Have you ever felt too old or too young on the dance floor?
Maybe you and your husband signed up for a Saturday morning ballroom dancing class and noticed everyone else arriving on a shuttlebus from the old folk’s home. Or maybe you surprised your wife with a romantic date night on your ten-year wedding anniversary and accidentally stumbled into a local college hotspot full of white baseball caps, bead necklaces, and Jello shooters. Or maybe you just find out the hard way that All-Ages usually means All-Under-Agers.
I mean, if you’ve ever found yourself saying “Man, I feel old here,” or “Does anyone else smell Ben-Gay?”, then you know what I’m talking about. It’s not that people of different age groups don’t socialize, it’s just that they don’t often groove to the same beats is all.
I think that’s why wedding dance floors are a real sight.
They’re a breeding ground for that amazing intergenerational dancing that’s just so rare and beautiful to see.
You’ve got grandmas slow-dancing with their five-year-old grandchildren to What A Wonderful World, old men crowd-surfing over a pack of sweaty teenagers, snaking conga lines of all shapes and sizes, and circles forming around anyone who happens to be doing something interesting — whether that’s a father and daughter team waltzing in circles or a slightly inebriated bridesmaid shaking her booty with a ninety-year-old great grandpa in a wheelchair.
Yes, intergenerational dancing is a rare and wonderful thing. It’s a magic moment where boundaries are broken and the thumping power of music sort of sweeps us all together into a tiny little place where everything’s just cast aside in favor of living for the moment.
AWESOME!
This site makes my mornings.
Rather, it makes our days.
Well, awesome it is not. Not for me, at least.
I read the headline as “intergenerational dating” and had an awesome comment for that topic. Unfortunately, it would appear that my double vision got the best of me. I got nothin’.
Just a great observation… I love the term – add it to the dictionary. If you could upload photos to this thing it would be funny to see the submissions you would get. I am going to petition for an “upload your intergenerational moment” button…any one in?
This is one of the best things about a wedding, period.
Sadly, you don’t see it very often anymore because uptight snots don’t want kids invited.
Screw them. It’s a family event; what are the kids gonna do, spill a pop and ruin your Martha Stewart moment?
My daughter got married in May (2010). There were 8 kids there, from babies to 8 year olds. They were noisy, running around, and had a great day. Added something to the photos too (an innocence and cuteness we lose as adults).
Kids at a wedding? Worked for me!
Haha, the last picture is priceless.
hahahaha
I went to a free line dancing class with some women I work with only to realize that it was a class for senior citizens. The first dance we did was the Cupid Shuffle and the old women went nuts over how good I was at the dance. Not too complicated for those of us who haven’t had hip replacements!
You get the same sight at bar/bat mitzvahs, with more 13-year-old kids, which can still be super hilarious. Plus, they hand out those inflatable musical instruments so you can make an intergenerational fake band!
haha i agree with Megan, the last picture is awesome!
I live in north- east Scotland and at a lot of events we have ceilidh dancing, that’s certainly intergenerational and always a lot of fun :)
I love this site. It really gives me ways to relax and have fun. I love dancing with my 93 year old great granddad. It’s adorable
I used to teach Grades 7 & 8 in Canada. We had dances for the 12-14 aged kids about 4 times a year. Occasionally, I would get asked to dance by a student. Realizing that moments like this were very rare, I never refused. It then became important to me to show her, and the inevitable audience, proper dance steps. The girls loved being treated like young ladies. I always ended by bowing to my patner and offering my arm to escort her back to her friends where giggles always ensued. Precious moments all!
I remember seeing a picture my dad took at my Bat Mitzvah of my cousin dancing with her dad. AWESOME! and pretty darn cute!
This was the last entry I allowed myself to read this morning before officially “starting my day” (whatever the hell that means on a Sunday; maybe a pee then a shower, though who the hell showers on a Sunday when there’s no church involved. Anyway.) and as I glanced briefly at that last picture above of the proud grandma dancing with that blissed-out little mister, I set my laptop on the edge of the couch and muttered, smiling and yawning, barely awake or conscious, “That’s awesome.” And it WAS. =)
Indian family parties/weddings/excuses to get drunk and dance are excellent examples of intergenerational dancing. These involve bhangra until the sun comes up and some of the time, the parents out-party the young adults. On rare occasions, if it is a house party, the neighbours may alert the police of the racket and there’ll be a knock on the door at 3:30 am. If you’re ever invited to one of these parties (especially if the hosts are Punjabi), GO. It’ll be the best party you ever go to. And loads of free alcohol.
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This is truly, “The bridge over troubled waters.”
The chicken dance for sure!
I found your site using google, very interesting. :)
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back…
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Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
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Good day! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading through your posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects? Thanks a ton!
oh yeah :P
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Keep it up !
I found out about 1000 awesome things because someone gave me step dad The Book of Awesome, and I remember seeing this entry in it and thinking, how is that awesome?! I probably was imagining my parents dancing with a bunch of my friends, which wouldn’t be so awesome for me to see. But I realized now that this is awesome! I went to a grad party yesterday and it wasn’t a very lively one, but after a while, this old lady was the one to get the party started then a bunch of people joined in and started dancing with her. It was awesome! So now, yes, intergenerational dancing is awesome!
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you
wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could
do with some pics to drive the message home a bit,
but other than that, this is magnificent blog.
A great read. I will definitely be back.
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