A Midsummer’s Slow Dance Night in Toronto
“It’s high school with a happy ending, and it’s queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.” So in other words, it’s not like high school at all.
If you’re sitting at home alone this Saturday night and suddenly have a hankering to dust off those formal duds and do the seventh-grade shuffle with a bunch of like-minded strangers, you’re in luck. Though usually a Montreal event, Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow occasionally brings slow-dancing goodness to hipsters in Toronto, and tomorrow is one of those times.
“With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to),” reads their website, “Slow Dance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)”
The $10 admission fee includes a dance card (which, for you young’uns, is a booklet with the night’s songs in order that you can use to keep track of your potential dance partners). And if you didn’t bring a partner, the organizers will provide a slew of “designated dancers” for your slow-dancing pleasure. Of course, you are allowed to ask anyone to dance and, in turn, you have the right to refuse an invitation (unless you’re said designated dancer).
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this just sounds odd to me, though my morbid curiosity (and proximity to the venue) tempts me to check it out. I mean, Toronto is, like, the personal-space capital of the world—what flies in touchy-feely Montreal might not be so popular in a city where most people would rather punch you in the face than help you up after a particularly nasty spill down the stairs (speaking from personal experience). And will there be cliques? Like the hipsters vs. the old people? Or will everyone just be too drunk to care?
A Midsummer’s Slow Dance Night takes place on Saturday, August 14, 2010, from 9:30 p.m.–2:00 a.m. at Dovercourt House (805 Dovercourt Road, Toronto). For more info and to RSVP (or volunteer your services as a designated dancer), check out their Facebook event page.
