Dance Disaster

It’s a warm Saturday night.  Katie and I had just gotten back from a long day of shopping, exhausted I collapsed into the couch next to Drew.  “I think I want to take a long bath.” Drew says with a sleepy smile.  “Hmm a night on the coach sounds great. “ I add.  

Katie looks woefully back at the two of. “I’m bored.” She declares.  Inside I have to laugh, Drew and I are not used to such constant activity and Katie’s energizer bunny attitude shames me into action.  I grab my lap top and state, “Alright well it’s 10 pm, let’s see what Abington’s night life looks like.”  Drew and Katie laugh at me simultaneously.  Abington is a small quite town on the outskirts of Boston. The main population here is suburban families and retirees. Yet, I always did love a good challenge.

                

I started scrolling through my goggle search announce destinations aloud, most of which were bars or bowling allies. I look up at Katie to see if anything caught her attention. Her blank stare, let me know she less then enthused to spend her Saturday night at  Joe’s American Bar and Grill. After a few more moments I struck gold, “Katie there is a night club 20 minutes from here called Vincent’s. Cover charge is only ten bucks.”  “Do you guys want to go?” Katie asks tentatively with a twinkle of excitement in her eye.  

I sigh and working up my most energetic  smile say, “Sure we do! Don’t we Drew!”  Drew says nothing. I can see the panic forming in his eyes at the thought of giving up a relaxing bath to be designated driver for his wife and her best friend. Even worse, I might expect him to dance too! I elbow him in the ribs and with a little coaxing, he slowly nods and states, “why the hell not.”

                

After a feverish rush to get “nightclub” hot, we rush to the car to try to make it to the club before midnight.  As we arrive we see a packed parking lot and bouncers out-front.  “This is a good sign.” I declare aloud. Surly a busy nightclub is an indication of a good time, right.

                

As we walk in the bouncer looks slightly amused to see us. Is it something we were wearing? Were we overdressed, under-dressed? I don’t do this sort of thing often. It could be any number of things. The bouncer asks for ID, and when seeing our PA licenses nods his head as if had just solved a riddle. “You guys are from PA, huh?", he says with a smile. Well, have a good time.”  While trying to unravel the Bouncers mystery statement we walked through the entrance and into the lobby.  

                

While paying our cover charge, anticipation and excitement flooded me.  Katie and I were ready to get our dance on.  Bring on the Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Flow Rider and Pit bull!  After paying we finally entered the big black door. The club music flooded my ears and bright, neon, yellow, blue and red lights shown down on hundreds of people.  For a moment I was completely disoriented. Wait a minute was that Billy Jean, by Michael Jackson playing?!

As my eyes adjusted to the lights I realized my mistake and everything made sense.  I now knew why the bouncer thought we were out of place!  Unfortunately,  Katie and Drew had realized it quicker than me. “ Jenae, you brought us to a elderly night club!” Katie declared loudly over the music.  To my horror I realized they were right. There was not a single person under the age of 40 in the entire room!  There were hundreds of inebriated older people bobbing awkwardly around the room with rhyme or reason and certainly without rhythm!

“This is awesome!” Drew declared loudly.  “ It’s the funniest thing I have ever seen! Check that guy out over there.” Following his finger I saw which dancer had caught his eye. The middle aged gentleman was shorter in stature and dressed head to toe, Michael Jackson style  with a white top hat, white jackets, undone tie, and white pants.  He also had sequined silver socks and 1 matching silver glove.  To describe this mans unique form of dance would takes hundreds if not thousands of words.  Let’s just say, his signature move was taking his right ankle and tucking it behind his neck while gyrating with his hips and making a grand sweeping gesture with his left arm.  In short, it was one of the craziest and most entertaining drunk dances I have ever seen.

                

The night was filled with many such spectacles. There was the lady who loved spinning in repetitive circles and attempting scissor kicks. We also saw jazz hands, a man jog dancing in the corner, and my personal favorite, the grandma grind.  There were of course several shinning stars in this club. One couple in their late fifties actually had great moves and did an impressive salsa dance.  While it’s true the good dancers were few and far between, everyone was having a good time and cutting loose and we enjoyed every minute. While we did not get a lot of dancing in we did have a lot of laughs.

                

At the end of the night we all agreed we had learned three valuable lessons:

                               

                                1. Never let Jenae pick out night clubs.

                                2.  A night out beats a night on the coach.

                                3. A travel experience might not be what you expect, however, it could be even better

                                    if  you embrace it with a good attitude. 

--Jenae