Dirty Dancing Addressed
March 3, 2009
With Turnabout quickly approaching, steps are being taken to prevent the erotic dancing that has become a staple in the middle of the dance floor at Neuqua Valley dances.
Of all of the ways to express oneself, dancing may be the easiest. This form of expression has changed considerably since the days of ballroom dancing, however. Society’s youth has gone from dancing cheek to cheek to dancing pelvis to pelvis. It is no wonder that adults across the nation have taken notice and are now attempting to put an end to this “dirty dancing.”
At Neuqua Valley, Principal Bob McBride leads the battle against inappropriate dance floor behavior. “My concern as a building principal is what our school communicates to students. If we set no boundaries at public, school events, then what boundaries exist in private?” said McBride.
However, “inappropriate” is a rather vague term. The type of dancing in question is commonly known as “grinding,” which the Free Online Dictionary defines as a slang term meaning, “To rotate the pelvis erotically, as in the manner of a strip teaser.” As far as what should be disallowed at Turnabout, McBride has gotten input from Student Council, the Principle Advisory Council, Senior Leaders, and the PTSA. “The line we are trying to draw is the difference between dancing, and lewd conduct or sexual behavior: grinding juking, freaking, insert your own word, but I think students know what I’m talking about when I say that,” said McBride.
It turns out that students do know. “There’s definitely objectionable dancing,” said Erin Collins, a Neuqua Valley Senior, “Sometimes it’s not even dancing, just inappropriate things that should not happen at school.” But Laken Edwards, also a senior, added that “the majority of the school doesn’t dance like that.”
Not all students are bothered by dirty dancing, though. Nathan Sliwa, a sophomore, said, “I don’t dance dirty, but [others] can do what they want. I don’t think it is right to control how people dance. It doesn’t bother me.”
The hip-hop music played at dances is also causing turmoil for the inappropriate dancing it inspires. Many songs falling into this genre boast catchy dance beats, such as performer Usher’s “Yeah,” making them favorites at past school dances.
If the D.J. were to play hip-hop music minimally, this creates a new debacle as to what kind of music with which to replace it. Techno is another popular genre, and rumors have abounded that Mr. McBride is planning to play only Techno or 80’s music at this upcoming Turnabout dance. These are untrue, but the music is still not going to be as single-genre as homecoming was. “We are going to vary the music selection,” said McBride.
On the other hand, some students believe that changing the music will not change the dancing. Junior Brianna Negron said, “At homecoming, when [the D.J.] played “Shout,” people were still grinding anyways. The music does not matter.”
Other changes that Student Council is making with McBride in the attempt to discourage dirty dancing deal with the general ambience of the room. “We’re going to do a little bit more with lighting, so it’s not fluorescent light, but it’s not pitch black,” said McBride. In addition, the staging of the dance floor will be set up differently, to avoid what McBride calls “that huge dark center, that knot of students.” Finally, there will be many more administrators and deans actually on the dance floor, making it difficult to find a place to dance unsupervised.
Fans of grinding argue that they should be able to dance how they want, and that teachers’ involvement is suppressing their self-expression. Lauren Moore said, “I feel that [grinding] is a way for students to have fun in a safe, semi-supervised environment. Every generation has their form of ‘dirty dancing’. In the forties it was swing dancing, and now it’s our time for this cultural rite of passage.”
What many students fail to recognize is that dances are Neuqua-sponsored activities, meaning that just as at sporting events, all attendees are subject to uphold Neuqua Valley’s code of conduct. Just because students are not in classrooms learning, does not mean that all school rules are void. According to McBride, to impress this upon students, the tickets for the dance will have “some expectations that people have to sign off on,” regarding what is and is not allowed at the dance. Nonetheless, Junior Courtney Kaczor described the dancing situation as “hopeless,” saying that no matter what consequences there are “people are still going to [grind].”
However, the consequences may end up leaving the dance floor a little emptier. “After talking with students and talking with parents and talking to my administrators, we have really all come to the decision that if students choose to engage in lewd conduct or sexual behavior, we are going to have to ask them to leave,” said McBride, (parents will be notified immediately in this case), “We want to avoid that, and we want to have a great dance.”
By Gwen Kestler, entertainment editor
