Here's something you might be interested in.
I love Latin-style dancing. I can’t be bothered watching fox trots, waltzes, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers bore me to death. But give me a tango, a samba, a mambo, and I am entranced. Antonio Banderas dances the tango in Take The Lead. Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez dance the tango in Shall We Dance. Ooh laa laah.
Like most people my age, I grew up dancing. There was so much great music to dance to, lots of great radio stations and deejays, and there were shows on television that were all about music and dancing. As a young woman, I went dancing with my friends a few times, but I was too busy at the time trying to earn a living to get seriously into the club scene. Then about ten years ago, I really got into going to the clubs; at first a lot of different clubs, then one club. I had a group of girls I went with and we would spend the whole night dancing.
Like in everything else, a lot of people had a gimmick. Some women dressed and danced together very seductively. Some liked to do group dances, like the Electric Slide. I used to copy dancing I’d seen on television, like Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, would do bits of it when I danced. Some people would only dance to a certain style music, if they only liked hip-hop, that’s what they would dance to, if they only liked Latin, or trance, or slow, that’s what they danced to. One girl taught me how to do cha-cha, and a little salsa, and we would partner up because she loved to do cha-cha; she was a lingerie model and had a great body, cha-cha dancing really showed her off. I already knew how to do cumbia from my teenage years, that’s the dance Selena made famous in America. Any kind of Latin beat is great to dance to, but my girlfriends and I would dance to any kind of music. As long as it had a beat. There’s a lot of music that in itself might be objectionable, gangsta rap, for example, but that has a great beat to dance to. There are songs that are spiritual and you can dance to. There are songs you would never think of as dance music, but they’ve been remixed to be danceable, like Madame Butterfly or I Love Lucy. Reggaeton is pretty popular right now. You get the idea what reggaeton is about when you watch videos of Daddy Yanqui or Wisin, basically it’s all about moving the body, Latin style. To me, that’s what dancing is all about, when I used to dance. The song Cyclone talks about a girl moving her body like a cyclone. Well, yeah. Otherwise, why are you out there?
I haven’t danced in years, but when I used to go to the clubs, all the girls were about moving their bodies in ways that would make men look at them. It wasn’t about art, it was about making men look. I remember this one club I used to go to, the Mariner’s Club on the Navy Base, there was this skinny white girl who used to dance like she’d been a trained dancer and she’d be all over the floor twisting herself this way and that, and we basically laughed at her; men didn’t look at her, no man ever approached her. Most women dressed and danced to show themselves off to men. At my favorite club, the tables, the booths and the bar, were all facing the dance floor. There was a rail men leaned against, and there were windows men could look through from the pool hall side, and there was an elevated platform, all where men could stand and watch the girls on the dance floor. When the club got crowded, the men would stand around the edge of the dance floor and watch the women dance. I danced for pure enjoyment and laughter, laughing with my girlfriends; If men joined us, great, if not, that was great too, we were there to have a good time. But to say the truth, I can’t think of one night we were there men didn’t join us, and other women. Who wouldn’t want to be with us? We were lots of fun.
Now, most men don’t like to dance for the sake of dancing. They dance with women as a means to an end. And even then, they have to get a few beers in them first. They watch, they drink, they watch. They watch. Then they choose. Then they ask. Then they dance. Then they spend a lot of time dancing, and then they walk a woman to her table. Then they offer to buy them a drink. Then they ask if they can sit with her. Then there is more dancing, more conversation. Eventually, there is the last dance, slow and sweet.
I love Latin-style dancing. I can’t be bothered watching fox trots, waltzes, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers bore me to death. But give me a tango, a samba, a mambo, and I am entranced. Antonio Banderas dances the tango in Take The Lead. Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez dance the tango in Shall We Dance. Ooh laa laah.
Like most people my age, I grew up dancing. There was so much great music to dance to, lots of great radio stations and deejays, and there were shows on television that were all about music and dancing. As a young woman, I went dancing with my friends a few times, but I was too busy at the time trying to earn a living to get seriously into the club scene. Then about ten years ago, I really got into going to the clubs; at first a lot of different clubs, then one club. I had a group of girls I went with and we would spend the whole night dancing.
Like in everything else, a lot of people had a gimmick. Some women dressed and danced together very seductively. Some liked to do group dances, like the Electric Slide. I used to copy dancing I’d seen on television, like Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, would do bits of it when I danced. Some people would only dance to a certain style music, if they only liked hip-hop, that’s what they would dance to, if they only liked Latin, or trance, or slow, that’s what they danced to. One girl taught me how to do cha-cha, and a little salsa, and we would partner up because she loved to do cha-cha; she was a lingerie model and had a great body, cha-cha dancing really showed her off. I already knew how to do cumbia from my teenage years, that’s the dance Selena made famous in America. Any kind of Latin beat is great to dance to, but my girlfriends and I would dance to any kind of music. As long as it had a beat. There’s a lot of music that in itself might be objectionable, gangsta rap, for example, but that has a great beat to dance to. There are songs that are spiritual and you can dance to. There are songs you would never think of as dance music, but they’ve been remixed to be danceable, like Madame Butterfly or I Love Lucy. Reggaeton is pretty popular right now. You get the idea what reggaeton is about when you watch videos of Daddy Yanqui or Wisin, basically it’s all about moving the body, Latin style. To me, that’s what dancing is all about, when I used to dance. The song Cyclone talks about a girl moving her body like a cyclone. Well, yeah. Otherwise, why are you out there?
I haven’t danced in years, but when I used to go to the clubs, all the girls were about moving their bodies in ways that would make men look at them. It wasn’t about art, it was about making men look. I remember this one club I used to go to, the Mariner’s Club on the Navy Base, there was this skinny white girl who used to dance like she’d been a trained dancer and she’d be all over the floor twisting herself this way and that, and we basically laughed at her; men didn’t look at her, no man ever approached her. Most women dressed and danced to show themselves off to men. At my favorite club, the tables, the booths and the bar, were all facing the dance floor. There was a rail men leaned against, and there were windows men could look through from the pool hall side, and there was an elevated platform, all where men could stand and watch the girls on the dance floor. When the club got crowded, the men would stand around the edge of the dance floor and watch the women dance. I danced for pure enjoyment and laughter, laughing with my girlfriends; If men joined us, great, if not, that was great too, we were there to have a good time. But to say the truth, I can’t think of one night we were there men didn’t join us, and other women. Who wouldn’t want to be with us? We were lots of fun.
Now, most men don’t like to dance for the sake of dancing. They dance with women as a means to an end. And even then, they have to get a few beers in them first. They watch, they drink, they watch. They watch. Then they choose. Then they ask. Then they dance. Then they spend a lot of time dancing, and then they walk a woman to her table. Then they offer to buy them a drink. Then they ask if they can sit with her. Then there is more dancing, more conversation. Eventually, there is the last dance, slow and sweet.