I had a very memorable cultural experience the other weekend.
Friday night was a late night, a night of dancing that appeared more like bouncing, and… bouncers. In preparation for our college “ball” coming up in late November, my colleagues and I were taught the Ceilidh, the traditional Scottish dance seen throughout the countryside on many occasions during the year. During the three-hour practice session, which took place in a noisy church hall, I kept thinking about how I would describe this dance. It involves plenty of choreographed, intricate footwork which looked wonderful, at least when the teachers were demonstrating. On the neophytes like myself, it simply took the appearance of bouncing. One can imagine an uncoordinated, uncontrolled blend of Jane Austen-like ball dancing and a good ole’ fashioned polka, danced by 30 or so mid-20’s to mid-30’s Americans who know neither the polka nor ballroom dances. It translates to “a whole lot of bouncing,” and a whole lot of entertainment. Innocent, righteous, church-hall-appropriate dancing, or bouncing.
By ten thirty that night, I stood outside, not a church hall, but The Lizard, a dance club in a hotel basement with a neon sign, a cover charge of three pounds and four huge bouncers dressed in black standing guard at the entrance. There was no Ceilidh taking place at the Lizard.
My dance partners and I were warned about the Lizard – on numerous occasions, by numerous people. They said one needed to be completely wasted to enjoy it. They described it by saying it was a place filled with scantily clad undergrad girls. The dance floor is small, the music is loud, and the people are sketchy (whatever that means). What could be so bad about this place?
From 10:30 till 1:00am (or maybe later), four friends and I held our own on the dance floor, in a sea of scantily clad undergraduates, under the very loud speakers, only a few feet from the cross-dressed (at a minimum) DJ. The only person with any alcohol in him was the most fearful of dancing, the other four of us, one of whom is obviously pregnant, all of whom were obviously not in our early 20’s, rocked it. It was awesome. It was innocent (on our part), righteous (on our part) and definitely NOT church-hall-appropriate dancing. Can any dancing be church-hall appropriate with big, black-clad bouncers nearby?
Don’t you want to join the Scottish dance fun? I highly recommend it.
You don't even need a photo to accompany this post - the descriptions are glorious!
ReplyDeleteHaLEY SOUND LIKE YOU GOING ON A NIGHT OF GIRLS GONE WILD
ReplyDeleteGirls had gone wild this night... but so had men! Jodi - you should come. I'll take you to the Lizard myself! :)
ReplyDeleteI love a good ceilidh, and I HATE dancing. I have no rhythm or moves or feminine wiles at all, and yet this Scottish dancing is too fun to resist. Try doing it on a ship in the throes of a storm! Rollicking good times!
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