Monday Musings: The Campaign for Dad Dancing

As I explained in one of my recent musings, a few weeks back I was working on the world’s biggest student drama festival; a place that was full of… well… students. Generally the students were up for everything – diving in, taking part in workshops, but there was one area for which their enthusiasm seemed to be sorely lacking – the dance floor. With a monster PA system blasting out the beats and the (I admit, possibly slightly over-specced) lighting rig going crazy for it the dance floor was… empty. No-one wanted to take that first step onto the floor. That is until myself and the other non-students arrived to show them how it’s done…

We boldly strode onto the dance floor and started bustin’ a groove like it’s 1998 (a year well known for it’s massive dance tunes such as LeAnn Rimes How Do I Live Without You and Shania Twain’sYou’re Still the One.) As we moved, grooved and generally sweated more and more people took to the dance-floor, and as I looked around at all of us dancing away I suddenly realised something: we’ve all become Dad Dancers.

Now don’t get me wrong, although I may like to look back and think of myself seducing all the ladies on the dance-floor with my slick Will Smith-like dance moves the slide down to Dad Dancing was not in reality all that steep. In fact if I’m honest I actually refused to dance at any event until Dom had been going out with me for at least 3 years and seemed relatively unlikely to leave me the minute we took to the floor. But still, it was a bit of a shock. I thought I could at least hit 30 (or actually become a dad) before it happened in earnest. But then I realised something else: foolish as we may have looked, we were now surrounded by students eager to show off their own moves and dancing like crazy. Clearly Dad Dancing is the inspiration behind many a modern dance-move!

Source: www.dancingplagueof1518.tumblr.com

I’ve noticed that this is true of weddings too. Ok the Bride and Groom’s first dance may launch an initial timid round of dancing, but this inevitably dies off after a few songs and people return to the bar for a drink and a catch-up. It’s only when the dad dancers become intoxicated enough to take to the floor that the party really hots up, with everyone relaxed, safe in the knowledge that they can’t look any more foolish than the guy with his feet glued to the floor either lost in the beat or having major muscle spasms. He is the inspiration to all around him, and frankly if you haven’t learnt such moves as ‘the shelf stack’, ‘the shopping trolly’ or the ‘broken breakdance’ you have no right to be on that floor in the first place.

So fellow dad dancers of the world set yourselves free. Release the shackles of embarrassment and general age-appropriate decency and dance, forego your inhibitions and let nobody stand in your way. Wave those arms like they’re not attached to your body, abandon all sense of rhythm or timing and roam free across the floor. Play that air guitar, forget the lyrics and sing whatever words you damn well choose. Jump, jive and gesticulate until your doctor advises that hip replacement. For yours is the dance of the gods, the dance of all those year’s experience and the dance that transcends the simple rules like moving to the beat. Come join our campaign for Dad Dancing, for you are the lord of the dance and have but one move left to learn:

The Zimmer Frame dance of the Grandad. 

Fear not dear friends, for your time will come.