Just in case Rock Town Hall ever has the opportunity to organize a party, I’m curious to see how much room we’ll need on the dance floor. Please don’t be shy about answering any of the following questions.
Have you ever done the “Dead dance” (in earnest)?
Have you ever done the Watusi, the Twist, the Foxtrot, the Bump?
When they said, Do the Hustle! did you even try?
Who among Townspeople is capable of doing a convincing robot? (Not I!)
As an adult, have you ever done a line or square dance, not under force or the pressure of a wedding or other rite of passage occasion? Who’s dancing down the Soul Train line? (Count me in!)
In this land of 1000 dances, who among Rock Town Hall has done more than a half dozen?
Extra credit: Have you ever crowd surfed?
I’m a dancing fool!
No dead dance, no robot, and no crowd surfing but I’ve been known to frug, swim, twist, jitterbug and I’ve done the Soul Train line, the hustle, the Wagner Walk, the electric slide, the hokey pokey, the chicken dance, the tarantella, the polka, the mummers’ strut,…
South Philly Italian weddings count for a lot here!
I prefer to call what I do a palsy.
One of my favorite filmed performances EVER: Wilson Picket in Ghana, 1970. From the very cool “Soul to Soul” movie,about which I’ve rhapsodized here before.
Get a few drinks in me and I’ll dance, though I’m snobbish about what I’ll dance *to*. I’ve been told I dance pretty well for a straight white guy. But who knows if that’s true? I harbor a lingering fear that I’m completely deluded about this. The dancing, that is. I’m quite sure about my white straight-ness.
I did the twist when I was a little kid. Everybody did. It was a craze.
But mostly the only kind of dancing I’ll do is free form — feel the music and let it move me. And like hvb I won’t dance to just anything. And I definitely won’t dance because someone else wants me to.
Wait I forgot, I did used to pogo.
No.
No.
Mockcarr has a robotic stoicness, and that’s a start.
No.
Got me.
No.
I’ve danced a few of those dances at weddings – mostly to appease the wife usually. And a drink or two helps. But we even took a Ballroom Dancing class at the local community college. It was fun but more fun was watching the 60’s something instructor couple effortlessly glide around the floor together. So good.
I’ve always had an issue with dancing and have said “I’d rather play the music than dance to it!” I think it has something to do with my drumming – I’m already moving in rhythm to the music…
I use about the same line as you, Mrclean: “I like to play music for people to dance to.”
I do love doing the Twist. It’s about the easiest dance for me to master, that and the crotchety, old black man boogie, as perfected by Bill Cosby. I’m all for the Soul Train dance down the line. I can do that move where you pop up from a little strut, look straight at the camera, flash your hands around, then drop into a split. That’s really my ONLY move, so I have to spread it out every few years.
Al, speaking of dance music, Mad props! for those Northern Soul CDs you sent me! Thanks.
Another question: If you were suddenly granted the ability to master any one dance, which would you want it to be?
(Caveat: “The Lambada” will not be accepted as an answer because everyone knows that is the Forbidden Dance.)
I need to put some more thought into this but off the top of my head, I’d like to be able to do that Cajun two step thing. It looks cool.
The Copa Caprice!
The Bus-stop!
The Frug!
The Watusi!
… Actually, what I really want to learn is swing dancing. There’s a DeeCee homegrown variant called “hand dancing” that appeals especially.
“Another question: If you were suddenly granted the ability to master any one dance, which would you want it to be?”
The horizontal mambo.
Regarding playing music for people to dance to, isn’t it the greatest thing? I only have experience playing at house parties, but I loved it when people danced (except when they danced into the mic I was singing into).
Do people dance to live music anymore? When I go to clubs (rarely) people usually stand there like zombies. I remember seeing the Specials on what must have been their first big US tour (opening for the Police), and they were mystified by the sea of motionless faces staring at them. I remember Terry Hall begging “Please dahnce!”
I think the trend toward having moshpits in front at even non-punk gigs, a custom more honored in the breach than the observance, had the effect of discouraging dancing in clubs in general.
I did the Safety Dance when I saw Men Without Hats open up for Talking Heads. It was really fun. I squeezed between two girls and flung my beer around and had quite a time.
Otherwise, I think I mostly move around like I gotta pee, but I ain’t no slack jawed hipster that can’t be impressed by anything anymore. I think the band should at least know that I’m having fun, and if I’m not, I move to the back to let the kids that like the band I don’t care for show their appreciation.
I think the only dance that I would like to do is the Strand 😉
You know, you don’t really think of a rock band as being also considered a dance band. The thing that really struck me about reading about the Byrds in the recent book about the Sunset Strip (I forgot the author’s name due to brain freeze, but it’s the guy who’s the big Smile expert) is that they got their earliest reputation in the Sunset Strip as being a dance band. They had a bunch of dancers lead by the guy who they used his sculpturing studio for practice (Vito something or other; still having brain freeze) actually tour w/them on their 1st US tour.
“The horizontal mambo.”
That sounds suspiciously like another one of the Forbidden Dances.
The Batusi
I think the topic of dancing may have been addressed in the listserv era of RTH, but I recall that in the 80’s, there was tons of dancing at club and frat shows. Sometime around the very late 80’s, though, the arm folding and standing began. I’m not sure what was responsible for the shift, but I’m prepared to cast aspersions at the change-over from college rock to indie rock. There seems to have been some shift there that I can’t quite put my finger on. However, aside from a song or two, I’m prepared to point fingers at the Pixies, and later, Pavement.
I’m sorry to have to admit I’m just a flaming lamer, but could any of alla youse post a YouTube of the ‘Mummer’s strut’? or like a Arthur Murphey thing with the ‘feet tab’?
BTW, how did that guy learn you dances like ‘Monkey Time’ with no place to put the handses cutouts?
I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well until that omission in my hoofers repertoire has been rectified…
Is Mummery still legal in the lower 48?