One day during The Pitch class, Danielle and I were reading an edition of the ever-entertaining Seventeen magazine. A magazine that wraps the interests of teenage girls into about 140 colorful pages, Seventeen caught our attention with a laughable, yet disturbing story of a girl at a high school dance.
In a section named “Trauma Drama”, humiliating moments sent in to the magazine are published and one in particular concerning the current age of dancing at school dances definitely claimed the title of “Most Awkward Story.” To sum up what happened, a girl was at her spring dance, “getting freaky” when someone put her hand on her shoulder. She then started grinding on him, only to find out it was her history teacher coming to tell her to stop dancing inappropriately.
Now, that’s an awkward story if we’ve ever heard one, but it bears the question of what the evolution of dance has come to. The girl in this story had no idea who she was dancing with, and here lies the problem with grinding. It’s totally ok to find a guy on the dance floor, but grinding means you can’t see their face, so it should be no surprise that this kind of stuff happens.
So what Danielle and I decided to do was to reflect on the history of dancing among teenagers, and we picked our favorites, along with the ones we like the least.
1950s-Swing Dancing:
HF: I’d have to say I like the upbeat nature of swing dancing while at the same time appreciating your partner. It’s a very free expression type, which I think defines the idea of dancing.
DM: the 1950s was a great time in the evolution of dance. Everyone knew the same steps, live bands were still popular (and cheap) and the actual dance moves were fun, classy and respectful.
1990s/early 2000s:
HF: What reminds me of this era is DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). Back when the PlayStation was in style, the music in DDR correlated with the music of those of The Backstreet Boys and Jojo. It was very fast and fun.
DM: Hip Hop dominated here, we see the start of a completely new dance style that was the beginning of modern dance. Pop also became popular (supplied with the beautiful tones of boy bands), so dance moves were very aerobic and synchronized.
Today:
HF: As mentioned earlier, I don’t like the way we dance today. We don’t even see the face of the person we are dancing with, and therefore the meaning and intent of dance has completely dropped off. It’s just not the same anymore. People grind just to grind, not for the person.
DM: Dance has turned into purely a workout for a girl’s hips and thighs. For the guy, it’s just a chance to have a girl’s butt rub up on your you-know-what. It is no longer a form of expression, but rather the result of a suppressed libido.
