Xantar
05-16-2002, 11:49 PM
Schools Put Lid on Sexy Moves
By Nurith C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 17, 2002; Page A01
There will be no "grinding," "doggy dancing" or "front piggy-backing" at Oakland Mills High School's senior prom this year.
At least, not according to the page-long list of rules recently written by Marshall Peterson, principal of the Columbia school. Also off limits: "hiking up skirts," "hands on the floor," and any train of people "unless it's a conga line."
If his guidelines seem a bit, er, detailed, Peterson said, it's because his students leave him no choice. Peterson is grappling with the sexually provocative dance craze that has become the bane of school administrators across the Washington area.
For those who haven't yet seen it, "freak dancing" makes the lambada look like the hokeypokey. Think girls bending over and rubbing their backsides against their partner in time to the beat. Think boys putting their hands on their dates' hips to pull them in closer still - then farther away, then closer still. Now picture the girls burying their faces into a second partner's midsection or gyrating over him as he lies on the floor.
"If they didn't have their clothes on, you would swear they were having sex," Peterson said.
To combat the trend, schools are trying as many new moves as their students. At Ellington School of the Arts in the District, chaperons are handed flashlights and told to spotlight - literally - offending couples. Montgomery Blair High School's principal enlisted students to make an instructional video on dancing do's and don'ts. Arthur Murray it isn't.
Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro makes parents sign a pledge promising to pick their children up early if they are found dancing inappropriately. And at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, the deejay froze the freaking several times during a recent dance by playing the "Barney" theme song.
Such creative countermeasures are not limited to the Washington area. Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, Mich., requires students to pass a quiz on proper dancing before going to the prom.
Puyallup High School near Tacoma, Wash., reportedly prohibits dancers from bending over "more than 45 degrees" ? though chaperons are not equipped with protractors.
And an assistant principal of Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego was placed on administrative leave this month pending an investigation into allegations that she lifted girls' skirts before an April dance to make sure they weren't wearing thong underwear. (The assistant principal, Rita Wilson, has argued that she was trying to prevent students from exposing themselves on the dance floor.)
Students often complain that the new regulations are cramping their style. "It feels like they're telling us to stop dancing every two minutes," said Howard High School senior Gyasi Jackson, 18, while taking a break at his Ellicott City school's prom. "They're taking all the fun away."
Like many teenagers, Jackson said adults are reading too much into freaking.
"It's just a way of dancing," he said. "You're not really more likely to have sex if you dance this way."
Of course, efforts to squelch improper dancing are as old as dance itself.
The waltz spun 19th-century moralists into whirls of indignation. Television censors agreed to show Elvis but not his pelvis.
But area school officials and parents insist that you don't have to be a prude to believe freak dancing must be stopped.
"I know when I was a kid, my parents were horrified that I was doing the twist," said Terry Beckmann, whose son is a junior at Centennial High School in Elicott City. "But this seems so much worse."
Freak dancing, which was popularized in the 1980s by such songs as Experience Unlimited's "Da Butt," is not exactly new. But it has become ever more risque» and increasingly widespread over the past year or two, school officials said.
Today, administrators say, freaking is done to nearly all types of music and is as common in suburban schools as it is in urban clubs.
"It's not just the goth kids or the punk kids or the athletes who are doing this," said Beckmann. "It's a cross section of all kids."
Still, parents are often unaware of the fad until they volunteer to help monitor school dances.
"I had seen this dancing on music videos and thought it was disgusting," said Diane Henzey, who chaperoned a dance at Stone Bridge High in Loudoun County. "I never imagined our kids would be doing it."
So many parent chaperons complained about freaking at Howard High's homecoming dance this year that Principal Mary Day convened a focus group of parents, teachers and "representatives of the dance community" to come up with a definition of appropriate dancing.
After studying magazine photos and MTV videos, the group concluded that it was easier to let Day judge students' propriety on a case-by-case basis.
But trying to stop freak dancing by breaking up couples is a bit like trying to push back the tide - as administrator Monica Goldson discovered while patrolling Frederick Douglass's prom on a recent evening.
The prom is usually easier to chaperon than other dances, Goldson noted, because teenagers tend to dance more conservatively when they are dressed in their finest.
Still, it wasn't long before Goldson spotted a couple crossing the line. "Okay, now," she said as she approached them, "can you just relax and stop dancing like that?"
The girl, resplendent in a sparkly pink gown, giggled and nodded.
Then she and her partner melted back into the crowd, where - as soon as Goldson's back was turned - they got back to freaking.
This is only in the Washington D.C. area for now, but you never know when it might strike you. So, you'd better get out to those parties and grind while you still can. :D
I personally am not a big fan of freaking because I just don't like to get that close to anyone especially since I wouldn't touch a girl that way in any situation outside of a dance party. I see it happen all the same, and I can testify that it's a pretty safe thing. And remember, at my parties, there's alcohol.
But in any case, I don't see how spotlighting couples who freak is really going to help things. I know some of them do it precisely because they want to get attention from all the other dancers.
By Nurith C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 17, 2002; Page A01
There will be no "grinding," "doggy dancing" or "front piggy-backing" at Oakland Mills High School's senior prom this year.
At least, not according to the page-long list of rules recently written by Marshall Peterson, principal of the Columbia school. Also off limits: "hiking up skirts," "hands on the floor," and any train of people "unless it's a conga line."
If his guidelines seem a bit, er, detailed, Peterson said, it's because his students leave him no choice. Peterson is grappling with the sexually provocative dance craze that has become the bane of school administrators across the Washington area.
For those who haven't yet seen it, "freak dancing" makes the lambada look like the hokeypokey. Think girls bending over and rubbing their backsides against their partner in time to the beat. Think boys putting their hands on their dates' hips to pull them in closer still - then farther away, then closer still. Now picture the girls burying their faces into a second partner's midsection or gyrating over him as he lies on the floor.
"If they didn't have their clothes on, you would swear they were having sex," Peterson said.
To combat the trend, schools are trying as many new moves as their students. At Ellington School of the Arts in the District, chaperons are handed flashlights and told to spotlight - literally - offending couples. Montgomery Blair High School's principal enlisted students to make an instructional video on dancing do's and don'ts. Arthur Murray it isn't.
Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro makes parents sign a pledge promising to pick their children up early if they are found dancing inappropriately. And at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, the deejay froze the freaking several times during a recent dance by playing the "Barney" theme song.
Such creative countermeasures are not limited to the Washington area. Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, Mich., requires students to pass a quiz on proper dancing before going to the prom.
Puyallup High School near Tacoma, Wash., reportedly prohibits dancers from bending over "more than 45 degrees" ? though chaperons are not equipped with protractors.
And an assistant principal of Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego was placed on administrative leave this month pending an investigation into allegations that she lifted girls' skirts before an April dance to make sure they weren't wearing thong underwear. (The assistant principal, Rita Wilson, has argued that she was trying to prevent students from exposing themselves on the dance floor.)
Students often complain that the new regulations are cramping their style. "It feels like they're telling us to stop dancing every two minutes," said Howard High School senior Gyasi Jackson, 18, while taking a break at his Ellicott City school's prom. "They're taking all the fun away."
Like many teenagers, Jackson said adults are reading too much into freaking.
"It's just a way of dancing," he said. "You're not really more likely to have sex if you dance this way."
Of course, efforts to squelch improper dancing are as old as dance itself.
The waltz spun 19th-century moralists into whirls of indignation. Television censors agreed to show Elvis but not his pelvis.
But area school officials and parents insist that you don't have to be a prude to believe freak dancing must be stopped.
"I know when I was a kid, my parents were horrified that I was doing the twist," said Terry Beckmann, whose son is a junior at Centennial High School in Elicott City. "But this seems so much worse."
Freak dancing, which was popularized in the 1980s by such songs as Experience Unlimited's "Da Butt," is not exactly new. But it has become ever more risque» and increasingly widespread over the past year or two, school officials said.
Today, administrators say, freaking is done to nearly all types of music and is as common in suburban schools as it is in urban clubs.
"It's not just the goth kids or the punk kids or the athletes who are doing this," said Beckmann. "It's a cross section of all kids."
Still, parents are often unaware of the fad until they volunteer to help monitor school dances.
"I had seen this dancing on music videos and thought it was disgusting," said Diane Henzey, who chaperoned a dance at Stone Bridge High in Loudoun County. "I never imagined our kids would be doing it."
So many parent chaperons complained about freaking at Howard High's homecoming dance this year that Principal Mary Day convened a focus group of parents, teachers and "representatives of the dance community" to come up with a definition of appropriate dancing.
After studying magazine photos and MTV videos, the group concluded that it was easier to let Day judge students' propriety on a case-by-case basis.
But trying to stop freak dancing by breaking up couples is a bit like trying to push back the tide - as administrator Monica Goldson discovered while patrolling Frederick Douglass's prom on a recent evening.
The prom is usually easier to chaperon than other dances, Goldson noted, because teenagers tend to dance more conservatively when they are dressed in their finest.
Still, it wasn't long before Goldson spotted a couple crossing the line. "Okay, now," she said as she approached them, "can you just relax and stop dancing like that?"
The girl, resplendent in a sparkly pink gown, giggled and nodded.
Then she and her partner melted back into the crowd, where - as soon as Goldson's back was turned - they got back to freaking.
This is only in the Washington D.C. area for now, but you never know when it might strike you. So, you'd better get out to those parties and grind while you still can. :D
I personally am not a big fan of freaking because I just don't like to get that close to anyone especially since I wouldn't touch a girl that way in any situation outside of a dance party. I see it happen all the same, and I can testify that it's a pretty safe thing. And remember, at my parties, there's alcohol.
But in any case, I don't see how spotlighting couples who freak is really going to help things. I know some of them do it precisely because they want to get attention from all the other dancers.