Vol 3 No 7, July 26, 2009
© 2009, Salt Lake Vienna Waltz Association
Greetings Waltzers,
Get up! Get up and dance!
It's summer; forget that stuffy dance hall and venture out into the fresh air. This time of year there are numerous outdoor venues hosting
big name bands performing a wide variety of musical styles. Locally, within minutes of downtown Salt Lake City, are places like Usana
Amphitheater, the gorgeous Red Butte Garden, breathtaking Deer Valley, and perhaps the best bargain in Salt Lake City — The
Thursday evening free Twilight Concert Series at the Gallivan Center. In addition, The Salt Lake Tribune, www.sltrib.com, and Deseret
Morning News, www.deseretnews.com, list dozens of free, almost daily, noontime concerts in downtown Salt Lake City. See the
newspapers' website entertainment sections.
Get up and dance when you attend one of these concerts. I'm not talking about standing up with arms held high and shaking your rear
like your older sister did when you were a kid — and may still do all these years later. No, get up, move to an open area, and actually
dance.
Blow the rockers' minds and Viennese waltz or polka when the band cuts loose with a 3/4 time tune, or foxtrot to a 4/4 piece. If the beat's
right, switch to a rhumba or a cha-cha. The concert will be that much more fun, and while you may not receive an ovation from the rest of
the audience, you will draw many admiring stares. And I'll bet the band will notice you too. I'm reminded of when, several years ago, I
discovered I could Viennese waltz to John Lennon's You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. It turned my dance life around.
A couple of years ago, when Tony Bennett performed with the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley, Lucy and I foxtrot'd the night away to
Bennett's songs, and we received a number of compliments from the relatively docile audience when we returned to our seats. Bennett
and the Symphony were not just performers we watched that night, they became part of us and our dance celebration that evening.
This coming Thursday, July 30, Sonic Youth will be performing at the Gallivan Center. I guarantee that unless you get there very, very
early, you will not see the band without aid of binoculars. And you will not hear much of the band's lyrics because almost everyone within
your earshot will be chatting about boyfriends, girlfriends, trips to Lake Powell, etc. — anything beside listening to the band — while the
band performs.
However, you will hear, or feel the vibration of, the music's beat. Find a small out of the way place and foxtrot, polka, or waltz to the band.
It will turn a free concert into a wonderful evening out. People will stare at you, and they will be impressed, if not jealous. "How do they do
that?," they'll ask themselves. No, you won't be dancing your grandfather's foxtrot!
I don't care how old you are. I've been to the Murray Arts Center on New Year's Eve, when Lucy and I were almost the youngest couple
there. We saw sixty-ish women with legs that would make a thirty-years-old jealous. Those legs didn't come from genes; they were the
result of dancing at every available opportunity. They'll be the ones dancing at the Gallivan, even when you think your legs won't. No
matter the music, you can dance to it. Okay, a retro-performance by Def Leppard at Usana may not inspire you to big-band dancing, but
doesn't dancing to Dave Matthews sound inviting?
Use a little imagination. You can dance — and ballroom dance with your partner — to just about any music
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