Tag Archives: dance music

Throw-Back-Monday: School Dances

School dances had so much potential back in the day. If you eliminated the angsty teen melodramas, the pubertal hardships, the unrequited crushes, and the desperate need to be accepted by your peers at all costs, dances were the perfect events for letting loose and having a genuinely good time. A time made all the more merry by the music being played.

Unless you had a significant other that week, you typically went with a group of friends. You also typically cleared the dance floor the moment a slow song came on. You promptly exited the cafeteria floor (that’s where a lot of my school dances were) because it was time to claim your location on the wall. The slow songs were terrible and the country songs thrown in made my stomach turn. Even then, surrounded by farmers and Country-Western-loving-fiends, I hated Country music.

BUT, once the painfully depressing slow song segment would end, it was back to business. Shimmying and shaking to Billboard’s top hits. There were always those songs that got everyone going like YMCA and The Loco-Motion.  And then there were the everyday chart toppers with a few old school songs thrown in to boot. A little Madonna, a little Prince, a little NKOTB … school dances could easily be a fun, safe and pretty upright way to spend a Friday night with your friends. And yes, I am well aware things have changed – OR maybe they haven’t changed as much as we might think. Continue reading

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The Music Challenge #3

I am not a dancer. I was in ballet when I was like 5, maybe? I didn’t even make it to the recital. I sucked at dancing. I still do. I have no rhythm. I’ve said it before – I dance like Elaine from Seinfeld. Not kidding – we could be twins.

Doesn’t mean I don’t dance. I just have a lot of people staring at me to stop when I do it. I have attended many many dances and clubs over the years. Do I wish I could bust moves like Young MC? Of course! Everyone wishes they didn’t look like they were simultaneously spazzing, seizing, and swallowing a toad while grooving to their favorite tunes, but sadly, that’s just not me.

I admire dancing. I think the people who do it are amazing. It’s art in motion. Who couldn’t appreciate that? So while I was at the gym today and a little C+C Music Factory came across my itunes, I decided it was time to add some dance music to my 365 songs.

All of these got me shaking my stuff on the dance floor (even if they shouldn’t have) in one way or another. Because there are so many dance songs that take me back, today’s selections focus a bit more on the pre-choreographed group dance crazes that I actually learned at some point in my life. Still doesn’t mean my particular execution wasn’t so atrocious it forced innocent people to avert their eyes, but it did get me on the floor sharing a united moment with the masses.

Here you go. In no particular order: Continue reading

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