Or at least as much proof as photographs can provide these days! (The "pictures don’t lie" being long over.)
Yes, I’ve told y’all about my regular activities each week square dancing and round dancing, but here are the pictures to prove it!
On Sunday nights I dance with a group known as the Sundown Squares. (In addition to my Tuesday night group, the Valley Twirlers, and my Friday night group, the Alpine Squares–beside random pickup dances on other nights.)
Recently the Sundown Squares had a party night, complete with volunteer photographers, and they captured these images.
First, here’s a picture of me with my round dance class:
That’s me in the middle of the back row. Our teachers are the man and woman on the far right. And the ladies in the middle of the front line are really, really small. (Makes them extra cute, don’t you think?)
For those who may not know, round dance is the same thing as ballroom dancing, except that there’s a "cuer" who cues the moves that you’re supposed to make, so that you don’t have to have a dance memorized in order to do it. As long as you know the moves, you can do any dance the cuer puts on the turntable (or CD player, or iPod, or computer). The presence of a cuer lets you do many more dances than you could in traditional ballroom dancing, making it much more diverse and fun.
After my round dance class is finished, I switch to square dancing with the Sundown Squares, and here’s a picture of that:
In this picture, I and my fellow dancers are in lines, doing an "eight-to-the-middle-and-back" move.
You may notice in these pictures that many of the other dancers are older than I am. Partly that’s because of the particular composition of the Sundown Squares, and partly it’s because most young folks today are glued to their iPods and are too lazy for real dancing. I’m far from the youngest member of the group, though, and there are some who aren’t even in their teens yet.
But who cares about age?! It’s all about fun!
Re: the age thing. I attended a couple of square dances last year here in Morgantown, WV put on by a group called FOOTMUSIC (which stands for Friends of Old Time Music). While many of the dancers were older, there was also a healthy number of younger people, some guys and gals that I would guess were in their 20s. (I’m 35.)
Their website: http://www.morgantowndance.com
Also, Catholic Alumni Club of Pittsburgh, a singles group I belong to, puts on a square dance twice a year, and it is always well attended – and largely young people (20’s and 30’s).
great pictures. I haven’t tried square dancing since eigth grade. Although, it was pretty fun back then.
Its fun to hang out with folks who are a good deal older than you are. I have played bluegrass banjo since I was 13 (now 38) and have spent many evenings, playing bluegrass late into the evening with people well past retirement age.
If course now I’m a daddy, so I spend most of my time with people who wear diapers, speak in partial sentences, and want to be carried all the time.
From one extreme to another…:)
I should hasten to add that the Catholic Alumni Club square dances are mainly advertized in the club newsletter, thus accounting for the large number of younger people. But also, this is one of the events to which former CAC members who have married are invited back for; and one such married couple, my friends Joe and Michelle, are regulars.
I really love the masks the couple are wearing on the group blog, they’re terrific. I especially like the photos of the older couples and the comment about a particular couple ‘generating happiness when they dance”, how sweet is that!
Looks like you all have a lot of fun!
What a fun way to get exercise! Beats my exercise videos!
Jimmy, good to see you have a life outside the blogsphere. I took country line dancing several years ago…it is a blast! I would love to take ballroom dancing, too! Heck any type of dancing for me is fun because I was born to dance!:-)
Short n sweet stole my thoughts
Mr Akin you look very happy and enjoying some clean wholesome fun, something that all of us should take note of, and avoid such “entertainment” as the movies -Anyone care to discuss the type of movies Hollywood actually considers worthy of awards?
John,
Here’s an excerpt of an email I just received from a friend, with regard to a farcical Hollywood;
” I believe this marks the first time in Oscars history that an award recipient shouted, “Thank you, Jesus!” upon receiving his award. Admittedly, this was the only part of the speech that didn’t have to be bleeped and it was for a song titled, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” but it’s still a step forward”
ukok
It is almost scary that one cant turn on the TV anymore or go to the movies without feeling guilty as the sex and violence is in your face (does anyone else feel the human body is more attractive with clothes on than totally off except of course with your significant other?)
I read a great story in a Catholic magazine that was written around 1950 or so called “The Stranger” and it goes on to talk about this young boy who narrates about this “stranger” that Dad invited home, he/she cursed, promoted drinking and smoking, as well as sex, etc etc and soon nobody in the family spoke with eachother except around the “stranger”…well we soon could not get the stranger to leave the house and now we just call he/she…”TV”