In Search of an Answer

Dancing Dancing Dancing
She's a dancing machine
Ah babe
Move it baby

Automatic Systematic
Full of color self contained
Tuned and gentle to your vibes


I'm going to let you in on a little secret of mine - I love dancing. It's borderline obsessive. I have seen almost all dance movies regardless of the story line - You Got Served, Step Up, The Streets, Stomp the Yard, Fame. The best dance battle ever recorded is still the original House Party when Kid n Play battle Gina from the Martin Lawrence show and the dark-skinned sista gurl. I have been trying to get 3 more people to reenact this scene with me but it has never happened. I actually have a personal play-list that repeats itself over and over in my head all day long. Numerous times I've driven passed my house because I was choreographing moves in my head to music on the radio...a pop here...a lock there...maybe a glide.


Very few people really understand me....let me rephrase...no one really understands me, but a select few really know me. Nelly, of course, completely knows me and somehow I remain married. My childhood hometown BFF, let's call him X OBESCO, knows me so well that we have complete conversations through facial gestures and muscle twitches. My BFFAE from the Bay, whom we shall call Zergio Jutierrez to keep his identity secret, is a little different story. He is as close to a clone of me that the world will ever see. We are so much alike that it's eerie and phenomeno at the same time.


Back to me. My play list is usually around 5 songs at any given time, but it never exceeds 6 - this will make sense later. Of the 5 to 6 that are running through my mind all day, 2 are always the same: Dancing Machine and Got to Give it Up. Let's explore my play-list during the time of this writing shall we? Good!

1. Got to Give it Up, Marvin Gaye. This is the story of my life put to music
2. Dancing Machine, Jackson 5.  If the words were "he" instead of "she" this would be my theme song
3. Le Freak, Chik. Do I really need to explain? Really?
4. Circus, Britney Spears. She is singing what I'm feeling....
5. Evacuate the Dance Floor, Cascada. I sincerely believe with all my soul that that this song was written for me
6. Rude Boy, Rihanna. Oooooh...This is a NAUGHTY song! I like it ;)

This play-list can be cut right down the center. Though all the music is iconic and has personal meaning to me, it is a clash of styles and beliefs. The first 3 are funkadelic-disco-shake-that-groove-thang anthems that I personally DARE you to challenge me with. The later 3 are current hits. They are sugur-pop-hip-hop songs that most club goers will use to innocently grind up on each other.

Now then, most of you have no idea where this going...but I assure you the X Obesco knows what I'm thinking and chances are that Zergio  has had this thought himself, possibly today. Would I rather be a Black man alive in the 70's or be an Asian 20-something kid in the here and now....?

The 70's had the best of all worlds. In the words of Austin Power "...as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!" The funky music, the tight clothes, the skating-rink battles - there was never a better complete decade of style and dance. All the brothers were living the life (and Tony Manero too)

Fast forward to present day. The last 5 years have changed the dancing world. Jabbawockeez, Kaba Modern, SoReal Cru, Ill Ovation, Poreotix...these are the hottest dance crews in the world today. I would venture that 99% of these crews are Asian dudes that will CUT YOU UP on the dance floor. Moves so smooth and precise that you may doo doo yourself from being exposed to so much awesomeness. It would be like if Nelly caught some poor girl that complimented me - serve you up before you know what hit you! And look good doing it!

True, most of the best moves of today come from the 70's and any dude that can really get down will eventually throw out the "Rerun". Don't act like you don't know the "Rerun"...I can see you all doing it while you read this. The moves back then were raw, the black dudes were just feeling it and going for it on the floor. These little Asian kids from ABDC and WOD have taken these moves and perfected them. They can tut, pop, lock, break, groove...plus they can do all the stuff from today! Turfin, Jerkin, Crumpin...and put the moves together in silky smooth transitions - ooooooh...getting goose bumps...like Nelly does when Big H sings!

I may never know the answer to 70's Black vs 2010 Asian. I'll continue to choreograph moves in mind throughout the day - that's why there is a limit to my play list. Can't keep more than 6 routines in my mind without bunching em together. Imagine if that happened on the dance floor! Would have to bust out the Carlton until I could catch the groove again.

Knowing X Obesco and Zergio like I do, I already know where they would be - polyester pants, butterfly collars, and a natural fro that would have all the ladies swooning. It's not so cut and dry for me :( While I continue to ponder what I call my greatest "hmmmm...what if" question, I will continue to love music and shake it, tut it, double-dutch bus it on the floor.