YouTube Dancing, Old School Style!

            I found a new video on YouTube that got my attention lately.  They aren’t doing anything fancy or particular about it except elderly, black folks swing dancing from the oldies but goldies music from the fifties to the seventies.  They are swinging and twirling more than stepping, but it’s interesting to see great-grandparents and grandparents finding time to recreate memories.  I don’t recognize most of the music.  I tried to use Shazam and Google to identify the artist and song, but neither app recognized the sounds.  Some I did, such as Shotgun by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Barry White, and Al Green from the seventies.

 

            These old folks, dressed in their finest, put aside their walkers and canes, find new dance partners, and enjoy themselves with their dance moves.  I remember that in my military days, we wore colorful outfits and shoes to match.  According to the video's time, they will dance for at least three hours. I don’t look at them that long, but it may be less than an hour.  I enjoy seeing them gliding and acknowledging friends on the dance floor.  It could be the music my parents played when I was a child that has me fixated on what memories they had.  Or, it could be in my aging process, my memories of when I danced.  Then again, how did people see me on the dance floor when I thought I looked cool and dancing smooth?  It took being under the influence of alcohol to get me on the dance floor.  I needed an excuse to dance.  They didn’t.

 

            They have their own building that they attend to hold various functions and celebrate birthdays. The birthday celebrant wears a sash over their shoulders, and people pin money on it.  The seniors have their DJ, who is attentive to them, calling them by name, giving them shout-outs, and making the people comfortable.  I can only imagine how they feel and long for those days gone by.  Deep down inside, I am drawn to them because I am interested in discovering more about my ancestors in Ancestry and Roots Magic.  I do imagine what they went through during slavery, emancipation, reconstruction, Jim Crow, and even in these present times.  We all need to have pleasant things to think about and press forward.