With the return of Strictly Come Dancing a week or so ago (now in its 19th series!!!), Radio 4’s consumer programme You and Yours held a phone-in on the subject “why is dancing important to you?” It featured a number of callers including an eighty four year old woman who had been attending belly dancing classes for 24 years (although she was keen to point out that she didn’t show her belly), there were various “kitchen dancer” callers and some people who talked about the impact that Lockdown had had on their dancing activities (and the lengths they went to to keep going).
A friend of mine was talking about this the other day and said that until I held my first Stay Home Special back in April 2020 she hadn’t really noticed how much she had missed going out, as well as the whole ritual that goes with it “the dressing up, and the fun and mood elevating effect of hearing great tunes, and “ moving to the rhythm “, to misquote Grace Jones””.
It made me think of Joni Mitchell’s line in Big Yellow Taxi “don’t it always seem to show that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. I’m glad the Stay Home Specials helped people recapture some of that magic of going out even if the act of staying in might’ve reminded them they couldn’t go out just then
Club 30-80 