People have been dancing since the beginning of time. I am sure cavemen and cavewomen were strutting their stuff. Who could forget Marie Antoinette. She and her court would don massive white wigs and do the Minuet. The women wore corsets and yards and yards of brocade gowns. Poor thing she lost her head.
Our forefathers did a happy dance when they signed the Declaration of Independence. Did you ever go to the ballet? How classic were their dance moves. I did see Romeo and Juliet and the Black Swan.
When I was going to school in Italy, some of my classmates came with me to a small town near Florence. The greatest ballet dancer in the world, Rudolf Nureyev, was giving a free concert. When he went up in the air I gasped. He had such power in his legs. When he finished we all formed in line to get his autograph on the program.
For some reason, he invited all of us to an after party. The ballerinas were still in costume and their ballet slippers. I wondered how they could stay on their toes for all that time.
Every decade brought different dances. Did you ever do the Charleston? Walk to the front kick walk to the back and kick. They wore the headbands with a feather and dresses that sparkled…All the men had tuxedos on and looked so dapper.
Did you ever go country line dancing? Everybody wore cowboy hats and tight jeans. They would stick their thumbs into their side pocket. They would dance to the front then they would turn to the back and then to the side. Over and over again.
Then there is square dancing. Near my house on Robertson Blvd there was a restaurant called Ed’s. Above the restaurant was a studio where everyone did square dancing. The men wore white shirts and bolo ties and the women wore short handmade dresses. The women wore gingham dresses. It looked like a table cloth circling around. All these dresses needed were fried chicken and cornbread. lol.
Many churches did Praise dancing. Their hands always lifted up to God. They wore long dresses and when they kicked it looked like waves going to the heavens. Other religions prohibited dancing. But you know when these people went home it was a different story.
I remember watching Kevin Bacon in Footloose .They thought when people had a little too much to drink ….that they would dance like demons. One of my other favorite dance movies is Dirty Dancing. Do you remember Patrick Swayze lifting up Jennifer Grey? We lost Mr S way too soon.
Jewish people love to dance. They would form a circle, hold hands and dance the Hora. While some people didn’t smile when they danced. The Jewish people did. Men wore mostly black. …and women had on long dresses. I am sure you have seen this in a movie .
Let’s go now to Greece shall we. They enjoyed folk dancing. There was a dance called Sirtaki. The dance was choreographed for the movie Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn.
Do you remember seeing Lucy in the episode where she danced in the grapes to make wine…..I know you thought that was very funny……to be continued
