At Ask the Past, Harvard history prof Elizabeth Archibald has combed the archives of the great writings and learned what advice was given in 1530 to young men on how to behave at dances.
Antonius Arena is her source, and upon reading the paragraph it becomes clear why girls dance with each other at middle school soirees: Young men between the ages of 12 and 14 are guilty of every one of the sins he lists.
The one and only "youth dance" we held for my youth group, my main memory was my worrying I'd have to step in the middle and break up some too-close clinches.
ReplyDeleteInstead, I should have remembered my own seventh-grade days: the boys on one side, talking about sports, the girls on the other, talking about clothes and why wouldn't the boys dance with them?
Oddly, the "Chicken Dance" was what finally got people out on the floor. I supposed because there's no TOUCHING in the "Chicken Dance."