Why Millennials Don’t Dance

When was the last time you truly went dancing? Where were you? Was it at a party? A dance hall? Or maybe a wedding?

Back in the ’50s, ’60s, and ‘70s, your answer probably would’ve been something like: “well, a few nights ago, of course, at the dance hall downtown.”

Today, however, your answer is much more likely to be: “Danced? Wait, what kind of dance? I mean, I was at a night club a few weeks back and I guess we danced but… not exactly together? Wait, why are you asking again?”

Dancing, especially in any sort of romantic or courtship manner—heck, even just for fun—has become a nearly foreign concept to us these days. Millennials most certainly would not consider it a normal weekend activity, if they did it’d be one of the last options if all else failed, even then karaoke has a better chance of suiting the group.

Sure, one might go to a salsa class once with that one super outgoing friend or maybe you try swing dancing at your cousin’s wedding after a few too many beers, but the act of dancing as a common experience nowadays seems odd, to some even just downright weird.

Why is that?

I started thinking about this after dinner tonight. My girlfriend and I met up with my grandparents on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at a lovely little Greek restaurant.

We spoke about many things, but I was particularly intrigued by our conversation surrounding dance. First, my grandparents reminisced and shared memories of their mid-20’s and 30’s when they’d go out to dance in the city just for the fun of it. We then spoke of the unfortunate absence of dancing as an activity for young people.

“So you’re saying if you go to a party nowadays, people don’t dance?” my grandmother asked, somewhat surprised.

“Well,” I responded, “I mean, there’s always music playing, and occasionally a song will come on that’s particularly popular and people might sing along or move around a bit, but there’s almost never any real indication that people intend to dance.”

“That’s sort of sad.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

So what’s changed? Why have we stopped dancing?

I have two quick theories for you:

1. Music’s Just Not The Same

With the rise of pop, rap, house, and even folk music, could it be that the popular music tastes of today are simply incompatible with older styles of dancing?

Music today doesn’t seem to be written for the purpose of dancing as much as it may’ve been historically. Today’s tracks seem more heavily geared towards digital entertainment and viewership rather than physical instructions for your next rendezvous with the dancefloor.

2. We’re Too Embarrassed

Because we’re constantly curating our ideal digital lives to our friends via social media, we may be consciously or subconsciously steering ourselves away from dancing in public because we’re too afraid of embarrassment or the possibility of humiliation. Not to mention in a world where almost no moment goes unrecorded or unSnapped.

“We used to be so much less self-conscious about dancing.” Whatever the reasons may be, it’s a shame we’ve stopped dancing.

In 2013, famous author and humorist Heather Havrilesky wrote a piece for The New York Times Magazine on this very subject, called “Why Don’t We Dance Anymore?”

In it, she talks about the influence that digital media, and especially the rise of the spectator vs. the dancer has had on dancing as a cultural activity.

“Under these conditions, dancing starts to feel vaguely ridiculous. Moreover, instead of dancing, we are repeatedly encouraged to watch other people dance while we sit still. Instead of jumping right into the electric slide with a bunch of kids and grandparents, or hitting the floor at a family gathering when the music starts, most of us are stationary. We don’t experience the latest dance craze firsthand so much as witness it passively as it body-rolls through the culture, our eyes glued to our screens.” She goes on:

Isn’t this madness? Shouldn’t we engage in celebratory movement at least some small part of the time? We should be swaying or bobbing and jumping around to music as a group, the way they used to do in Lionel Richie videos. We used to be so much less self-conscious about dancing. **Why Don't We Dance Anymore?***Riff When a dance move is born, the air is heavy with promise. Think of Chubby Checker, doing the twist with casual…*www.nytimes.comAnd it’s true, we did. We lost it somehow.

But I think we can get it back. Unlike Havrilesky who concludes her piece with a somewhat grimmer view of the future of dance as devolving into fodder for workout routines, I think dancing will make a comeback for pure human enjoyment.

I’m not sure how or when, but all that’s old will soon be new and if my conversation tonight with my grandparents was any indication, their nostalgia will act as our fuel for a new wave of finding ourselves back out on the dance floor.

Cover image via Unsplash