Observations at a High School Dance

[mr_Apricot]

i wrote this a few days ago after attending a school dance. It might not really be a piece of Steampunk writing but it has to do with current culture and the state of dance and decency. Please leave any feedback, and excuse me if this is the wrong section.

A Failed Attempt at Coitus
  Upon arriving at the dance, I entered and was greeted by Mr. Schlick, who told me that I was the first one there, asked me if I was expecting to hear Rancid. I responded by questioning what else the DJ could possibly intend upon playing. I had every intention of asking, but knew that my request would be politely declined, with the DJ saying something along the lines of “I might have Rancid somewhere.” and then never getting back to me. After walking across the empty dance floor and speaking with the DJ and attempted to have my music played. As I had predicted, I was shot down. In a show of defiance I furiously skanked across the floor. The DJ didn’t notice. I left, deciding to go over to Evelyn’s house and return later.
  Near to 9:05 Grant, Evelyn, and I walked back into the CFTA lobby. The view could not be any more different from the one I had seen an hour ago. A writhing, pulsating mass of bodies filled the far end of the hall, shrouded in darkness. I could feel the beat of Lady GaGa and 50 Cent pumping from speakers on the other side of the veritable orgy that fills the space. Walking toward the group I observed A 3rd Form girl being grinded on by several older boys. She would thrust her rump backwards into the groin of whatever lucky boy happened to be behind her and bend slightly foreword. The male leaned over her, his hands roaming her thighs as both partners moved against each other to the beat of the music; I suppose achieving some manner of sexual stimulation. The act was a vulgar one, bringing to mind the intercourse of beasts. Upon watching their behavior for a few moments they seemed to be taking turns with the girl in a scene reminiscent of a gang rape. Approaching the boys, I asked one of them, a 4th Former waiting for his turn, how their order was decided. He responded that he didn’t really know, but was cut off when a larger male pushed him out of the way. I had my answer. I find it quite interesting that in our modern society with all of our lofty morals and technology we still find ourselves in such an uncivilized and bestial position of the alpha male physically pushing weaker suitors out of the way in order to gain mock mating privileges. I was able to see this drama play itself out several more times as I wandered the dance floor, fully experiencing this bizarre spectacle.
  In a show of brave journalism, a fearless casting off of inhibitions for the sake of the story, I made up my mind to attempt this lewd dancing and join the madness. Perhaps I could have been wrong; I supposed there was a slight chance of some higher beauty in the act. Threading my way through the crowd I positioned myself behind a girl swaying in place and awkwardly placed my hands on her hips, leaning into her. Upon feeling my presence, the girl began to rub against me, grinding my genitals into the cleft of her ass. She did not even looking to see who I was. This detail shocked me, as I would think that she would at least look to make sure that I was socially acceptable, up to her standards. As our ridiculous dance, if it can even be called a dance, continued I felt a stirring in my loins, but unfortunately nothing more. No feeling of accomplishment or grace. No beautiful precision. If someone were watching me they would see nothing but a poor attempt at sex. I backed away from the girl, though almost instantly my place was taken by an enterprising 3rd former. I doubt she even noticed the change. This was absurd. I needed a drink.
  Standing at the refreshments table with a glass, well really more of a cheap plastic cup, of water, a young woman walked up to me and asked me to dance. I was delighted that someone would actually ask for a dance and immediately accepted, taking her hand and walking near the swirling crowd. I spun the girl around so that she faced me in closed position and stepped forward, beginning a waltz. Confusion flashed across her face. “What the fuck are you doing!” she exclaimed. “Dancing . . .  if you don’t know how I can show you, follow my lead,” I responded. She attempted to grind herself against me, her bust rubbing against my chest. I again tried to waltz. We were at an impasse. “You are so weird,” the girl huffed, and she marched away. “So much for wanting to dance with me,” I thought.  I attempted to find another partner, but every time I tried to actually dance with a girl they pushed me away, there was not a lady amongst them! I supposed that most of them preferred being publically humped. The loss was theirs and I retreated to the refreshment table and drowned my disgust in more water. With this as the accepted norm, I was completely happy being the proverbial angry old man on the porch.

[Capt. Dirigible]

Kids today, eh?

I thought High School dances and Proms always had teachers  there as chaperones to make sure that  this sort of lewd behaviour never took place?
Just out of interest what sort of age are 3rd and 4th form pupils?

[Maj. Clive Hathaway]

My Goodness! Your account puts me in mind of Dian Fossey's gorilla studies! How brave of you to attempt such a thing. I'm put in mind of my own highschool dance experiences... shocking and frightening, to look around and feel like an real alien, or perhaps a higher form of life??

Back when i was in highschool (1996) the only way my friends and i survived school functions like this was to go in force, with our own little cabal to watch each others backs & comment on/ make fun of the norms (normals). We were a bunch of cyberpunk- rivetheads then, so most people didnt really trifle with us but we still got the inevitable hecklings over our boots and black leather.

My advice to you sir; either travel in a pack of like minded individuals, or, if you really want to get on with some of these undoubtedly luvly but clearly immature females, abandon yourself to the bacchanalia! Embrace it for the low sort of spectacle that it is. Grind away to the Lady Gaga, let the primal spell of the raw beats ride you like a Voudoo Loa. Get in with the girls that way, in a way that is socially acceptable to them, then attempt to chat them up later and evaluate if its somebody you'd like to get on with. In my experience, a lot of "straight- laced" normal girls & boys have an inner weirdo that they keep locked away, afraid of what everyone will think. Sometimes these people just need a little coercing to show you they are really interesting people who might actually like to learn to waltz.

[Utini420]

Ah, 'tis the times we live in.

The grinding thing is weird... I had to have my wife explain to me what I as the guy am supposed  to do in that situation (as in, do I step into it, or out of it, hands on or off, what's the deal??)

My advice, seriously -- just go with it.  Even if the dance, or party, or whatever, is the most savage display of atavistic and consensual chauvinism you've ever beheld, its still your youth.  You won't get it back or get another.  And most of those chicks will calm down in a few years, anyway, and right now they don't really know any better.  So its either be a lonely angry man old before your time looking back on the youth you didn't properly waste (and yes, if you don't "waste your youth," on sex, drugs, and rock n roll then you wasted it) or dive right in and make like the natives.  When in Rome, and all that.

(The time to teach her the Waltz is later, maybe even later that night, in a more intimate setting.  That way you're not putting her on the spot as the girl who danced all weird with that weird guy, and you get to be that really cool guy who showed her something rare and magical when it was just the two of you, not a spectacle or anything shared with the whole group, just for her.  That angle works on chicks in much the same way as the nerdy librarian who takes off her glasses and lets her hair down and goes crazy works on dudes.)

[Maj. Clive Hathaway]

Utini420 i feel we are kindred spirits...

[Utini420]

Party on, Wayne!

[TribalWren]

How old is 4th grade? Isn't that like 15 years old?? >maternal panic ensues<

[Maj. Clive Hathaway]

4TH grade is like 10 years old. These are high-schoolers we are hearing about (i hope!).

[TribalWren]

Oh, dear Lord....my poor nerves!   >breathes into a brown paper bag<

[Utini420]

Ya, I'm pretty sure he's talking about highschool Juniors and Seniors, so 17 or 18 year old.

[Inktank]

There was this homecoming dance I went to a couple years back, I'll have to say it was quite... disturbing. The entire sound track consisted of 95% rap/hip hop, and the rest was close enough. No one seems to know what a decent dance is these days, as it's all "bump'n'grindzzzz".
'Tis a sad sight to see, really; even more discouraging to know that it's a part of our modern culture.

 

[mr_Apricot]

My school goes from 3rd form, freshmen, to 6th form, seniors. 3rd and 4th formers are usually 14-16.

[JingleJoe]

Huh. So, whilst I wasn't looking dancing in the popular populace has become ... well, I'm not sure if I should say, it might be against rules
Well I'd certainly rather learn to waltz than do that.

And about this wasting your youth malarky ...

(and yes, if you don't "waste your youth," on sex, drugs, and rock n roll then you wasted it)

In your eyes Mr Uniti I have wasted most of mine, but in my eyes I have used it for better things, to become a better mad scientist! However perhaps I took a different angle on all the above things one should waste thier youth on: Rock n roll? I learnt to play many musical instruments, you want to take drugs? Well laddie I can make drugs. But the sex, thats definately lacking. </introspective journey into my past>

[helios]

It is my unfortunate experience that this form of dancing is the only manner in which one CAN dance to the form of music that was playing.

[patron_vectras]

 Your little piece should be refined and sent to newspapers everywhere. What do parents think their children do??

seriously. do it.


These orgies, for such they are, happen everywhere.
All the chaperones can do is turn on the lights.

Has anyone mentioned the disrobing that occurs?
I am sure at least 6 instances of intercourse happened at my junior prom.
there were panties strewn to and fro after the dance floor cleared.


come to think of it, if these grinders knew what tango was meant to portray and how provocative swing moves can be... I bet it wouldn't matter because they hold no fire for the finer things.

[Countessa Lenora]

Oh, dear Lord....my poor nerves!   >breathes into a brown paper bag<

I am with you on this one.  My girls have a Christmas dance coming up.  I know they are ladies, but I fear for their sensibilities.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

This is why I have a vested interest in Steampunk.
It appears that the majority of our young people are rapidly descending into barbarity, regressing into savages right before our eyes.

Those few individuals who embrace the manners and decorum of the Steampunk outlook may be the last, best hope for humanity.
As for the rest...well, Gatling guns were invented for a reason, y'know.

~Thistlewaite

[John Pierce]

These orgies, for such they are, happen everywhere.
All the chaperones can do is turn on the lights.

and watch them skitter under the fridge.

[H. MacHinery]

While I cannot condone bad behavior, has not every generation decried the sinking morals of the upcoming one?

Did not our parents bewail our attending that den of iniquity at Woodstock?

[patron_vectras]

that is very true, but do you really think this is going somewhere worthwhile?
maybe this is a peak, and only the fall to morality awaits!

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

The media and the "Powers That Be" wanted very much to report on the great failure of Woodstock. They were unable to do so, and that happening remains to this day the first, last, and only time a half a million people have absolutely gotten along with each other by mutual consent.

The High Water mark of Mankind. (IMHO)

~T

[H. MacHinery]

The media and the "Powers That Be" wanted very much to report on the great failure of Woodstock. They were unable to do so, and that happening remains to this day the first, last, and only time a half a million people have absolutely gotten along with each other by mutual consent.

The High Water mark of Mankind. (IMHO)

~T

But did your mom and dad think so?

Consider the amount of sex and drugs (and rock&roll, but that's de rigeur for a concert) at Woodstock, and the opinions of our parents towards those activities.

[Irrlich]

I can not comprehend that a girl would not want to waltz! The older dances, such as salsa and waltz are so much more enjoyable and romantic then the modern dances. Sadly I can only find elder family members or women who can actually dance properly.

I must admit that the 'bump and grind' dance (does it even have a name?) has a positive side. It is one of the easiest ways to 'torture' a guy. In the way that you can promise him everything, and in the end leave him hanging. Guys who are being denied by a woman on the dancefloor often become the laughingstock in their circle of friends. Though I'm not sure how many girls actually do this.

[Ryu]

I am disgusted and saddened by mr_Apricot's account of this school's "Dance" (thought I hesitate to use the term, because it can barely be called that).
What is most sad is that it's a High school!
Call me old fashioned but, I personally would Waltz till my feet fell off before I even thought of doing any "Dance" that resembled 'bump and grind' ....


 

[Utini420]

And about this wasting your youth malarky ...

(and yes, if you don't "waste your youth," on sex, drugs, and rock n roll then you wasted it)

In your eyes Mr Uniti I have wasted most of mine, but in my eyes I have used it for better things, to become a better mad scientist! However perhaps I took a different angle on all the above things one should waste thier youth on:

Sweet!  Don't take my "variable set" of sex, drugs, and rock n roll too literally -- in my youth, use of metallic vapours and various ferrous materials to make a better show of an exploding microwave was deffinitly rock n roll.  Really, what I was getting at is that you'll never have the same kind of time and social freedom you enjoy in your youth again in your life, so use it while you've got it.  If that means building hair-brained contraptions designed after your own whimsy, then rock out! 

I think the whole crunk/grinding thing is, well, retarded.  But then, I thought a lot of the crap kids did at parties while I was in school was also retarded.  But when I look back on my school years, it is not the nights I held my self aloof, beholden to some higher standard, that I remember fondly.  Rather, I cherish the memories of the nights I said to hell with it, tossed civility to the wind, and jumped into the throng.  I guess what I'm saying is, its great to hold oneself to a higher standard, but that only goes so far if you're alone at the top of your personal mountain.

(Of course, I say all that like I'm this old guy who never parties anymore; couldn't be further from the truth.)

All that said, though, dude: if the mad science thing isn't bringing in the ladies (crazy, unique, from-their-own-mold ladies, but ladies none the less) you might be doing it wrong.    (kidding, kidding)