It used to happen a lot around our place. A dinner party (an evening that may have called for black tie, even) lasted past 11:00, another bottle of champagne was opened and the table and chairs were pushed back to make room for dancing.
Nothing involving one’s “groove thang,” just a nice slow foxtrot around the room.* Harry Connick, Jr. may have been crooning “It Had to Be You.” Or Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra might have led us into the “Wee Small Hours of the Morning.” Some nights did have us doing a little rumba or equivalent to some Getz/Giberto tunes. It was rare, but at least one early morning degenerated into an 80’s New Wave dance fest. But that gets awfully exhausting after 3 minutes of “pogo’ing.”
It was a great way to end a wonderful night that you really didn’t want to end. And you don’t have to dance like a contestant on a “Dancing With the Stars.” Try it. “Dance the night away” as Bryan Ferry sang.
*Full disclosure, I can bandy around terms like “foxtrot” as my first post-college job (“No experience necessary!”) was as a ballroom dance instructor. It was great. I didn’t bump into a thing for two and a half years. If you have no idea whatsoever of how to “slow dance” with a modicum of grace, please take an introductory dance course. You’ll learn a lot in a little bit of time, and what you learn will get you through most any situation. And Gentlemen, please, practice and develop a strong lead (for a quick reference as to what not to do, check out our man in the photo above.) The pump handle method is really tiring for your partner and makes it difficult to hold a glass of champagne.
I agree about the dancing! My girlfriend and I have been taking lessons for a couple of years and we love it. We haven’t been to a wedding reception or party for most of that time without being labeled “the couple that can dance.” Personally I don’t think we are that great, life is too busy and we don’t have the time to practice as much as we’d like or take as many classes as we should. However the important thing is that we enjoy it! It’s also a nice change of pace to be able to actually dance to a song, not just bop in place or grind against each other.
Also, I enjoy your site, please keep it up!
Thank you Nicholas! And keep up the dancing as often as you can. If you happen to run into a performance of Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra (http://www.docscantlin.com), I highly recommend attending! Doc and Chou-Chou are wonderful folks and you will have a grand time gliding around the dance floor.