Discussion for article #234098
The author needs to do more research. Argentine Tango (the social dance, not the stage / ballroom / competition forms) has become hugely popular across the United States (probably a couple thousand dancers in the DC area alone). The Swing dancing community is enormous, enjoying a resurgence in the 1990s, and Blues dancing has been growing rapidly the past decade. And thatâs not to even mention the traditional American dances (two-step, country waltz, etc.) that have large communities throughout the country. There are a lot of white people in every city and lots of small towns doing couples dancing. You just have to go out and look for it!
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I was kind of surprised that there was no mention of the retro-resurgence of swing dancing as well. âThe Brian Setzer Orchestra (formerly of the Stray Cats fame in the 80s), Pink Martini, etc. having success in this market in the 90s and into the oughts are but a couple examples off the top of my head.
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Generally unimpressed with the Slice stuff so far. Keep trying, TPM, but honestly: meh.
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One of the recent ones was refreshingly good, so I was hoping theyâd listened to the criticism and turned the corner. SighâŚ
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You say âkind of surprised,â I say âtotal brain fart.â The 90âs had not only the outstanding BSO, but the Cherry Poppinâ Daddies and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, both of whom rode a wave of swing dancing resurgence that started with Swingers (Vince Vaughnâs last, and perhaps only, good movie). Granted, Iâm in NYC where you can still find plenty of places that cater to couples dancing (swing or salsa), but itâs hardly a thing of the past.
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Glen Echo.
There are a couple of privately owned dance floor in the burbs. Waltz, tango, polka, one step, swing dancing. All out there if you look for them.
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Wasnât it the Slice stuff that gifted us with the âlive music sucksâ nonsense? To be fair, perhaps Iâm mis-remembering it, but it smacked of the same deliberate attempt to be âedgyâ (or something) as this article. I can just imagine the reaction to an article entitled âWalking on Our Own: Why Black America Ditched Swimmingâ or some similar shit.
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Agreed. Swing is still popular in places here in Portland and throughout the Northwest as well.
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Clogging is not a dance form primarily associated with rural black communities. The folk music prohibition against dancing had nothing to do with the âdisco sucksâ movementâor didnât you know about all the white kids dancing to rock and roll and Motown in the intervening years? I had been grateful for learning about the origins of the Grizzly Bear and the Turkey Trot, but the degree to which the author gets it wrong about dance and music styles I do know makes me wonder if I can trust him on those.
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Lots of couples dancing going on here in Texas!
The be-bop/swing revival really started in the late 1980s when popular bands like the Cherry Poppin Daddies followed Oingo Boingo by bringing horns back into the mix⌠same with BBVD. From my own experience the ballroom-style dancing didnât enter until college, but by the mid-1990s, the movie Swingers was more a response to the national popularity than the opening horns, so to speak.
In my own community, thereâs still an institution (50+ years old) that teaches 7th and 8th graders the various types of couples/ballroom dancing⌠hundreds of kids each year participate and it helps the âcouples dancingâ movement carry on. Importantly, it also allows for instruction in how to communicate with the opposite sex, courtesy, and some of the more polite manners when engaging between boys and girls that you just canât get from twerking.
â⌠the âdisco sucksâ movement of the 1970s, a movement of (racist, homophobic) rock fans âŚâ what a slur against those of us who felt a healthy, justifiable repugnance for the monotonous, vapid music of the discoteques and their coke-sniffing, leisure suit wearing yuppie patrons.
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How did the author manage to ignore the iconic television show Soul Train?
And as for the âDisco Sucksâ backlash, I recall it as an angry outburst by frustrated young males utterly lacking in physical rhythm and fashion style â not racists and homophobes.
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Well, as someone who enjoyed going to discos as a Brooklyn teenager in the '70âs, I can tell you it consisted entirely of middle and lower-middle class kids. There was alcohol, pot and pills --just like everywhere else-- but not much cocaine (which became popular in the 80âs-Studio 54 era). And unlike fans at the Grateful Dead, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper concerts I attended, the disco kids could actually dance under the influence.
Most of the friends I went to discos with also liked Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and the predominant pop/rock music of the day. But it was awful music for dancing --especially with a girl. The few kids I remember in high school who bothered to buy and wear a âDisco Sucksâ T-shirt were the least comfortable/capable dancers. I still remember one (a tough, popular and very funny football player) getting dressed-down by his date at the senior prom for refusing to dance any fast music.
Also interesting is that we were predominantly ethnic Italians and disco dancing was one of the few social activities we took part in with African-Americans that didnât include all the baggage and racism prevalent at the time.
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The music was relentlessly horrible. And everywhere. Itâs just fine back inside the dance clubs where it belongs. Nothing racist or homophobic about hating it.
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So, it WASNâT Billy Idolâs fault, after all?? Whew! Thank goodness this near-four decade calumny has been eradicated!
âDisco sucksâ was not about racism and homophobia.
It was about crappy, mass-manufactured, redundant, uninteresting music, laced with enough strings to induce insulin shock.
I hardly think I was a racist and homophobe for preferring Frankie Goes to Hollywood or Stevie Wonder to the BeeGees and Hot Chocolate.
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While Steve Dahl was a vulgarian in many ways (the proto-shock jock) I donât recall it being about racism and homophobia either (though Dahl was certainly not above looker-room humor of that sort).
It seems to be coming from a very young angle. Thereâs nothing wrong with that - a new perspective is always good. But many of the pieces seem ignorant of actual facts beyond what a Wikipedia article can divulge.
They really do seem sophomoric.
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