Monday 15 September 2008

Da da da da da da DAH; dada de da da da...



Although I am officially rejoining the whirlwind of commerce tomorrow, (Monday has been a nightmare of calls and emails, so I may as well have said 'sod it, I'm back', but Mrs S insisted that I kept quiet most of the time - as she is entitled to do, as I have actually still been on leave today)!


Just tonight, we've been talking about what makes a good dance work.


I've always had two left feet at dancing. Waltzing was the nearest I've ever got to making less than a complete idiot of myself, and have been known to fall over after only seven pints, but Mrs S has the nimblest feet this side of The Appalacians, and from an early age was an expert at all sorts of foot-steps and moves, prances etc...


And so the conversation got onto Country Dancing. Simple, enjoyable, funny and energetic!


How could any young lad get to know even the 'Girl next door', without an excuse to go cavorting around a barn, trying his hardest to impress, and, even putting up with the ribald remarks from his chums? (Well, I did, but it was to get the future Mrs S out to a party; and I damn well did...)! The Girls could have a field day in the barn/village hall, sorting out the Travoltas, looking glum at the Scrobs-dance-alikes...


Country dancing allowed you to talk to new girls/boys...


It got you making a fool/ace of yourself.

  • It made an evening out of a dull weekend.
  • It helped slow kids to start up.
  • It let the plainer ones shine.
  • It allowed you to drink more...
  • It made life bearable for millions of youngsters - and oldsters!

So here's to what you need to let you put your arm around the best thing you can, and let the music roll on...

22 comments:

Electro-Kevin said...

Exactly the same relationship with Mrs E-K. She's a fabulous mover - great hip and footwork.

I sort of pose beside her making shapes with my hands as if presenting her to the audience.

Anonymous said...

Oooh Aarrr.. dead right.

When I were a young'un the regular Saturday programme was:
morning - shopping chores; afternoon: playing in a football/cricket match, rush home, bath/shower, grab a bite to eat - and then
evening: off down the local scout hall (or similar) for an evening social (as we called it in those far off days) usually with a reduced price bar and a live band.

It was everything you describe, but then again, in those days chaps and chapesses danced close together [a dancing teacher I once knew told me that if you could see daylight between a dancing couple they were not doing it right!] rather than on opposite sides of the dance floor. Have you tried asking anyone under 45 to join you for a jive, quickstep or rhumba lately?

That Chubby Checker bloke has a lot to answer for, having been single handedly responsible for making partners dance solo, twisting the night away, and thereby depriving youth of one of the greatest pleasures of growing up. Standing on one spot, bobbing up and down and waving your arms about is not my idea of dancing.

Philipa said...

rvi has a point - real dancing is lovely; poetry in motion. And it can be dead sexy. The quickstep is my fave though I'd like to learn the real pasa doble. Dad's fave is the slow foxtrot. He won all sorts of medals when courting mum. He says that all this modern waving your arms about isn't real dancing. And he doesn't know what Arnie is doing in the film 'True Lies' but it isn't the tango.

But because it's so sexy that can be the problem can't it? How to be polite and have fun with someone you don't necesarily want to be that close to. Yup, country dancing is the thing. And you get instructions as you're doing it. Loadsa fun.

Tuscan Tony said...

I am being dragged down to the cafe' near Lucca where it happens - again. My heart therefore bleeds for you!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Elecs - hence the skills in rowing too?

Your 'shapes with your hands' - hilarious and snap...

Did you ever see Rowan Atkinson doing a mime in front of some schoolkids? I'll try and find a link!!!

Hilarious!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

I always thought I could 'Stomp' RVI, until I saw how it's really done in the Regent Jazz Club in Hastings in the 60s - then I gave up...

YD had a ceilidh at her wedding in spring, and Mrs S and I managed every dance - although it had an unusual effect of sobering me up to the extent that I can remember everything that happened!

That 'willow got stripped' like there's no tomorrow...

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Pips Hi! ('waves' - still makes me laugh that...), Mrs S would agree with you about the fag paper between the couples.

My favourite dance scene is when one of the weddings in '4weds and a fune' has the groom hopelessly cavorting around to 'Crocodile rock'.

Sad isn't it...

You mentioning pase doble and foxtrot conjures up some pleasant visions and also brings back a few memories; but ask your Dad if he ever had to endure 'The march of the Mods'!

Excruciating...

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Tuscs - good to see you again, glad the hols went well!

I was watching bits of Tati's 'Jour de Fete' (through the gap in the seats on someone elses's pc on the train if you really want to know...), and the early dance scenes had me chuckling and laughing a fair amount which was a bit disconcerting to the others nearby...

Anonymous said...

Scrobs: If you got your middle aged willow stripped (or stomped, even; I thought Benny Goodman was the one who went Stomping at the Savoy), you should have thought through the consequences of treading a delicate measure on the greensward in the first place with that dashing white sergeant....!!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Ha ha ha RVI! Actually I ruined a perfectly good shirt through the continual rushing about, which caused external skin leaking and subsequent dribblings while trying to replace lost fluids from the range of bottles available everywhere...

It really was a night to remember, which as I mentioned earlier; I can...!

Anonymous said...

Just teasing :-)

BUT next time, do desist from climbing the Maypole!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Hellfire RVI...did I do that...?

I did do a John Travolta 'point' on several (many) occasions though...

Daisy said...

my husband could never dance and that's what i enjoyed the most...at our wedding reception i took him out to the bar area to show him a simple waltz so we could dance our first dance...he did so brilliantly...and hasn't danced since, unless you count the slow moving ones that everyone can do...i thought he was a champ for trying though...

lilith said...

Daisy that's so cute.

I love to dance Scrobs. I wanted to be a dancer till my knees objected. Only do it in the kitchen with Elby these days...

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Daisers - that's probably the best way to learn steps, i.e. just before you have to do them; in oublic; aaaargh...

Then forget them...

Our favourite dance scene ever in the Scrob household, came from the film '42nd Street', with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. You've just reminded me of the four of us (many years ago) leaping around the kitchen when it was on the radio...

I liked it so much, I went out and bought the record, which is still in the roof, and I'll have to buy a turntable to play it - but wait -

Youtube beckons...

Daisers you're gotgeous...!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Daisers - GORGEOUS!!!...

Sozza...

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Aaah Lils; that is a mental picture to be cherished eh...

Kitchen table rolled back, music on the Victrola, plumbing rattling the applause..., Elbey avoiding the low-wattage situated over the work top...Lils shedding her shoes-that-look-light-little-boats...

...Wake up Mr O'Blene...we have your tablets here...

Anonymous said...

....favourite dance scenes..

Wot, no Fred'n'Ginger?





Oh, oh, I am showing my age again!

Daisy said...

lilith...mine were my ankles...developed arthritus in them at a young age...but they are holding up alright as long as i don't overdo them..

Daisy said...

scroblene...i love watching all kinds of dance and just in the last couple of years so has my husband...we particularly like the dancing in "Holiday Inn" fred estaire does this firecracker number that is fab...but i still adore singing in the rain...can't help it!

lilith said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOBdQykKQY&NR=1

:-)

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Daisers and Lils, thank you for this!

Lils, Ginger dashing around in a niightie is going to keep me awake for some considerable time...