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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Freak dancing’ crosses the line

The Spokesman-Review

All the slow songs you requested/You’re dancing like you’re naked/Oh, it’s almost like we’re sexing (oh yeah)/Yeah boo, I like it/No, I can’t deny it/But I know you can tell/I’m excited, oh girl – “Too Close” by Blue.

Whenever someone objects to edgy dancing by high schoolers, others inevitably bring up Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips or Kevin Bacon’s “Footloose” as evidence that youngsters are always pushing the limits of sexual freedom. And they’re right. Teen sexuality has worried parents since Cain and Abel were adolescents.

However, there’s a proper time, place and method for expressing sexuality, and that’s not at public high school dances.

Earlier this week, Central Valley High School joined a growing list of Spokane area schools that have banned informal dances, known as mixers, because boys and girls are engaged in “freak dancing,” a term used for dancing that simulates sex. Central Valley officials took the drastic measure after discussing the problem with students on the first day of school, reminding them about it before a recent dance and then warning them again at the dance itself. They were ignored. At a Sept. 9 mixer, staff and parent volunteers removed 70 students for dance behavior. Two weeks ago, another 16 freak dancers were asked to leave the CV Homecoming dance.

All generations fondly remember the edgy dances and music of their youth. Jitterbug. Swing. Twist. Disco. New Wave. Sexuality is part and parcel with dance. But freak dancing takes the form to the extreme. For the sake of decorum and order, a public high school wouldn’t allow youngsters to simulate sex on campus during regular school hours. For the same reasons, it shouldn’t allow faux sex at school dances. Not only do dirty dancers create a discipline nightmare for school administrators and chaperones, but they make students with different values uncomfortable. CV took the right step by banning mixers completely.

Of note, student leaders at Mt. Spokane High School in the Mead School District voted to do away with mixers after the first dance of the year due to the inappropriate dance behavior of a few students. Those who believe children should be allowed to express themselves in any fashion on the dance floor forget that a good number of teen-agers, probably the majority, don’t subscribe to the same values. Teens should have a right to dance and have fun at school without being exposed to classmates having what CV Assistant Principal Glenna Bouge describes as “sex on the floor.”

Bouge’s definition parallels the one from the Urban Dictionary: “Freaking: Obscene dancing which simulates sex by the grinding of the genitalia with suggestive sounds/movements – often done to pop or hip hop or rap music.”

Dances through the ages have shocked parents and authorities. And we’ve survived. But there’s an explicitness in freak dancing that crosses the line between what’s acceptable and what isn’t. At a dance at a public school, which is open to youths from all backgrounds, freak dancing simply goes too far.