Things I Have Learned - Never too old to dance

Today's Wisdom: "Life is short and there will always be dirty dishes, so let's dance."

- James Howe

By Bill D. Ward

I recently read an article lamenting the fact that today young people don’t dance. The writer cited his experience at several wedding dances in which the only people on the dance floor were older folks. The young folks were on the sidelines looking at their phones.

I had to agree with him, but I don’t know why this is happening. When I was young dances were popular among all age groups. My parents were often out on weekends enjoying big band and old-time dances, mostly at the Log Cabin in Sioux Valley or the Coliseum in Worthington. For the young folks, my high school had four live band dances every school year, and the gym was always packed. Same thing at my college.

Rural Minnesota was well supplied with good dance halls. In college, three of my favorites were the Roof Garden in Arnolds Park, Iowa, the Showboat at Lake Benton, and the Blue Moon Ballroom in Marshall. I’ll bet some of you have been there.

I wasn’t much of a dancer but I did meet some nice young ladies there. None of them stuck, but the quest was always interesting.

Today most of the ballrooms are gone. I don’t know if they left because younger people didn’t attend, or if young people don’t attend because there are no ballrooms. But I can’t help but be a little sad for what the young folks are missing.

We enjoyed live music, music that turned the night into a party and inspired my own journey into musicianship. Today, it’s mostly all DJs where there is a dance floor, or one-man acoustic entertainers, perhaps with a recorded track. The energy is just not the same.

One of the things I have learned is that each generation has something that was really good, something that defined them, something that folks wish they could recreate. Generations before us had their barn dances. Our parents had their big bands. We had rock-n-roll and the Beatles. Today’s generations have, well, I guess Taylor Swift.

I live much of the year in Texas, among old folks. We still have some great rock-n-roll bands there, and the folks still know what to do with it. The ballrooms and dance floors are full. We have recreated the sounds of our youth and we are having a ball. If you want to come down, I can show you around. But be prepared to dance. I’m just sayin’.