I absolutely love to slow-dance.
Allow me to clarify: I love to dance, period. I like to jitterbug, salsa, mambo, twist, and just generally get my freak on. But what really melts me into FuzzGoo and sets my heart to pittypat? Slow dancing. I love it. I've loved it ever since that dance in 7th grade when Brandon B.* asked me to dance to Stairway to Heaven. (Work with me, okay? We were 12.) I'll never forget how it felt. I rested my head on his shoulder, and breathed in his boy-smell. (At the time it all seemed very romantic, I'm sure he just smelled like nervous adolescent boy sweat. Whatever.) His arms were low around my waist and I could feel his breath tickling the back of my neck while we swayed in a circle. All of the kids loved Stairway because it was extra-long, so you could get in all that extra snuggle time on the dance floor. I loved dancing with Brandon because he was taller than me, a luxury in middle school where all of the boys resembled Hobbits in stature...and Orcs in manners, for that matter. But I digress.
High school brought formals, where the girls got ALL dressed up and the boys wore Texas tuxes (Tux from the waist up, jeans and boots from the waist down). I fucking hate Texas tuxes. Why? Because by the end of the dance the boys would have ditched their ties, jackets, and shirts and would be dancing in their t-shirts and jeans, while the girls were still glammed out. *Snarl* By the end of high school my friends and I were formal-ed out. We had been to three to four formals a year and frankly we were sick of getting dressed up to watch a bunch of drunk preppie assholes lurch around the dance floor and puke on their dates. BUT I did miss the slow dances. I remember my last dance in high school-- it was at the end of prom, after graduation. Everyone had left the ballroom to change for the after-prom party. The Boy and I met in the middle of the dance floor and had our last dance. We swayed slowly in the dim lights as he crooned "Our Love Is Here To Stay" in my ear. Yeah, he was really good at that kind of stuff.
I'm not sure how to end this post other than to say that if you want to sweep me off of my feet, slap a cd into the stereo and dip me low. :D Hooray for slow dances!!
*I'm not listing last names here, you know, to protect the innocent. Heh.
My Hubs won't dance anything BUT slow dances... gotta love it!
Posted by: sue | September 07, 2006 at 10:25 AM
*swooning*
Posted by: Fuzzball | September 07, 2006 at 12:27 PM
Oops, I've already made an appearnce.
Posted by: Chris | September 07, 2006 at 08:48 PM
Oh. My. Gosh. My first slow dance was in seventh grade and also to "Stairway in Heaven." And it was definitely an SJS-related function. How funny! I mostly remember when it got to the fast part, I didn't know what to do. I was reminded of that when the main character of Freaks and Geeks asked his crush to dance to "Sail Away" by Styx, and they got to the dance floor right when it got fast, so he had to dance-dance instead of slow-dancing.
Posted by: kicks | September 07, 2006 at 09:22 PM
Get thee to a wedding reception for another, pronto!
Posted by: Ern | September 08, 2006 at 08:57 AM
I think my first slow dance was to "I've Had the Time of My Life" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
Slow dancing is the only kind of dancing I can manage. And even then it's not a pretty sight.
Posted by: Jess | September 08, 2006 at 01:01 PM
Skating rink. Skating backwards and locking lips with Joy Basilici, who was obviously more practiced than I. The song? Dreamweaver...Dancing is good for the soul. The Booglet loves to watch Daddy do his David Byrne imitation. Chris is right about Joe Jackson too--listen to Body and Soul.
Posted by: jemison | September 08, 2006 at 07:53 PM
ok. so i'm young. but this is just as cheesey. first slow dance: don't wanna miss a thing by aerosmith, seventh grade. smelly-adolescent-boy-sweat and all.
Posted by: courtney | September 08, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Okay, the old lady is going to show her age! I, too, love to slow dance -- especially with a really tall guy and I have to stand on my toes! My first memory is in junior high at the sock hop in the school gym -- yes, there really were sock hops! It was a Christmas party and my socks had bells pinned to them! (okay, this is SO Annette Funnicello!) Bill Brayton was my hottie at the time (okay, he was my only hottie) and we danced to "Sleepwalk" -- none of you reading this will even know what this song sounds like but find it -- it's a major slow dancing song!
Posted by: Mom | September 11, 2006 at 05:24 PM
P.S. You can listen to "Sleep Walk" by Santo and Johnny here!
Posted by: Fuzzball | September 12, 2006 at 09:09 PM