Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Dancing with Chaperones
My sister would date other guys, too. One summer when she had a part time job as a food server up at Claremont colleges, a fellow from Harvey Mudd asked her out. She went out with him, partly because I encouraged her to (I mean, I had gone or was about to go to the Demolay Dance with one of my math friends and had a fairly nice time and even got an emerald green prom dress from my parents and a gardenia wrist corsage from him out of the bargain that was delightful when we waltzed, as I knew to wear this on my left wrist).
At school dances, we had chaperones who could be very strict, and they'd monitor the body distance between boys and girls in the slow dances, and warn against suggestive moves in the fast ones, and sometimes rush out to tap a boy on the shoulder to remind him to behave properly even during a slow one ... just stop the dancers in their tracks to scold and order them to step back, 2 inches between boys and girls during the slow dances. There were chaperones at the Demolay Dance for instance, but they were not nearly so pushy, and they didn't have to be, everyone already knew how to behave properly when dancing.
One evening in Pomona, I happened to look up at the top floor of the Arthur Murray dance studio and saw one of my schoolmates taking lessons. I could watch her through the window, and she had lovely auburn hair. She moved very well on the dance floor, as graceful as could be. But because her face was somewhat plain, she sat out many of the school dances in the wallflower chairs, which I always thought was a damn shame.
Some of the teachers who chaperoned liked to dance, so eventually one of the men would ask her out on the floor, which was very nice. I always looked for the good dancers. One time, I won a "Dance Contest" at one of the school dances, and I was presented with a red ribbon that said 'winner' that I pinned to the chest of my teddy bear. .
This fellow who wanted a date with my sister was attending Harvey Mudd, but during the summer he took special engineering classes at (remember my schoolfriend "Woger"?) "Cal Powy." So he showed up in a black wool sportsjacket and black trousers, with thin black tie, they went out somewhere, maybe to a place that served drinks, or a party, and he had no shame, and sang a song in pubwic for his fwends. I didn't know what song it might have been, but given the current fwavor of music on the wadio of the time, I am fairly certain it was a "wove song."
She'd recount this dating adventure to Fwank and I, and we would waff ourselves silwy. Everybody could be so delightfully strange sometimes!
. ¶ 9/18/2013 04:54:00 PM
At school dances, we had chaperones who could be very strict, and they'd monitor the body distance between boys and girls in the slow dances, and warn against suggestive moves in the fast ones, and sometimes rush out to tap a boy on the shoulder to remind him to behave properly even during a slow one ... just stop the dancers in their tracks to scold and order them to step back, 2 inches between boys and girls during the slow dances. There were chaperones at the Demolay Dance for instance, but they were not nearly so pushy, and they didn't have to be, everyone already knew how to behave properly when dancing.
One evening in Pomona, I happened to look up at the top floor of the Arthur Murray dance studio and saw one of my schoolmates taking lessons. I could watch her through the window, and she had lovely auburn hair. She moved very well on the dance floor, as graceful as could be. But because her face was somewhat plain, she sat out many of the school dances in the wallflower chairs, which I always thought was a damn shame.
Some of the teachers who chaperoned liked to dance, so eventually one of the men would ask her out on the floor, which was very nice. I always looked for the good dancers. One time, I won a "Dance Contest" at one of the school dances, and I was presented with a red ribbon that said 'winner' that I pinned to the chest of my teddy bear. .
This fellow who wanted a date with my sister was attending Harvey Mudd, but during the summer he took special engineering classes at (remember my schoolfriend "Woger"?) "Cal Powy." So he showed up in a black wool sportsjacket and black trousers, with thin black tie, they went out somewhere, maybe to a place that served drinks, or a party, and he had no shame, and sang a song in pubwic for his fwends. I didn't know what song it might have been, but given the current fwavor of music on the wadio of the time, I am fairly certain it was a "wove song."
She'd recount this dating adventure to Fwank and I, and we would waff ourselves silwy. Everybody could be so delightfully strange sometimes!
. ¶ 9/18/2013 04:54:00 PM
