The Valentine’s Dance, held in a space that would comfortably accommodate twenty, feat. 70 + adolescents storming the floor in the outfits du jour (spandex shorts and mesh jerseys, all day-glo) & fist-pumping, jumping, grinding, etc. My place of employment mandates that I occasionally chaperone these events, and I’m always torn between feeling creepily voyeuristic—I am watching other people in the midst of some fairly intimate bodily gyrations—and being interested in/curious about what constitutes the Dance these days.
Not much has changed in fifteen years. Sadly, I am too young to have enjoyed the heyday of chiffon dresses and Enchantment Under the Sea, Back-to-the-Future stylie—but the music choices are really inexplicable. Of course, you have your thumping beat, your Alvin+ Chipmunks-style vocals. I’m not begrudging anyone a good beat. I was struck, though, by the songs that are being re-mixed for dancing purposes. Steve Winwood’s “Valerie”—yes. Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”—well, OK. But “Dreams”, by that that sweet-as-tapioca staple of my youth, the Cranberries? Bizarre, friends, bizarre.
I’m also saddened by the Death of the Slow Dance. When I was thirteen, I kind of loved wrapping up the night in the arms of a Davidoff Cool Water & Dorito-scented boy, both us swaying to a choice ballad like “End of the Road” “November Rain” or, for the bold of heart, “Jump” by Kris Kross. But seriously: the slow dance has profound charms best enjoyed by the young & starry-eyed. Bring it back.
I’ve been scouring the interwebs this week for model love poems. My poetry students (all four of them) claim to hate the assignment, but they love—love—reading and discussing love poems. It’s fun to speculate about the nature of the relationship, fun, even, to hate/envy/admire the poems that positively seep joy. John Donne, Frank O’Hara, I’m talking to you.
Here, a wee sample. Look ‘em up if you’re nasty.
Recite (in between bites of Nian Gao) to your Object while slow-dancing.
“I Wrung My Hands” Anna Akhmatova
“Love Story” David Avidan (featured in the newest issue of Drunken Boat)
http://www.drunkenboat.com/db11/01poe/avidan/love.php
“Casabianca” Elizabeth Bishop
“litany” Carolyn Creedon
“For Love” Robert Creeley
“The Good Morrow” John Donne
“At Gettysburg” Laura Kasischke
“Litany in Which Certain Things are Crossed Out” Richard Siken