Dancing fool...well, maybe not a fool

Roundabout 1994, I started getting seriously interested in swing dancing. It seemed cool and I had been listening to Sinatra since my high school days. Unfortunately, there was no swing scene in the 80's, and anything swing seemed relegated to the realm of ballroom dancing, with nancy-boys flitting around in garish skin-tight sequins and goofy expressions that were meant to convey some kind of smoldering passion.

I went to the Derby in L.A. with an old girlfriend in 1994 before I mastered the swing-out, and felt pretty lame as she went out on the floor while I gloomily knocked back martinis until I could only dance my way to the toilet to toss my cookies. In 1995, I went to seven weddings, and after watching all the mortuary bait swing easy to the inevitable swing set the DJ would toss in for the geriatrics, always leading off with "In the Mood", I got ticked. Why couldn't we 20-somethings do some of that stuff the blue-hairs were doing? Why were we fleeing the dance floor or trying some lame spin moves when all this stuff could be learned? So I got inspired and decided to take dance lessons, which ultimately led me to the Derby 2-3 times per week and then to the swing scene in San Francisco, where I eventually met my wife in Beginning Lindy Hop with Paul and Sharon at the Metronome Ballroom at 17th and DeHaro.

I knew dancing was cool even when my buddies ragged on me for doing something so "gay" because it was fun, it was good exercise, and it encouraged the drinking of serious cocktails. Additionally, and maybe most importantly, if you were any good you raised your, uh, profile with the ladies. That's why I didn't mind when my friends used to rag on me, because I knew that chicks dig good dancers. Now, just a few years after going into semi-retirement from dancing, I see that my beliefs have received scientific support. Too late for my friends, though. A snippet below, full link above.


SCIENTISTS have confirmed what fans of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever have known all along: men with the best dance moves have the most sex appeal.

The finding lends support to the idea that dancing is a way to show off high quality genes and good health - both indicators of a top quality mate.