - maybe if my school had done that we'd have won a few more games. Ahem,
I am not a great fan of ballet but I can fully appreciate the athleticism and efforts of the dancers. Tap dancing, though, is truly awesome when you are watching someone like Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis Jr or any of the other classic performers. I could barely walk in the dang tap shoes let alone dance,
And then there is Michael Flatley
Different styles but both amazing, Dancing is many things to different people. It is an activity that can be enjoyed by entire families and multiple generations. Nothing warms the heart quite as much as senior citizens tripping the light fandango with ear-to-ear grins and thoroughly enjoying themselves. If you doubt that check out the goings on at any high schools 50th reunion and watch time melt away as old friends reunite and celebrate their lives. That's it for my take on dancing. Be sure to visit Ramana's Musings to check his take on this 2-on-1 topic. See ya next week - same bat time, same bat channel.
Quite an endearing dance down memory lane. I would have loved to have seen the Samoan Knife Dance. And yes I know where some of the teenage skeletons are buried, but at this age I may have forgotten the coordinates.
Your dancing take interesting. You are so right about the athleticism of dance plus those tribal groups performances being quite physically challenging. A family member became professional ballet dancer though didn’t enter study in Hawaii until in college, then came to mainland, east coast scholarship.
I danced with three other little girls as a dance team — remembering still our movie auditorium stage live performance. We loved tap and jazz dancing. Unfortunately I had to give up, dance and piano playing during the rest of my significant school years. When we ultimately moved to the south, the public school system there was run by evangelical religious school board we would consider dictating in violation of church and state separation today. They would not allow dancing as believed it evil. Even folk games, like Virginia Reel they wouldn’t permit. Our Sr. Prom was a joke — boys dressed in tuxes, girls in formals, taken to a hotel where all I remember is sitting around in various little darkened rooms listening to juke box music and talking, with refreshments, I suppose. I did take a dance class as P.E. one semester when in college but have little memory of any dances. Helping run our new campus radio station with my show “Jo’s Jukebox”, involvement with all aspects of theatre, our circle of like friends filled my spare time. Dating didn’t involve dancing even with musician husband years later as he was usually playing clubs, etc. When working years later as Rock music beginning I was involved in production of live teen dance show. Recall Halloween show one of our announcers dressed as Dracula and he surprised me by sweeping me out on floor as camera came in for a closeup revealing his character in the midst of all these dancing kids — was fun. I really enjoy viewing all types of dance, the movie musicals and probably could have enjoyed doing a lot more dancing myself.
Let me confess that I am totally surprised with all that you have done after your initial response to me on learning about the topic. AND, I am disappointed that there are no photographs!
Apart from the one folk dance that I listed in my post, I have also participated in another popular one from Gujarat called Dandya Raas. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandiya_Raas) There are other more vigorous ones which unfortunately I just did not get enough time to participate in or learn.
I am surprised that Michael Jackson does not feature in your list!
I never cared for Michael Jackson - I was a huge Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr fan - good tap is a joy to watch. With our kids,Lynn handled dance and I did sports. WheI started writing this I was surprised how much stuff I ame up with in a single sitting - I actually deleted about 6 sections o dance with pop music all in all it was a fun 30 minute exercise
Quite an endearing dance down memory lane. I would have loved to have seen the Samoan Knife Dance. And yes I know where some of the teenage skeletons are buried, but at this age I may have forgotten the coordinates.
ReplyDeleteGood times indeed. Ditto on the skeleton but at this age just remembering they exist is kinda fun.
DeleteYour dancing take interesting. You are so right about the athleticism of dance plus those tribal groups performances being quite physically challenging. A family member became professional ballet dancer though didn’t enter study in Hawaii until in college, then came to mainland, east coast scholarship.
ReplyDeleteI danced with three other little girls as a dance team — remembering still our movie auditorium stage live performance. We loved tap and jazz dancing. Unfortunately I had to give up, dance and piano playing during the rest of my significant school years. When we ultimately moved to the south, the public school system there was run by evangelical religious school board we would consider dictating in violation of church and state separation today. They would not allow dancing as believed it evil. Even folk games, like Virginia Reel they wouldn’t permit. Our Sr. Prom was a joke — boys dressed in tuxes, girls in formals, taken to a hotel where all I remember is sitting around in various little darkened rooms listening to juke box music and talking, with refreshments, I suppose. I did take a dance class as P.E. one semester when in college but have little memory of any dances. Helping run our new campus radio station with my show “Jo’s Jukebox”, involvement with all aspects of theatre, our circle of like friends filled my spare time. Dating didn’t involve dancing even with musician husband years later as he was usually playing clubs, etc. When working years later as Rock music beginning I was involved in production of live teen dance show. Recall Halloween show one of our announcers dressed as Dracula and he surprised me by sweeping me out on floor as camera came in for a closeup revealing his character in the midst of all these dancing kids — was fun. I really enjoy viewing all types of dance, the movie musicals and probably could have enjoyed doing a lot more dancing myself.
You are easily oneof the most interesting people I have ever met-
DeleteWell, thanks, but my experiences seems rather pedestrian to me and those of most everyone else more interesting.
DeleteLet me confess that I am totally surprised with all that you have done after your initial response to me on learning about the topic. AND, I am disappointed that there are no photographs!
ReplyDeleteApart from the one folk dance that I listed in my post, I have also participated in another popular one from Gujarat called Dandya Raas. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandiya_Raas) There are other more vigorous ones which unfortunately I just did not get enough time to participate in or learn.
I am surprised that Michael Jackson does not feature in your list!
I never cared for Michael Jackson - I was a huge Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr fan - good tap is a joy to watch. With our kids,Lynn handled dance and I did sports. WheI started writing this I was surprised how much stuff I ame up with in a single sitting - I actually deleted about 6 sections o dance with pop music all in all it was a fun 30 minute exercise
ReplyDeleteReally, you are sharing such a great information. I pay the special thanks to you.
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