How I Got The Whole Club Dancing Last Night

Last night,  my buddy Dave and I went out to Club Name-Not-Mentioned and the scene was half-dead.  Half-dead because at 11:30pm, the club wasn't half full as it usually is and what's more, the dance floor was deserted.  No one wanted to step into the spotlight.  There was literally a wall of people (mostly guys) encircling the dance floor standing at the edge of where the light coverage ended. 

The music was great.  The DJ was doing his job. 

So I investigated.  Groups of guys obviously would not step in for typical machismo reasons - worried it looked gay, or more likely, didn't want to look like a dancing fool.  I approached the girls for their take on the situation.  I could see many girls wanted to dance - swaying to the beat, mini-dancing in the darker areas, but for the same reason, they didn't want to be the center of attention.  After all, everyone would be watching them. 

Some said they needed more alcohol;  most wanted other people on the dance floor first.  In techie-terms, it's called a deadlock -  everyone's waiting on everyone else to start.

By midnight, as more people came in, the tension only increased.  As we talked about it with one group of girls, they told us jokingly, "Why don't you guys go out there and dance first?"  Most of the time, Dave and I don't play the puppy dog to these girl tests without at least a double dare, but given the context of the situation, it totally made sense! 

Under watchful eyes, we walked out onto the dance floor and started moving and grooving.  Then I said to Dave, "You know what?  Nothing's really happening in this club right now.  I want to have fun. Let's go all out.  Let me choreograph a routine for us."

That's right!  We started practicing a mini hip hop routine I put together on the spot.  It looked like we were pulling something out of a teenie-bop movie. 

Some guy tried to take advantage of the situation and tool us by mock copying us.  We didn't care.  We were really having fun.  Dave and I dropped down gangsta style like the crazy dancers in Fatboy Slim's Praise You video and put him on the spot to do his solo for us.  He disappeared as soon as he came.  The girls he was with, however, absolutely loved us and actually joined us learn our new routine. 

Before we knew it, more adventurous girls joined in and within minutes, the levee broke, and the dance floor filled up. 

Some guys say you shouldn't act like an entertaining fool in a club.  Who cares?  I really do love dancing.  Sometimes, I just want to kick back and have fun.

You don't have to go all out.  Start by being comfortable on your two feet and work your way up to genuinely have fun.