THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Sep 06, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Most of today’s youths do not understand that the art of dancing cheek to cheek is an intimate, up-close swaying and waltzing to the rhythm of music that graced house parties, community centres, schoolrooms, nightclubs and the ballrooms. In Guyana, cheek to cheek dancing was a form of social dancing by older folks. It featured at celebrations in the villages such as a lodge banquet, a harvest supper, wedding receptions, or some fundraising party.
Such dancing is no longer. It ceased to exist even as the music changed.
Music for those dances was supplied by a “Juke box” or a big band orchestra that a stunning bass guitar, a drum set, piano, saxophonists, a trumpeter and a vocalist. They would play until time for a break for at least 30 minutes and would smile when the organizers served them food and a drink.
These village dances made the elders feel good. There were other dances that had them on their feet, snapping their fingers and dancing the mambo, the be-bop, a fast fox trot, and the late-hour waltzes cheek to cheek. And no matter how fast they were going, the couples danced together.
Way back then, the men were taught to approach the ladies at parties and ask them: “May I have this dance with you?” The ladies would either decline or would kindly accept the invitation. It is important to note that ladies rarely asked men to dance in those days. The onus was on the men. But even as the men danced to their hearts’ content, they were still guided by the courtesy to walk the ladies back to their seats after the song ends.
Dancing cheek to cheek meant a lot to the older generations who knew nothing else. However, the advent of dance hall music fed by a proliferation of West Indian music in the mid-1980s replaced cheek to cheek and ball-room dancing.This has led many to believe that dancing is truly a generation thing because while the older generations would still do a ballroom twirl, most of today’s youths know nothing about ballroom dancing.
They have confined themselves to a ritualistic form of gymnastics that rules out any form of the intimate, up-close dancing. Dancehall music has catered for the apparently short attention-span of youngsters, but is confusing to the older folks.
While Dancehall music has become very popular among the new generation, sometimes called Millennials, oddly enough, it is dependent on loud music and fast rhythms which have completely replaced the original concept of couples dancing together cheek to cheek. Today’s music has energized street and house parties and stage shows with “wacky” moves being the latest craze.
These dance moves do not constitute dancing in its original form where couples move together to the rhythm of the music. It comprises young men bundled together dancing solo or standing in a corner with beer or cigarette in hand and shaking their heads to the loud sound of the music. They often pay attention only to themselves and completely ignore the opposite sex in the room.
The ladies are no better either. They would gather on one side of the room dancing together without any hope of a male asking them for a dance.
Social dancing involves couples dancing cheek to cheek to the rhythm of the music, which, if true love is involved, becomes a dance to their own heartbeat. It is the opposite of the dancehall gyrations which keep the sexes physically apart.
The music of the 1950s and 1960s which are now considered oldies encouraged couples to dance together all night long. Those were the days.

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