What is and what is not appropriate regarding teen dance styles has been an issue as long as there have been teens and dancing - that's why some societies forbid dancing with the opposite sex. What has changed, at least to a certain extent, is the overt reproduction of various sex acts that have come to dominate dancing styles shown on television as being the "normal" way to dance.
Look at the Super Bowl: completely apart from the breastification, performers and backup dancers alike were grinding, thrusting, writhing and clutching in a manner shocking to all good Baptists. It is the very commonplace nature of this kind of overt sexuality in the broadcast media - TV in particular - that has caused such a groundswell against the overall tone of what is broadcast, not the particular act of Janet Jackson.
Administrators at Bend (Oregon) High School decided it was time for someone to put their foot down, and they were just that foot:
- When students kept dancing close enough for their hips to kiss at Bend High School's Sadie Hawkins dance Saturday night, fed-up school administrators shut the dance down.
It was about 10 p.m. The room was dark, the music pounding. And some of the students were dancing dirty.
"Quite honestly it's like having sex with your clothes on," said Mary McDermott, a teacher and the school's activities director, describing the style of dancing.
The school ended the dance an hour early after giving what they believe was fair warning to the hundreds of students Saturday night. The signs on the doors said it plainly: No freak dancing and no grinding. School officials reminded students about the rules in an announcement during the dance.
....At some point you have to take a stand and send a message to the kids and say this is not OK," said Marshall Jackson, an assistant principal.
In the last several years, he said, Jackson has seen dancing go "over the edge" in its sexual nature — whether students intend it to be that way or not. Some parents who have glimpsed the behavior have told the school they are shocked, school officials say.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - sheri
"Look at the Super Bowl: completely apart from the breastification, performers and backup dancers alike were grinding, thrusting, writhing and clutching in a manner shocking to all good Baptists"
ROFLMAO !! Hilarious, Eric !
2 - Mark Saleski
when i was in high school we had two dances shut down over the course of my four years:
1. the band played too loud and refused to turn down.
2. the band played "Big Ten Inch"...they had been warned not to.
all these years later, reason #2 is still pretty danged funny.
3 - Eric Olsen
That IS funny, since the real problem isn't double-entendres, but pelvic-thrusting single-entendres.
Thanks Sheri!
4 - Ms. Tek
Whatever.
They danced liket that when I went to high school and that was a long time ago.
Doing that is not something new.
Grrrr... Everyone acts like they were born yesterday. Is there no sanity left in this place?
5 - Eric Olsen
I am not entirely sure how I could have made it more clear that this debate has been raging for millennia. What IS different is that kids see this kind of dancing all the time on videos and are led to believe that it is normal and commonplace, seen even at the Super Bowl halftime show, for God's sake.
While that style of dancing goes way back, thinking it is normal and appropriate does not.
6 - Ms. Tek
I was not saying that I didn't think that you made it clear. I was just voicing my disgust with people these days.
I'm taking some time off. I find that I am disliking Americans more and more and it sucks because I am an American even though the Brits and Euros want to adopt me.
Maybe I am the wrong one. Maybe I really don't belong in this place. I doubt that I do more and more each day. I am sick of all this conservative, nanny-nosed bullshit. I am sick of the real issues not being addressed and everyone living under a blanket because either the truth is purposely hidden from them or they are too "super sized" to get off their ass and find out for themselves.
Basically, I have 100 % lost faith at this point. I don't believe anymore. I used to believe and that has been shattered in the past 4 years.
Utterly and totally shattered.
7 - Roger
Mark,
If you are talking about the Aerosmith song, the full name is "Big Ten Inch Record" ("she just loves my big ten inch record of my favorite blues"). Hell yeah. The most underplayed Aerosmith song. The groovy beat, lyrics etc. Cool shit! Thanks for bringing that to my memory, it made my day.
As far as the rest it is like everything else. A product of society. That McDermott lady probably never got asked to the dance. Here is the brutal truth. A day late and a dollar short. It's like trying to fix the ozone after the son of a bitch has already been destroyed. At 34 I've tried not to get stuck in a time warp. No matter who it is, a 5 year old or a 50 year old I try to get a close to their level as possible to better understand what they're seeing. SHUT DOWN THE DANCE? At least you kew where they were. I wonder how many of them got pissed off and went and found someone to buy them some booze???
8 - Eric Olsen
it's actually a Bull Moose Jackson jump blues song that Aerosmith redid more or less faithfully.
9 - Mark Saleski
yea, isn't it on one of those rhino 'dirty blues' records? somethin' like that.
10 - Eric Olsen
Very likely is - I have it on the classic King R&B Box Set
11 - Roger
Cool! I learn something new everyday. Maybe Ms. McDermott could use a Big 10 inch. Then she wouldn't be so uptight and make poor teenagers go out and seek a more dangerous alternative.
12 - Dirtgrain
How about putting the dances on TV (community access station, maybe)? Zoom the camera in on the faces of the dirtiest dancers, and parents would see what their kids are doing. If you won't dance that way in front of your parents' (and Nana's) eyes, then maybe you shouldn't dance that way in public at all.
There is this weird mentality about proms: "Oh, it's a special moment," and "This is the greatest night of your life," and "It's a memorable occasion." This is contrasted with crotch-to-ass-to-face-to-duodenum dancing: girls simulating going down on a guy, guys simulating doggie style on a girl. Such a lack of reverence counters the special emotions and efforts that a lot of kids invest in the dance (I'm starting to sound like Stuart Smalley and the Church Lady combined).
My school tried to highjack the song list a few years ago. They mandated a slow song every other time, and they tried to sneak in the "Chicken Dance" and the "Hokey Pokey." Students weren't having it. Nevertheless, certain grind songs (grindable songs? Songs with grindability? Grindworthiness!) were banned, and a time-out area was designated for students who get warned.
Being a chaperone sucks. I walk through this heap of sweaty dirty dancers, trying my best not to get someone's ass all over me. When I see a kid almost having sex, I tell him or her to stop. Inevitably, the kid cops a go-to-hell attitude, so I have to remove him or her from the dance floor. I hold back most of the time because it is supposed to be this memorable event, and I don't want to ruin it by being a Puritan (as in Footloose).
The worst thing I have seen is due to the age gap. At the homecoming dances, all the grades are admitted. Teenagers develop at various rates in various ways. I saw a ninth-grade boy, who looked like he was ten-year-old Little Man Tate, reluctantly attempting to grind on this Punky-Brewster girl. He never really got going--it was a pathetic half-humping motion, both tragically sad and incredibly hilarious. I walked away from that scene without intervening, dazed by reality. Sometimes you have to let kids learn from their mistakes on their own. This little boy clearly was mimicking the dancing of the older guys, some of whom were twice his size with beards and tatoos and piercings. That could put a lot of pressure on a kid.
Does anybody remember what it was like to be a novice dancer back in the day? I first learned this simple side-to-side swaying that was pathetic in its own way. That was seventh grade. Through middle school, I gradually incorporated a few moves from my roller-skating days ("I Wonder Why He's the Greatest Dancer," "Freak Out," and "Disco Duck" were my songs)--swing the feet a bit, bend the knees, loosen up the shoulders. Ultimately, I molded myself into the stereotypical white-guy dancer that Eddie Murphy mocks (just like Carlton's dancing on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air). If we had had dirty dancing back then, I might have turned into a decent dancer. It seems like bumping, grinding and freaking are a lot easier than trying to actually be a good dancer. I missed my chance.
13 - Chris Kent
I remember "Disco Duck" and "Freak Out" while skating! We (whatever girl I had a crush on at the time, assuming she was not offended by my Punky Brewster looks) would slow skate to "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" and some damn tune by Gino Vannelli.
I was dancing just this past weekend with a woman in which I had to do the "Grind." I gave it my best shot, but then normal things began to happen to my anatomy, causing me to blush and immediately leave the dance floor until I could "calm" down. Now I know why kids wear their jeans so damn baggy......
The girl laughed at me, knowing full well the condition of my condition, but it did not seem to bother her......so the grind then became entirely something else...but it still caused me to blush...and hell, I'm still blushing.....
14 - Mac Diva
The pop of two teens wrote this? I'm surprised Eric did not channel teen thinking: If adults don't like it, let's do more of it. The school may have created a bumper crop of dirty dancing by playing fuhrer.
The lights are important. Bright lights = less grinding.
I get the feeling the principal doesn't remember being an adolescent. Or have her priorities straight. This in Oregon, for chrissakes. We barely fund our schools. Our drop outrate is ridiculously high. A kid is kicked out of school for having a gun at least once a week. One of the bloodiest high school shootings ever happened here. Grinding. Sminding. We have bigger fish to fry, even with our celebrity orca dead.
15 - Chris Kent
A celebrity orca died?!
16 - Chris Kent
One of many purposes of schools is to keep kids from having sex before a certain age. We don't admit it, but that's the truth. We force males to work out their sexual aggressions in sporting events, we keep kids chained to desks, we keep kids active so that every five seconds when they think of sex they don't actually do it.
Now I am quoting some movie or some book, but all high school is is just one big huge contraceptive. Otherwise, the kids would be breeding like rabbits. So if they "Grind" on the dance floor, throw them out. Teen dancing today is far more suggestive than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Good or bad, why give them yet another reason to think about sex?
Sure, there's problems with school violence, dropout rates and, most importantly, school funding (which would solve the other two problems).....But lap dance/dry humping on the dance floor should also be addressed, as trivial as it may seem.....
17 - Mac Diva
Where do you think those kids went after they were thrown out, Chris Kent? To the car. Then to the make out spot. And, then? Better to have turned the lights up and played fast songs.
Yes. Celebrity Orca. The Oregon Aquarium owned Keiko (of "Free Willy" fame) during his best years. He might still be alive if he had remained there.
18 - Roger
Please pardon my exprssion, but pussy and a damn football or soccer game don't compare. Sexual aggressions and sports? Why are people in a time warp. Each generation and decade evolves further in to something a little more unique. The problem is all of the "back in my day this and back in my day that". If I had my way, teachers K-12 would be required to have additional credit hours in child physcology and human behavior.
P.S. Having been a professional fitness instructor for over 10 years(still certified)it has been proven that physical activity in males increases testoterone levels. Result, a higher sex drive.
19 - Eric Olsen
Excellent and hilarious insights Chris and Dirtgrain, thanks!
As I said, I don't think they should have stopped the dance, which would only cast undue sympathy on the situation rather than keeping it squarely focused on the grinders, and as MD and Roger said, send the miscreants out into the unsupervised night.
They should have just kept kicking them out until the dance was over and/or until everyone was gone.
In the newspaper account they quoted a number of kids as saying they don't like the grinding either, and as DG illustrates firsthand, it does put pressure on everyone to grind, (kind of like steroids in sports), including those who wouldn't be so inclined left to their own devices.
I agree that a primary job of high school is to keep the kids focused on something other than sex. Let's face it, teens are stupid, even really smart teens are really stupid, it's the hormones and all the crazy changes (my son has grown 8 inches in the last 18 months), and the more teens have sex, the more things are going to go wrong, including pregnancy and STDs. It's going to hapen anyway, but it's among the school's jobs to keep it down to as dull a roar as possible. And that sure as hell includes inhibiting dry humping on the dance floor.
20 - Dirtgrain
Well said, Eric. Chris, did you do that roller-skating move where you put one foot out in front of the other and wiggle it from side to side (like a DJ wiggles a record), switching feet now and then and weaving to the beat? Could you do a 180 and skate backwards? I gave up roller skating before I mastered the smooth transition to backwards skating--I knocked over a few people trying, though. I couldn't even do the roller-skate hockey stop.
Nevertheless, I found something to do when it came time for the guy's skate. The girls would get off of the rink and stand on the sides while the guys would skate and strut their stuff (there was a girls-only skate as well). I can only imagine how bad I looked. Think of a young teenager wearing a sterling silver necklace with one of those virility-symbol, jagged-wavy teardrop things hanging from it. A maroon v-neck velour shirt and some blue jeans were contrasted by some seriously feathered hair (we're talking Albatross feathers here). And rental skates--yes, I couldn't afford my own pair.
I would start out the guys-only skate all awkward, self-conscious and girl-conscious. Then I would try a little leg weaving and extend a skate here and there. I'm sure the ladies could see my thoughts: "Yah, that's it. Yep, I'm a ladies man." By the end of the skate, I was all over the rink, chest extended, striking a dominating pose. It's a wonder all the babes didn't jump me at once.
"Freak Out" was the song back then. When it came on, everybody left the concession stand and got on the rink. It was perfect for roller-rink dancing.
This seemed like good, clean fun, although it was certainly about courtship and sex. I suppose if kids are still roller-skating, they are probably working humping moves into their routines. Whatever. I guess we have to see the humor in it all--else we become prudes. Just think of how funny it is when your dog dry humps your best friend.
21 - Eric Olsen
Funny until an eye is put out or a kneecap broken.
22 - Chris Kent
Dirtgrain,
Your description of 1970s skate culture is so dead-on perfect, I shall not even attempt to top it......that is just a riot.
Mac Diva,
Good point. I would hope the adults only threw out the males and left the females over by the punch table. If memory serves, many school dances required parents to pick you up before one could even exit the door. You leave lights on full blast in all their fluorescent glory, kids will just stand around and stare at each other, then the dance is a complete disaster. Whether to Lawrence Welk or Eminem, people dance in a social situation as a way to get to know each other. It's a form of recreation during a gathering - sort of like playing horseshoes, only with more sweat. So you have to at least give the kids a chance to act mature. And you have to set rules. If the rules are broken, the dance is over.
I suppose there was a time when Rock music was considered to risque to play at school dances, so kids slow danced to Frank Sinatra, etc.... So things have come a long way from those days - for better or worse. But the "Grind" is not something kids should be doing, and frankly, guys like me in their 30s shouldn't be doing it either.
I'll just slow skate backwards to "Beth," bumping in to couples behind me, knocking them to the floor, all of us falling in a domino-like manner....Ah, those were the days...
23 - Roger
Unlike drugs, those crazy sex hormones that make us lust and look at the opposite sex aren't a choice. Teens get just as horny as an adult. You can't just turn them off or "play sports". They're acting like their minds are diseased.
About this time 18 years ago, I was parked in my friends car in the middle of a baseball field getting laid while a basketball game was going on inside. Big Deal!
24 - Roger
Or maybe that sinful Rock n' Roll and the Devil made me do it...
25 - Chris Kent
Now Roger, if you had been playing basketball like you were supposed to, or better yet, slow skating to the great Gino Vanelli, you wouldn't have been involved in such sinful activities......