Fireworks aside, today is truly a day where Adam Goldberg’s character from “Dazed & Confused” can really get behind – as opposed to the roommate he played in “Friends”, where he simply was a behind. Freedom is the order of the day here – and what better way to express freedom than through the art of dance. I’ll tell you what better way; writing about it.
Dance has been around for as long as people have had legs. People have danced in the moonlight, for safety reasons and even on the ceiling (but only after they have mastered dancing in a safe manner and have attached a lanyard of some sort – or turned the camera upside down). Seth Godin has documented this art in two of his books, The Dip (which I initially thought was about Baron of beef sandwiches) and Tribes (and the upcoming sequel, Tribes Two which documents the dances borne through Frankie Goes To Hollywood songs). In Tribes, Godin talks about the club-dancing phenomenon – or crowdsourcing – and how dancing has had an eventual impact on everything. I’m paraphrasing here, of course, so you’ll have to check out his works to get a bigger picture on what he’s trying to say. I just can’t do it justice here.
Perhaps the most eventual and least productive of all dance is ballet. Every time I’ve gone to one I’ve left with a feeling of not being any more cultured than I was before, and confused as to why so many men were wearing spandex-like material. Kind of like the opera, but with slender folk.
Raves rose up in recent years, having reached its peak in the mainstream only weeks before I finally decided to go to one. Everything about a rave is only eventually (if not marginally) productive. The dimming of the glow sticks/teeth/soothers after hours of moving about, the time ti takes to find one, the length of each hug you’re forced into, the slow burn of the drugs you accidentally took. The only thing you won’t find at a rave is rage, which is odd considering that they only differ by simply changing one letter. The other eventual thing about a rave is that they end “neventually.” Part of me is still at the one I went to, eating orange sherbet.
Another dance that is eventual is due only to the song it is often packaged with: the last dance at high school dances. This is because you are destined to dance to one of the following songs:
1. Hotel California. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave the dance floor until it’s done.
2. November Rain. Released after “Patience”, for obvious reasoning.
3. Stairway To Heaven. One very long purchase; one very long dance.
I rather enjoyed sitting on the sidelines watching what unfolded during these dances. Really, I did.
So if you’ve made plans today to watch the Boston Pops or have a few wobbly pops, make sure you get in a dance or two. You’ve earned it. And if you dance to the right song, it might just save a life.
Oh, and I’d also like to extend a birthday greeting to Tom Cruise, who was born on the fourth of July. I fully expect you will enjoy dancing in an Oxford dress shirt and boxers on your very special day.
Related posts:
