http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2kFrGluKs (Watch the Kinks sing Come Dancing at this link--I can't get the dang video to download here!)
Last night George and I went dancing! It's something I've been wanting to do with him for a long time. I've always loved dancing, of all types--except maybe the current bump and grind crap, I mean REAL dancing. So last night we went and learned the Fox Trot.
As I said, this has been a long time coming. You see, I married this musician. He used to sing Cole Porter songs to me when we were dating. I thought for sure this guy would be able to dance! But I didn't do enough research into that, I guess. (I also have told him I shoulda thought more about the fact that he sings Bass and I really like a good Tenor, but that's another subject...) We have tried many times to dance, but it always ends up in frustration. George never learned to dance! I LOVED ballroom dancing in 9th grade phy. ed., and in college when I took ballroom dancing I got to dance with the best guy in the class because I was the best girl...though that guy was pretty "scuzzy" and why was that so often the case back when we were young? The good dancers were usually the "suav-e" types, which do not appeal to me at all!
Well, I didn't marry that type of guy but surely I can change him into a dancer, right? So last night, inspired by listening to Wynton Marsalis on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning show yesterday, we decided to go dancing. That guy is fabulous by the way, not only as a musician but as an intelligent, thoughtful and very spiritual person. Wynton talked about the need for a cultural transformation and said: "We used to be much more of a nation of singing and dancing. I would love to see us return to singing and dancing." He also said, "Get educated. Don't celebrate not knowing. If you wanna change our country, get all of the kids swing dancing. That's number one. That would solve a lot of problems...it would solve a lot of our ritual of courtship problems, it would solve just a basic artistic thing. We don't understand that the arts are symbolic." We need that for all ages, he said. "We consider rituals of courtship, dancing, to be corny. And we consider...cyncism to be hip." I love what he had to say, and I agree completely with those statements. (Listen to the show here--it's fabulous.)
Wynton's timing was perfect as last night our neighbor's band, Cannery Row, was playing a dance downtown at a dance studio. StudioJeff is new to town; I'd never even heard of it until I heard it from the Cannery Row guys. Jeff, himself, is a former Arthur Murray dance instructor who teaches Communication studies at our nearby St. Cloud State University. Every other Friday Jeff hosts a dance party from 7-10 p.m. (next one being March 27, though.) The first hour is a lesson and then there's two hours of dancing. St. Cloud has a very active Ballroom Dance Club and many of the people there last night were either in that or had taken Jeff's community ed. dance classes. George and I were the "greenest" of the bunch, but we didn't mind as it was so fun to watch all the couples do their various Fox Trot and Swing variations. And to hear the fabulous band!
We're hoping to do this again, a lot. We have no excuse now that there's a dance studio just a mile from our home...Next time we'll learn the polka! (Which George says will be good because polkas keep time to the beat, much easier for a musician to get the hang of.)
Last night George and I went dancing! It's something I've been wanting to do with him for a long time. I've always loved dancing, of all types--except maybe the current bump and grind crap, I mean REAL dancing. So last night we went and learned the Fox Trot.
As I said, this has been a long time coming. You see, I married this musician. He used to sing Cole Porter songs to me when we were dating. I thought for sure this guy would be able to dance! But I didn't do enough research into that, I guess. (I also have told him I shoulda thought more about the fact that he sings Bass and I really like a good Tenor, but that's another subject...) We have tried many times to dance, but it always ends up in frustration. George never learned to dance! I LOVED ballroom dancing in 9th grade phy. ed., and in college when I took ballroom dancing I got to dance with the best guy in the class because I was the best girl...though that guy was pretty "scuzzy" and why was that so often the case back when we were young? The good dancers were usually the "suav-e" types, which do not appeal to me at all!
Well, I didn't marry that type of guy but surely I can change him into a dancer, right? So last night, inspired by listening to Wynton Marsalis on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning show yesterday, we decided to go dancing. That guy is fabulous by the way, not only as a musician but as an intelligent, thoughtful and very spiritual person. Wynton talked about the need for a cultural transformation and said: "We used to be much more of a nation of singing and dancing. I would love to see us return to singing and dancing." He also said, "Get educated. Don't celebrate not knowing. If you wanna change our country, get all of the kids swing dancing. That's number one. That would solve a lot of problems...it would solve a lot of our ritual of courtship problems, it would solve just a basic artistic thing. We don't understand that the arts are symbolic." We need that for all ages, he said. "We consider rituals of courtship, dancing, to be corny. And we consider...cyncism to be hip." I love what he had to say, and I agree completely with those statements. (Listen to the show here--it's fabulous.)
Wynton's timing was perfect as last night our neighbor's band, Cannery Row, was playing a dance downtown at a dance studio. StudioJeff is new to town; I'd never even heard of it until I heard it from the Cannery Row guys. Jeff, himself, is a former Arthur Murray dance instructor who teaches Communication studies at our nearby St. Cloud State University. Every other Friday Jeff hosts a dance party from 7-10 p.m. (next one being March 27, though.) The first hour is a lesson and then there's two hours of dancing. St. Cloud has a very active Ballroom Dance Club and many of the people there last night were either in that or had taken Jeff's community ed. dance classes. George and I were the "greenest" of the bunch, but we didn't mind as it was so fun to watch all the couples do their various Fox Trot and Swing variations. And to hear the fabulous band!
We're hoping to do this again, a lot. We have no excuse now that there's a dance studio just a mile from our home...Next time we'll learn the polka! (Which George says will be good because polkas keep time to the beat, much easier for a musician to get the hang of.)
Comments
Judy
And I completely agree with Marsalis' comments -- instead of letting "professionals" do our dancing and singing for us because we're not "good enough", we need to make our own music, and dance to our own drummers. Not only does it feel good, it primes us to appreciate the arts even more, thus supporting them. A lovely vicious circle!
Gee thanks Lisa, now I've got that Kinks song in my head, right before bedtime! :-)
I was so impressed by what Wynton Marsalis had to say. I've known he's one of the the best trumpet players ever, but I had no idea the depth of his person. Of course, my husband did but he's had more exposure to the Marsalis family's good works and all.
We had fun dancing. Can't wait to do it again. Now I'm trying to manifest dancing shoes into my life, though. All my shoes are rather "clod-hoppy"!
And yes, snap to the musical man who doesn't dance...heeheee.
Love Marsalis. Great philosophy.