September 13, 2008
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Dance Casualties
This morning on NPR, I heard brief bites from the top ten out of Billboard’s recently released Hot 100 All-Time Singles. When the count got down to #1, and Chubby Checker told me to Do the Twist, without my thinking about it, my body dipped and my knees flexed and started swinging from side to side. It felt good, however briefly, to dance a little. I love to dance.
Twisting took me back in time, and I recalled that soon after I first saw the twist on American Bandstand, the media started flashing warnings about the dance. People were getting hurt: spinal injuries, hip and knee problems. Lots of people, I suppose, quit twisting and out of fear never did it again. I thought it through, understood how they were hurting themselves, and went on twisting. I have twisted literally for hours without injury. You can’t do it flat-footed or stiff-legged, and it’s hazardous on deep pile carpet or rocky ground. Watch Chubby, and do it like he does, and you’re safe. 
This launched a train of thought about dangerous dances. The one that seemed most dangerous to me, as a little girl, was the apache dance, and I suppose injury was possible, especially when the knives came out, or when a man threw his feminine partner across the dance floor and she wiped out a party of spectators at a ringside table. But the violence in that dance was usually supposed to be simulated.
I have heard that there have been injuries associated with the lambada, and not just those incurred in the fights spawned by jealousy when somebody does the “dance of love” with another guy’s partner. The most severe injuries are probably the testicular damage due to a partner’s uninhibited footwork while the couple’s legs are entwined.
One dance is so strenuous and scary that I never tried it. Has there ever been a breakdancer who gained proficiency without getting hurt along the way? There’s a web page devoted to breakdancing accidents, complete with videos.Here’s that all-time top ten:
1. The Twist (Chubby Checker)
2. Smooth, (Santana featuring Rob Thomas)
3. Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin)
4. How Do I Live (LeAnn Rimes)
5. The Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix – Los Del Rio)
6. Physical (Olivia-Newton John)
7. You Light Up My Life (Debby Boone)
8. Hey Jude (the Beatles)
9. We Belong Together (Mariah Carey)
10. Un-Break My Heart (Toni Braxton).Do you have a dance casualty story?
Comments (11)
I love Santana and Rob Thomas together when they did Smooth. I was not coordinated enough to do all of the dances that came along. I could do the twist and still think it should have been written for the hula hoop.
I just saw not so Chubby Checker on the tube about that very song. I have also been a “twister” and have taught my children the twisting technique. Chubby looked great. I had to go over real close to the TV and take off my glasses, he looked so young. What was he 15 when he did the dance?
Dance casuality story? Hmmmmmm. Well there was that one when The King and I were dancing and he had me by the waist then unwrapped me and swung me out and away with a bit too much vigor, I kept going and ended up at a couples table almost in their laps. We all laughed and I told The King that I’d have to rub him out if he tossed me like that again. ha ha. We love to dance and have more health than pain from it.
LOL! Yes, I have a dance casualty story!
I was 11 or 12, in the 6th grade, practicing some ballet moves…I did a backwards sort of leap and heard a large ominous…CRRRRRACK! My Mom and I looked at eachother…I didn’t feel any pain, but two days later my right foot was swollen twice the size, and was purple! I had broken the largest bone in my foot!
My Mom still swears I’m a gracelss clutz! LOL
@flaminredhead - Graceless, maybe, but definitely a high pain threshold.
Heh.
reasons why i shouldn’t bother dancing:
the amazing ability to throw my knee out in any way including going down stairs and tripping over grass.
good enough reasons to do it anyway:
the ability to hit multiple people in the face with my hair by ‘accident’
and for fun. xD
although, i have managed to ingure myself with dance attire.
wearing pants that fit inncorectly resulting in hip pain,
falling on my face, back, and of course head.
slipping on a dance dance revolution mat, and almost taking out my dog. [[who decided that me stomping around meant that she should grab my pant leg]]
and the best one: being dropped, and then fallen on. no long lasting results. >.>; thankfully.
hey jude as number 9 almost suprises me. >.>; although, i’ve sworn that i’d never listen to it again. xD
What a surprising top ten! I am glad to see Santana up there.
No injuries here (yet!) but when I was about 5 years old, my mother absolutely forbade me to breakdance. It was just getting big back then, and I was hypnotized by it!
Thanks for that Apache dance link, btw!! You don’t know just how long I’ve been trying to figure out the name of that dance. I always thought that one was really cool.
moshpits ftw
dancing to live queen covers with friends is all that comes to mind. no real injuries beyond stuff like seeing who could jump highest, and we were jumping really close together, and kinda knocked each other over onto the bitumen
not me but a knew an elder fell at a pow wow once from some spectator trowing a banana peel on the floor. No lie I was right behind her. She was so embarrassed. I was mad at the litter bugs!
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