I’m a fan of non-traditional dancing.
That’s not to say I have anything against the bumping and grinding gyrations that tend to dominate State College’s clubs and fraternities.
But I gave up a while ago on such dancing tips as “move your hips more” and “feel the beat.” Instead, I decided to specialize in such high quality old school dances as the electric slide, the macarena, the shopping cart and the mother of all inept dances: the robot.
And this weekend, the hours of practing those jerky head and hand movements finally paid off.
I ventured out on Thursday night and ended up at a fraternity. With many of the campus socialities preparing to leave for canning trips the next day, I figured the parties were more crowded than usual. In any case, I arrived after midnight and most people had already paired off or formed small groups.
I finally ended up hanging out in an awkward group with these two “Um, yeah, don’t really know anyone here” girls and a thin and gangly fellow with glasses.
After the move-your-legs-back-and-forth dance got a little old, I decided to break the ice with a nice macarena rendition. To my surpise, instead of giving me weird looks, the girls actually picked it up. Even the guy eventually joined in, now that it had become the cool thing to do.
With the macarena so successful, I decided the robot might have a chance as well. Besides, I had picked up some pretty amazing robot moves at last week’s break dancing competition and I was anxious to try them out.
I started with the sharp elbow movements, then the head flex. And the rest of the group actually bought it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the guy was trying to get with the girls by out-roboting me. But no way was I going to let that happen.
Try as he might, he just wasn’t prepared for the rhythm-defying movements of all my extremities. He started to get the hands down, but the back and legs were just out of his league.
Just when it looked like I had a clear connection with the robo-admiring girls, her boyfriend and another, far less awkward, guy showed up. And the electricity was lost.
But at least it was a start. With a little more oil in the joints, the future of the robot looks bright.
