I'm No Dance Slut

Readers of Blog Catalog have given this blog a 4 out of 5. Not perfect, but not too shabby, so let's just say it's pretty much on par with mah life.

Out to a bar tonight, a friend consistently attempted to force me to dance with them. Now, I do like dancing, but I'm of the school of "a little goes a long way", I'm not just some willy-nilly dancer who gives it away like a cheap whore in search of enough money for disinfectant. I like to be romanced; I would like to believe that my dancing MEANS something to the person I'm dancing with. I'm not just going to get funky with anyone, any time, any place; I'm no dance slut.

So, why, prey tell, do people continually feel the need to grab my hand and pull me onto the dance floor after I say "no thanks" politely 10 times? I'm not expressing that I don't like dancing, I'm expressing that I don't feel like dancing at that very moment.

And so what if I didn't like dancing? Does that mean I'm a leper? A social miscreant? A Republican? No, it means that "hey, I'm out at a bar having a drink and talking to some friends and don't really want to interrupt that by shaking my groove thing to the intimate sounds of Missy Elliot".

And since when does an occasional dislike of dancing mean there's something wrong with me? Is dancing so intricately tied into being cool that I cannot be cool if I don't dance? What if some of the things I considered "cool" were socially enforced as stringently as dancing?

Would the world turn inside out if all of a sudden there was a dive bar full of nerdy Jews watching "Annie Hall"? What if one guy wearing an Ed Hardy tee shirt refused to watch it? Would I grab his hand and say "c'mon! watch Annie Hall!". Then, when he said no, would I shake my head and say "what is it about Annie Hall that scares you? No one cares how you look when you watch it; you'll have fun!". Then when the guy says "but I don't like Woody Allen", would I keep quiet, but then tell everyone "there's something wrong with him; he doesn't like to have fun" whenever his name was brought up in polite conversation?

No.

Do you know what I would do? Ask once, then he says "no", and *bam* I stop asking him. Because you know what? Me demanding you watch Annie Hall isn't going to make you like it any better, it's actually going to make you resent it.

So why do people who see me enjoying a drink and having a nice conversation feel the need to constantly badger me about dancing? That's a question best left to philosophers.















Picture Of The Guy Who Didn't Want To Watch Annie Hall And Therefore Was "No Fun"