Friday, July 9, 2010

I Miss Being a DANCIN' Fool

Dusk at the Waterpark Harbor in Charleston, SC , young children dancing in the water behind me.


I have had moments lately, that I think on times when I was young  , and then times that I had 3 times as much energy and utter abandon , than I do now..and then I recalled that I used to be a dancing FOOL
I freely admit it, and only people that knew me when I was in my late teens and very early 20's know this about me. And now my blogging buddies.
I used to go out dancing, and this was in the disco times, so it dates me right there. For you whipper-snappers that were born in the 70's or later, it was NOT like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

 No one looked like this with their arm raised in the air. No one ever raised their arm in the air. There was the revolving mirrored ball..


There was loud dancing music from the Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine band ( yuch ), Gloria Gaynor, The Commodores, Earth  Wind & Fire , Sister Sledge... too many to name.
Anyway,
I would go out dancing...and do not think I was a total hedonist ( probably 3/4ths was easily ) , I would go dancing...it is really now embarrassing to admit...about 4-6 times a week , for about 4-6 hours at a time !!!
I did also work and go to school, but school was secondary to me, and that showed in my grades back then. But that's another story.
Back to dancing,
I had my dancing boyfriends ,  and one who I loved dancing with , he was blonde, handsome...a little shy...his name was Rick, he was older , by about 8 years , and we would dance usually for an hour without a break. Then take a break, get a drink, smile at each other...and rush back out dancing. We would go back up, usually there were small platforms that everyone squeezed up on, or large stages, or just flat dance floors...and dance for hours again.
Is that funny now or what ?!!
 I do recall seeing some guys who acted like they were dancing gods or kings  out there. They were interesting, but I never went for that ego-monster type.
I just liked fellow dancing fools like myself.


We did not look like this...


Though she is lovely up there. I mostly wore tight jeans, as all the girls did, and I had long, long hair down the base of my back. Never wore it up then , always down like young women do today. Very few of the young women wore dresses, hardly ever...well , sometimes in the Summer we wore sundresses. I was not in New York discos either, just clubs and discotheques around town for the college crowd mainly.
The guys usually had jeans or khakis on , and usually had some sort of cologne on. I remember that now.

Probably to cover up the smell of sweat after dancing with us dancing fool women for hours !
I also remember I turned into a bit of a dance snob as I only danced with guys that were good dancers, or decent dancers at least. No just-learning with- no- rhythm dancing men allowed in my dancing fool circle.
 If I had to pick a favorite song , from back then...it would be a tie between " It's Rainin' Men " by the Weather Girls  or " I will Survive " by Gloria Gaynor. Anything I could dance to, I liked . I had to be moving and I had these, shown below..
pretty bad,


Happy feet , moving and dancing almost every night. I married a man that does not dance, is fine as a slow dancer , but not anything over that.
So I had to say ' Goodbye' to my dancing boyfriends, when I got married at 20.
This is the kind of dancing that I would love to learn now...


The Tango !


I asked my oldest daughter a few years ago, what would she remember about me the most when I was her mom, when she was young ? Thinking I may hear that I was a smoochy-huggy mom, or good at listening or something. You know what she told me ? She goes , " I will always remember you liked to dance around the house. "
That really made me smile, as I have not done that in so many years I can't even recall.
Bummer.
I feel like I have lost my rhythm, so out of practice...to be a dancing fool takes some sort of giddy practicing you know.
I do think dancing has to be felt in the heart , then it travels to our feet and makes them happy.
I hope you think of something in your past that made you so happy today, dancing ( especially with your children ) , writing , reading, fishing, boating, etc. Hopefully you can have it resurface and bring some joy back into your life.


Be a blessing to someone today , look for a small way to do so,
Gina




To Every Thing There is a Season - Ecclesiastes 3. 1-8

  "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ..."

14 comments:

  1. Sounds like you still have it "in you", Gina! Nothing wrong with dancing up a storm at home. I say, "Go for it!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes, it is definitely still in me ! Will do it again , I want happy feet ! Gina

    ReplyDelete
  3. Any post with Tony Manero in it is a winner! Keep dancing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey yes, I deleted my last comment as I forgot his name was Tony, I wrote Danny, which is who he was in Grease. I need a memory boost plus a dance boost , thanks ! Gina

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gina I love to sing. My mum used to say that I sang all the time and always sang myself to sleep. I sang for friends and then at college and then on local television and then made some records and then....got married and had babes! i cried a lot about not singing with musicians. But it never goes away does it . and so little by little I have started to sing again. I love singing even if noone listens!! Dance Gina dance! Best G.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was the exact same way about dancing! I would go out many nights a week for as many hours as possible and worked it around school and work too. I still sometimes miss those days, but like you I love having those fun memories to look back on. My Mom used to do these crazy dances at home when we were younger and we'd be so embarrassed once we got to be a little older, now I realize I do the same thing and my oledst already says "MOooommm!"
    I would love to learn ballroom dancing, but my husband is definitely not into dancing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Catherine-Yes, I knew there were some kindred dancing fool women out there ! thanks for standing up !

    ReplyDelete
  8. What memories you brought back. I also was a dancing fool in those days (and earlier and later ones). I can remember going to a disco in Halifax called "The Picadilly". My girlfriend and I were one of a small group of girls who (just like you) went there to dance 4-6 times a week; we were known as "Pick Chicks"! I was a good and very enthusiastic dancer. My friend, Judy, was a fantastic dancer and often danced in competitions or just dazzled us with some of the few great male dancers in the place. Ahhh! I still love to dance just as much as I did then! But now-a-days, not everything on me stops when the music does!

    ReplyDelete
  9. once a dancin fool always a dancin fool!...King David was always keen on dancing....

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Royal Horticultural Society actually offer Summer night Latin dance classes, at their Wisley gardens:
    http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Wisley/What-s-on/Latin-dance-nights

    I envisage you giving a Paso Doble demonstration with Maxim Chmerkovskiy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gerry-I loved your singing memories, so nice you are doing it again and enjoying it !

    Hazeltree-I do believe that is true , and yes, I know about King David dancing for the Lord. thanks much !

    Robur-In my dreams I could do that ! Looks like way too much fun. The Paso Doble is also on my list, thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey Sandy- Sounds like you had alot of fun too, I enjoy everyone's dance stories, thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  13. How interesting! I never knew there was a version of It's Raining Men done by Sister Sledge! The only one I've ever heard is the Weather Girls version. I'll have to find it, it's always interesting to hear the originals vs. the remakes. :-)--Randy

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Randy, It probably is the Weather girls, that was almost 30 years ago , and Disco is now one of my least favorite styles of music anymore, so I am not up on the names at all. Except for those two songs, ha--I'll have to change that in my post. Sister sledge is what I recalled---' We are Family ' group...thanks much ! Gina

    ReplyDelete

I love comments , please leave one if you like. I try to respond to comments,but if I'm running behind, please know that I read each one before they are published. Thanks much, Gina