I love the night life, I got to boogie
If you know what song this comes from we are about the same age, and you know what I mean. I will explain to those younger and older. It means dressing up in cute dresses, sky high heels, big hair and sparkly makeup, and going out on the town. Even though my girlfriends and I all typified ourselves as "country rockers", we dressed flashy. I still miss the sparkly makeup, sigh. We'd spend hours primping and then go out to several bars talking, drinking, dancing, and scoping out men, not necessarily in that order. As I've stated in other posts, how I ever danced in those heels amaze me now, even though the "dancing" consisted of mostly hopping up and down. Still.
After I got older, I slowed down a bit. It just didn't interest me as much. I don't think I wasted my time; I had fun and wouldn't give up those years for anything. But, things change, and I shifted into different priorities. My younger self would shake her head in sorrow at how fast I can get ready now, and tsk tsk at my short locks and natural make up. I still love my clothes and such, don't get me wrong, but I do spend less time now getting ready and more time dancing.
I also quit drinking as much, not for any moral reason, but because as I got older it made me feel bad the next day, it was expensive, and again, I decided I'd rather be doing other things. After we learned to dance I discovered something else. Dancing does not go well with drinking. One glass of wine fine, two I start to miss cues, and three...forgetaboutit. After I thought about it I realized in no other sport would I start with a glass of wine, so for the most part I don't drink at all before or during a dance.
A nice glass of wine afterwards, well, that's a different story.
So back to the night life. Gary and I now are often out very late at night, as most dances don't start until 8 or 9. Funny. I started my young adult life staying out very late. After I got married "late" was maybe 9. Now that we are dancers we often stay out until the wee hours. Funny how life circles around, yet is different every time. Kinda like fashion. :-)
Please don't talk about love tonight.
Please don't talk about sweet love.
Please don't talk about being true
and all the trouble we've been through.
Ah, please don't talk about all of the plans
we had for fixin' this broken romance.
I want to go where the people dance.
I want some action ... I want to live!
Oh, I ... Ohhh I ... I love the nightlife,
I got to boogie .
Oh, I love the night life,I got to boogie
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Good Old Days Weren't All Good
The Good Old Days Weren't All Good
The other day I'm sittin' with a guy who grew up in the 30's and the subject of dancing comes around. I tell him that I like the big bands and I can only imagine what it must have been like for a guy like him - coming up in the era of swing, Basie, an every town having a ballroom or dancehall. He shook his head and chuckled knowingly before giving me the skinny.
It seems like those of us who dance are just about like everyone else when it comes to assuming that things were better way back when. It's a kind of nostalgia trance we all go into from time to time…usually when our job or government gets us down. Maybe you catch an episode of Andy Griffith or I Love Lucy and you find yourself falling under the black-and-white spell - oh that simpler time, wasn't life just grand way back when?
Well, not really. You see Puritanism was alive and well in the 30's - that ought to be obvious from the existence of prohibition. Many small towns across the Midwest (and many large cities) had laws banning dancing because it was a doorway to vice and amoral behavior. In reality anti-dancing laws came from a deeper root in American history. In New England, colonial inns and taverns were banned from providing 'performances of Shakespeare and other dramatic presentations to puppet shows, sleight-of-hand, magic and ventriloquism, tight rope walking, juggling, trick riding, animal exhibitions, and acrobatics' and traveling entertainers were lumped in the same legal category as beggars, rogues, and wandering preachers.
Sure, some of the dance bans were a little more specific. Washington State enacted a ban against dance marathons in 1937 - it wasn't repealed until 1987. In Reno, Nevada it's still illegal to hold a dance marathon - and a walking marathon too. I'm not sure if dancing in marathon format is more salacious or if there's just a fear that twenty-six mile long dance floors will be showing up and impeding other development…or maybe the folks who write these laws are just morons.
You're probably thinking, 'Gee, DC - it's a good thing I live in the modern era (and in a state where marrying first cousins isn't legal) when I can dance wherever I want with whoever I like…'. Get a grip, bright-eyes - it ain't exactly so. In February 2007 New York City upheld a ban on dancing in establishments without a license that permits dancing. Can you imagine that? Your local tavern needs to have a dance license just in case someone feels like shagging to a band that catches their fancy? And, heaven forbid, in that behemoth city of New York that likes to consider itself far ahead of the social curve to which the rest of the nation bends.
Well, you can take heart in the fact that at least it's better than it used to be - in some places.
The other day I'm sittin' with a guy who grew up in the 30's and the subject of dancing comes around. I tell him that I like the big bands and I can only imagine what it must have been like for a guy like him - coming up in the era of swing, Basie, an every town having a ballroom or dancehall. He shook his head and chuckled knowingly before giving me the skinny.
It seems like those of us who dance are just about like everyone else when it comes to assuming that things were better way back when. It's a kind of nostalgia trance we all go into from time to time…usually when our job or government gets us down. Maybe you catch an episode of Andy Griffith or I Love Lucy and you find yourself falling under the black-and-white spell - oh that simpler time, wasn't life just grand way back when?
Well, not really. You see Puritanism was alive and well in the 30's - that ought to be obvious from the existence of prohibition. Many small towns across the Midwest (and many large cities) had laws banning dancing because it was a doorway to vice and amoral behavior. In reality anti-dancing laws came from a deeper root in American history. In New England, colonial inns and taverns were banned from providing 'performances of Shakespeare and other dramatic presentations to puppet shows, sleight-of-hand, magic and ventriloquism, tight rope walking, juggling, trick riding, animal exhibitions, and acrobatics' and traveling entertainers were lumped in the same legal category as beggars, rogues, and wandering preachers.
Sure, some of the dance bans were a little more specific. Washington State enacted a ban against dance marathons in 1937 - it wasn't repealed until 1987. In Reno, Nevada it's still illegal to hold a dance marathon - and a walking marathon too. I'm not sure if dancing in marathon format is more salacious or if there's just a fear that twenty-six mile long dance floors will be showing up and impeding other development…or maybe the folks who write these laws are just morons.
You're probably thinking, 'Gee, DC - it's a good thing I live in the modern era (and in a state where marrying first cousins isn't legal) when I can dance wherever I want with whoever I like…'. Get a grip, bright-eyes - it ain't exactly so. In February 2007 New York City upheld a ban on dancing in establishments without a license that permits dancing. Can you imagine that? Your local tavern needs to have a dance license just in case someone feels like shagging to a band that catches their fancy? And, heaven forbid, in that behemoth city of New York that likes to consider itself far ahead of the social curve to which the rest of the nation bends.
Well, you can take heart in the fact that at least it's better than it used to be - in some places.
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