An interesting contrast...
Oct. 26th, 2008 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseSomething I observed last night, while taking breaks between dancing.
While sitting at the Viking, I saw a couple go out onto the dance floor together, and something about the pair just gave me the creeps - the guy specifically. The way he was moving around his partner, it was like he was trying to surround her and dominate her. I don't have anything against grinding on the dance floor, per se, but this dude was getting seriously obscene. And that's what struck me as so odd - even though his movements weren't any worse than lots of other folks, it was his attitude that made it so distressing to watch. I watched the girl closely, thinking maybe I should tap her on the shoulder and ask if she was okay, but she seemed into it so I decided not to intervene.
Later that night, after we'd gone over to the Imperial, I saw a different couple go out on the dance floor there. While both had obviously been drinking a bit, they were actually really fun to watch - you could tell that they were pretty fond of each other. And even though they were using equally explicit dance movements, it didn't come across as obscene so much as sweet; they were both laughing and having a good time.
As a bit of corollary information, the girl in the first instance was very mainstream-pretty (skinny, long legs, perfect hair, dressed stylishly), and the girl in the second instance, while hardly unattractive, seemed much less concerned about her looks. I'm not quite sure what conclusions to draw from that, other than perhaps offering it as evidence for my usual argument that we as a society need to value women as individuals more than fashion plates. But that's hardly anything new.
It's interesting how dance can tell us things about people and couples that we might not otherwise pick up on. It's composed almost entirely of body language, and body language doesn't lie..
While sitting at the Viking, I saw a couple go out onto the dance floor together, and something about the pair just gave me the creeps - the guy specifically. The way he was moving around his partner, it was like he was trying to surround her and dominate her. I don't have anything against grinding on the dance floor, per se, but this dude was getting seriously obscene. And that's what struck me as so odd - even though his movements weren't any worse than lots of other folks, it was his attitude that made it so distressing to watch. I watched the girl closely, thinking maybe I should tap her on the shoulder and ask if she was okay, but she seemed into it so I decided not to intervene.
Later that night, after we'd gone over to the Imperial, I saw a different couple go out on the dance floor there. While both had obviously been drinking a bit, they were actually really fun to watch - you could tell that they were pretty fond of each other. And even though they were using equally explicit dance movements, it didn't come across as obscene so much as sweet; they were both laughing and having a good time.
As a bit of corollary information, the girl in the first instance was very mainstream-pretty (skinny, long legs, perfect hair, dressed stylishly), and the girl in the second instance, while hardly unattractive, seemed much less concerned about her looks. I'm not quite sure what conclusions to draw from that, other than perhaps offering it as evidence for my usual argument that we as a society need to value women as individuals more than fashion plates. But that's hardly anything new.
It's interesting how dance can tell us things about people and couples that we might not otherwise pick up on. It's composed almost entirely of body language, and body language doesn't lie..
