*Insert Dance Montage Here*

Dear Readers,

Last night Shay surprised me with a screening of that 80's classic, Footloose. A brilliantly made film starring Kevin Bacon, John Lithgow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and that other girl who starred in the movie but is now jealous that Sarah Jessica Parker went on to star in "Sex in the City" and not her. There are two things about this movie that particularly stand out to me: 1)This little podunk town high school has a gymnastics team and 2)that dancing was so important to the teenagers that they started a political movement over it...heck, they even read the Bible over it. I don't know about you, but in high school I don't remember attending one city council meeting, let alone getting involved with anything enough that I had to organize protesters for it. Then again, dancing was already legal in Rupert.

After watching the movie, I was laying in bed thinking about it. It occurred to me that this movie was only one of many made in the 80's that emphasized the conflict and importance of dancing. Where did this passion come from? Was it Michael Jackson's music videos, that showed the power of dance gangs? Or was it just a more peaceful time in America, where we didn't have to worry about deficits and wars and the economy, so dancing surfaced as our biggest political problem? Here are some more examples of movies I could think of where body movement was essential to the plot or used as a political protest (please feel free to remind me of those I may have forgotten):

1) Dirty Dancing

2) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

3) The Breakfast Club

4) Flashdance

5) Fame

Okay, so I thought of more while I was in bed last night, but you get the point. Now the only time you hear of dancing is from Lady Gaga, and that's only because she's had so much to drink that she's confused and doesn't know what else to do. I would also like to point out that in the 80's movies I've seen lately, the parents are very concerned about the way the kids dress and dance, but no one really seems concerned at the amount of underage drinking and smoking that's going on. "Smoke all you want kiddo, but by george if I see you dancing I'm gonna send you to the moon!"

I think there's a valuable lesson to learn from the 80's Dance Movie genre. I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's there. I'll think about it more after I get done dancing my angst out in an abandoned warehouse.

Sincerely,
h.