musings on dancefloor etiquette

[burntcopper]

Or rather, how strict the codes/rules for dancing to certain songs are.

They just played House of Pain's Jump, which of course I had to dance around like a mad thing to. And of course did the jumps and tried to sing as much of the lyrics as I could. Oddly, I can remember more when I'm slightly razzled. Anyway. My point. The fact that it is only considered proper to jump when he starts yelling 'Jump! jump! Jump!'. Jumping before or after is just not done, and anyone who does so gets scornful looks from the rest of the dancefloor. Except for the two bounces and touch the floor of 'Jump up, jump up and get down'. This is somewhat similar to Chumbawumba's 'I get knocked down', although there it's impossible to not do what the song dictates.

Perhaps a better comparison would be things like Tragedy, Macarena, Saturday Night, though those aren't taken as seriously. You just get seriously messed up if you don't get it right, and crash into many people. And then there are the legions who scream "Hang on, what are we doing now?!?" during the fiendishly simple-yet-complex Doctor Who dance. Once upon a time you just walked sideways and back. Then they added the ankle-knee-clap-turn bit, designed to really fuck up those not privy to its secret. Don't even go into the hideously complx line dancing.

So there you have it : Dancing, the way to separate the wheat from the chaff and be cliquey (as any girl knows who's seen some of the godawful things that men get up to on t'dancefloor - there's one guy I know who we've actually pondered out of his hearing about forcibly giving him dance lessons)

Comments

[mingmerciless.livejournal.com]

And who might that be? ;-)

Ming the Arhythmic

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

That would be the strange bloke with t' dragon puppet. He of the strange khaki trousers. Your attempt at dancing is pleasing and does not horrify small children.

[endcredits.livejournal.com]

...and this is exactly why I never attempt to dance at cons. I just stand in the corner and giggle, lest I be giggled at.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are *so* getting dragged onto the dancefloor for that.

[endcredits.livejournal.com]

Crappers. Me and my big mouth.

Mental note: disguise self during disco nights. ;)

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

Saturday Night, The Locomotion etc. used to be the only things I would dance to.

I was always much more confident learning a set dance than I was about improvising. This was largely to do with my sister spending our entire childhood telling me I danced like an epileptic frog.

These days I just tend to attack people with my elbows. If they can't get near me, they can't make fun. Everything I know about dancing I learned from watching Faith in 'Five by Five'. ;)

:cough:

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

I er, also dance like Faith. Only pre the elbows thing...