Althouse: "Disputes over who can dance, how and where, are at least as old as civilization..."

July 14, 2008

"Disputes over who can dance, how and where, are at least as old as civilization..."

They "arise from the longstanding conflict between the forces of order and hierarchy on the one hand, and the deep human craving for free-spirited joy on the other."

And NYC is the worst, cracking down on bars where customers happened to sway.

Enough with repressive New York City. Let's all flounce out to the countryside and do what we want!

23 comments:

Skeptical said...: Everybody look at your hands? Why?; 7/14/08, 3:28 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: So Bloomberg is John Lithgow, but who will be Kevin Bacon?; 7/14/08, 3:30 PM
Methadras said...: Ah yes, the Safety Dance. Oh the memories, oh the depression.; 7/14/08, 3:36 PM
Unknown said...: Didn't Kevin Bacon fight a war about this?; 7/14/08, 3:37 PM
ricpic said...: Bloomberg's nannyism is reaching crescendo levels.; 7/14/08, 3:47 PM
Mrs. Geraldine Churlish said...: A more serious concern is middle-aged woman who feel the need to expose their shoulders.

If only these aging dowagers realized that, just a tiny bit of sleeve would make all the difference toward a more flattering silhouette.

One wonders what a woman of that age is trying to prove by exposing her shoulders ?; 7/14/08, 3:54 PM
Ron said...: Ya know, Men Without Hats recently joined up with Men at Work to form that new Supergroup Men Without Work...

And they're livin' that dream today!; 7/14/08, 4:02 PM
girish said...: Ann - the link below has a lot of dancing - please listen to the audio. The whole thing is just fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Girish; 7/14/08, 4:13 PM
Chris said...: Quick! Someone send in Techno Viking.; 7/14/08, 4:20 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/14/08, 4:38 PM
Paddy O said...: End the flapper oppression!

Let the Lennonist Christians dance on Sunday mornings wherever they please!

Life is a dance! Let's all move to it!; 7/14/08, 4:48 PM
Sprezzatura said...: No smoking or dancing.

Two down, two to go. If they deal with the gays and drinking they can have live performances of "Let the Eagle Soar."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLQI8X2R6Y

wing...sing...king...dingaling (that last one may have been Chuck.); 7/14/08, 4:56 PM
Richard Dolan said...: Is there no one willing to defend dear old NYC? Not even a recent professorial guest from some small hamlet in the Midwest?

Anyway, it's complicated. Bloomberg wanted to change it, the bar owners were opposed, people who live above the establishments were aghast at the idea, those really looking to dance went to a club, and the rest of the locals slept through the whole thing.; 7/14/08, 5:03 PM
sakredkow said...: "You're dancin' with who they tell you to
Or you don't dance at all.
It's tough out there
High water everywhere."
Bob Dylan; 7/14/08, 5:06 PM
Ron said...: "Bloomberg opposes sex standing up as it is too similar to dancing."

Man, half the bars in the Village would be closed in a week...; 7/14/08, 5:42 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, a "men in shorts" warning is needed for TechnoViking.; 7/14/08, 6:11 PM
Palladian said...: This is a perfect opportunity to deploy my favorite line from Pascal's Pensées:

"Quand je m'y suis mis quelquefois, à considérer les diverses agitations des hommes, et les périls et les peines où ils s'exposent , dans la cour, dans la guerre, d'où naissent tant de querelles, de passions, d'entreprises hardies et souvent mauvaises, etc., j'ai découvert que tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre."

or

"When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber."; 7/14/08, 6:20 PM
Mrs. Inez Mudville said...: Another holiday come and gone, that Professor Althouse refuses to acknowledge...

Happy Bastille Day, Everyone !!!!; 7/14/08, 6:32 PM
walter neff said...: Bloomberg is a nanny state fascist who has sold out the city of New York to the monied interest in real estate deals which will have a horrible effect on the city for many years to come. He is an extreme liberal who covers it all up by spending money like water to buy the silence and acquiescence of the other powers that be in the city. He is a corrupt and dangerous man who has no regard for the normal working man. He despises you and your pursuits and would ban them if he could. He is an elitist piece of shit who would stomp out the right of the "lower" classes with a smile and a payoff to keep everyone quiet while he takes what he wants. His type has been around New York before. John Jacob Astor. Nelson Rockefeller. Robert Moses. He is what the original American revolutionaries rebelled against. He is the spawn of Satan. He should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.; 7/14/08, 6:47 PM
Palladian said...: I agree with walter neff.; 7/14/08, 7:17 PM
George M. Spencer said...: New York City Ballet has its own Youtube channel.

Then there's Catherine Zeta Jones. The lady can swordfight.

Earth, Wind, and Fire.; 7/14/08, 8:05 PM
DaLawGiver said...: flounce out to the countryside and do what we want!

I had forgotten, they flounced up the high road and forsook the low road. There's real meaning there.; 7/14/08, 10:52 PM
rhhardin said...: If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

- Radical feminist Emma Goldman.; 7/15/08, 5:52 PM