Guys, were you good dancers in school?

applecruncher

applecruncher

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Seriously, I ask because in 6th - 10th grade many guys just would not ask girls to dance.

I remember lots of times girls in junior high (fast) danced with each other. Ugh.

But I vividly recall one kinda nerdy but likeable guy named Chuckie....he could REALLY dance. He tore the floor UP!! He was short, funny, and we always could count on him for a dance. The other guys would cluster and just watch. By the time I was in 9th grade I had a boyfriend, and he was in a band, so dancing was no problem. And in the 60s there was plenty of great dance music.

But I wonder, did boys avoid it because they felt silly and embarrassed? Sometimes they would slow dance, but that didn't take much skill. My oldest brother was an excellent dancer, but other brothers just would not dance. To this day I haven't seen them dance.
 

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applecruncher said:
did boys avoid it because they felt silly and embarrassed? Sometimes they would slow dance, but that didn't take much skill
Click to expand...
Yup
Felt silly
Slow dancing? The perks of slow dancing was worth the risk.
My sister taught me to dance...to the tunes of American Bandstand
Otherwise...ferget it

About twenty some years ago, wife and I found ourselves in a club
Buncha twenty somethings
We tore it up
Didn't hurt she was into gymnastics
Got a bit nasty with it
After we'd wore ourselves out, we looked around, and all those twenty somethings were standing back, looking at us
Got applause when we sat down

Heh, forty somethings can show kids how it's done
Just not for long
 
I met my husband when I was 15yrs old. I would go to dances Friday,Saturday and Sunday nights. Once we started dating I was allowed to fast dance with his buddies because he said he wasn't good at fast dancing, but could only slow dance with him.
 

My sister was ten years older than me. She taught me to dance when I was very young, around five. I got invited to girl parties because I danced with everyone. Could have been gay, could have been a lady's man, in later life. Turned out the latter. I still have some of the prizes I won in dance contests some fifty years ago. I often wonder what would happen if I opened that bottle of Strawberry Hill.
 
When I was of junior high age, my parents sent me to "ballroom dancing" classes convinced that it was a social grace helpful in life. I'll always remember sweating in a jacket and tie as I awkwardly took those classes in a gymnasium in the pre-air conditioning days. Decades later, I'm still waiting to show someone my competency at the Fox Trot and Waltz... 🦊
 
My older brother learned early that girls gravitated towards guys who could dance. He used to put on quite a show, doing the splits, gettin' applause, cheer'in him on.🤗😊 Those were fun times.

My bf was the drummer in a very popular band. Girls swooned over the band guys. I had to act like I didn't notice...not easy. 🤔
 
Dancing is wonderful training for girls, it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it.
- Christopher Morley
 
There was nothing so wonderful at a social function as a guy who can dance! I knew a couple of them in high school and college and they just were the hit at the party. My husband is also an awesome dancer! I also had the opportunity of dancing when we were overseas with a couple of German army officers during a military function and apparently they’re sent to dancing school and finishing school and these guys were the most amazing dancers, their waltzing was impressive!
 
After I got the first song/dance under my belt I felt more relaxed and was having fun. But getting out on the dance floor for that first dance was the hardest for me. I was a tall kid and felt a little awkward. Was I a good dancer? I don't think so, probably looked more like Elaine's dancing on Seinfeld, but I had fun once I got going.
 
The only times I ever danced in school was in Phys. Ed class when they forced us to square dance in the gym if it was raining. I hated it. They would line up the girls on one side and the boys on the other and then order us to march past each other and whichever girl you lined up with would be your partner. Some of the kids who were girlfriend/boyfriend would occasionally get away with slipping the line when the coaches weren't looking so they could get to dance with each other, but the majority would just get stuck with whomever. I had two scenarios that I dreaded. The first was getting paired up with a hot girl. Although we didn't have the term hot back then. I figured a hot girl would be outraged to get paired up with a social outcast like me and that after it was over she would be spreading the word to all her hot girl friends about what a loser I was. That didn't happen much because a lot of the hot girls got out of having to take PE because they were in cheer leading or majorettes and they got PE credit for that. Then there was dreaded scenario number two. That was to get paired up with a really ugly girl. That was bad because then your buddies would tease you about how she was your girlfriend. So bottom line I was always hoping to get kind of an average looking girl. That scenario would just make me nervous because I was so shy and terrified of girls. So I dreaded that scenario too.

Oh yeah. One other scenario. If there was an uneven number of girls and boys, some girls might get stuck dancing with other girls, or some boys might get stuck with dancing with another boy. Having to dance with a dude was also humiliating.

Bottom line, I dreaded every possible scenario, and I hated rain days in PE.
 
Always had steady boyfriends who danced starting at age 15. Don't think I ever attended a dance before that because my parents didn't let me do anything but meet for group dates at the movies until I got my driver's licences at 15. Not sure how good I was with bad rhythm and two left feet, but I sure enjoyed it!
 
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@Trade

Really enjoyed your stories!

Yeah, I remember square dancing. I liked it. :) This was in the early 1960s and my older brother and I were the only black kids in the school.

I also found your office party story interesting. I don't recall the song "Strokin", but...wow.:sneaky: 😊
 
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