Charlie and me went to a dance down to the VFW this weekend, a benefit for the Moose Megantic High School Band Boosters. The theme was “Rockin’ to the Oldies.” I says to Charlie, “We’re oldies. Let’s go!”
We had a fun time, too, once it got going. But that took awhile, because someone hired professional dancers to kick off the evening with dance lessons. Charlie and me didn’t have much interest in that. It’s not like we think we’re perfect dancers or something. Far from it. But like a lot of couples, we have our own style. We don’t give a hoot about doing it “the right way.”
Anyways, after teaching us how to do the jitterbug and what not, (by “us” I mean a few game individuals. Charlie and me had a drink and caught up with friends.), the professional dancers stayed around and showed off. Must have been part of their job, the theory being that if they’re out there dancing, other people will get up and dance, too.
Honey, that theory is wrong! They were doing all this Dancing with the Stars stuff with the arched backs, fake smiles, and dance hands. It’s just too intimidating. Regular folks aren’t going get up and dance next to that.
You want to get people dancing? Here’s what you do: hire the worse dancers you can find to kick the dancing off. That gives you lots of options. You could get that old hippie couple, all flowy arms and closed eyes, blissed out, remembering Woodstock. Or how about those two, where the guy wants to couple dance, but has no idea what he’s doing, so he manhandles his date, pushing and pulling her around the dance floor like he’s sawing a log? Oh, and then there’s that couple, usually dressed head to toe in beige, no energy, kind of moving around (I wouldn’t really call it dancing) off the beat. I mean, totally out of sync with the music and each other, staring off into space. Watching them I’m thinking, if they have children, I wonder how it happened!
There’s no way these folks are intimidating. In fact, you watch those bad dancers and think, Heck, we can do better than that. What have we got to lose?
As I said, once the professional couple had put in their time and skedaddled, the dance picked up steam. The music was right up our alley, so Charlie and me had a wicked good time! It seemed like ages since we’d danced like that. My favorite, of course, was dancing with my sweetheart to the King singing, “All Shook Up.” That was our first dance as husband and wife, and it still makes my heart go pitter-pat. Gotta say, my Charlie still cuts a mean rug.
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
Hear Ida Tell It: How To Get People to Dance