I am an East Coast expatriate hiding out in the Midwest...
I am an urban gal living in the suburbs and occasionally hiding in the country
I am a yoga practitioner, fitness enthusiast, believer in the mind-body-spirit connection...
I am a mid-life "revert" to the Roman Catholic faith in which I was raised and which has become an enormous source of support, encouragement, inspiration, and joy in my life...
I am a mom, sister, daughter, and wife...
I am an explorer; adventurous and curious about the world and people around me...
I am educated in the formal sense but I gain insight through everyday living...
I created this blog at a time of great fear and apprehension in my life. I chose to sustain it because of the discoveries about myself and the world around me that it has revealed.
What you can expect to find here:
the documentation of a love-hate relationship with the greater Philadelphia area
reminiscing about the good-ole-days (the 80's!)
complaints about my various ailments and injuries, both real and imagined
pictures and stories of gardening, decorating, shopping, sewing
Last night I was updating my MP3 player with a fresh set of peppy 80's dance tracks to accompany my sweaty forays on the treadmill. I thought about songs that would work perfectly with my favorite and apparently unnamed dance style from high school days that has come to be described merely as the "white girl dance." You have seen this move in films like Pretty in Pink (prom scene), and countless 80's sitcoms with school dance scenes.
The moves almost always involved simultaneously bending both knees, swivelling them diagonally with each rhythmic bend. Variations and flourishes include a little pointed-toe kick, double kicks, elbows bending back and forth at 90 degrees and fingers snapping,or hands held in a fist. The face of the dancer is usually cast downward and is emotionless. Often, poofy and/or assymetric highlighted hair bobs in front of the face, obscurring it completley but flirtatiously. These dance moves are highlighted best when accompanied by a wadrobe of multiple bracelets on each wrist, some sort of skirt - either mini or full, and a pointed-toe shoe or boot. Fingerless gloves, or large hip-slung belts imbue a bad-girl vibe, and draw attention to the seemingly tough gesture of the hands and the shimmy of the waist.
I waded though minute after minute of Brit-pop and synth-driven tunes, but finally recalled that, in my mind, the truest "white Girl Dance" number came from not across the pond but across the nation - none other than Cali's own Sparks (with ex-go-go's Jane Wiedlin) and their saccharin-but-I-still-love-it hit, "Cool Places."
A search on Youtube did not net the American Bandstand lip synch of this tune that I recall from my teen years. And, in fact, despite its high-energy beat, the music video made to promote it falls flat. Instead, I offer here (IMHO) a great version of this song by none other than the "fake" pop group from PBS television, Kids Incorporated! The kids do a great job on this, much to my surprise and delight, although I think there are too many "kids" onstage - the duet is perfectly cute on its own. How does this 80's kiddie flashback get us to today? Note that one of the "kids" is none other than Fergie of Black Eyed Peas fame. Luckily she wasn't up there crooning about her yet-to-develop Lady Lumps back in the day...
Just last week, I was telling someone that we need to call up radio stations -en masse- and get them to play a specific 80s hit for that week, like the GoGo's "Head Over Heels". That Sparks song was fantastic!
