Reader Reminisces… the High School Dance!

Hey, everybody! Reader here.

Now that kids are into the first full week of school, everyone is truly back into the routine.

But, especially for kids in high school, like those in the older grades, this school year might mean something new and potentially nerve-wracking. The time-honoured ritual of the high school dance.

I’m so old I don’t even know if dances are a big thing anymore, but they were back in my day. (Okay – now I know I’m getting old, if I’m saying THAT! Haha!)

But what made me think of this? Well, it was a song we played this morning, that jogged the ol’ memory. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

I wasn’t a guy who dated much in high school, and as a result, I admit, my first high school dance at Outlook High School in Grade Nine, was definitely an awkward experience, when it came to my first time dancing with the girls. Of course, I’m sure I’m not the only one that experienced that.

All dances tend to start the same way. Couples hanging out together, single guys on one side of the room, and single ladies on the other side. The couples were always the first to hit the dancefloor, and eventually everyone else would join in, powering through their nerves and sweaty palms, and ask someone to dance. Then everyone would be out on the dance floor having a good time, but it always took some ice-breakers to get the party started.

Throughout my high school years, from 1991 through 1995, I went to many dances over the years. Most with the standard DJ spinning the tunes, but sometimes, the SRC would splurge, and bring in the classic MuchMusic Video Dance Party, with the music videos playing on a big screen as we students would get our groove on, or work up the nerve to slow dance.

As we got older, everyone tended to follow the same routine. A bunch of us would get together before the dance at somebody’s house and party a bit, before walking to OHS for the dance.

Then, everyone would hit the gym, where all the action was happening.

As the night went on, some students would slip off to go to their own parties, and others would keep dancing, until inevitably the evening had to come to an end. And at the end of the night, the dance would always end with something slow. The guys would find a girl, pair up close and slow dance until the music ended.

Now, when I was in high school, pretty much every dance ended with one of two epic tunes.

Here’s where the song that jogged my memory this morning during Cruz FM’s “Big Shiny 90’s” comes in.

That song was the late, great Meat Loaf’s massive 1993 comeback hit, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” Come on… you know the one! Many dances ended with a slow dance to the operatic voice of Mr. Loaf.

And if it wasn’t that one, the other song that would end a lot of dances at OHS? A little bit of GNR. Tough to beat slow dancing to nine minutes of “November Rain!”