Let’s Dance!
Oh, joy! It’s a strip mall opening. Let’s all dance in the shops! What’s that you say? A Fashion show? Well, let me strap on my dance hud and I’ll be right over! Oh, but wait, I can’t come, I have a lecture to attend – with waltzing to follow. And perhaps later I’ll visit an art gallery, and boogie next to the watercolors. Send me a TP if you happen upon a buffet dinner, where I can show off my latest animation atop the potato salad, would you? There’s a dear.
Call me odd, but I remember when I’d go to a club to dance. But there’s really no reason to when EVERY event in Second Life is one big opportunity to kick up your heels!
Perhaps this is why my own cafes don’t have Intans. Couches to flop on, pillows to plunk on, it’s nice to let my avatar get off her sore feet and simply *be*. I’ve noticed that just sitting around simplifies matters as well. No worries about who to ask to dance. No feeling like a wallflower. No, let’s face it, looking like a spaz dancing in an inappropriate setting. No morning-after consoling of those who felt left out. No upkeep for keeping dances current, no Intan to upgrade, no accidental breakdancing on a day you forgot your underwear, no tinies suddenly looking scary when they hit the wrong size danceball.
Most of these SL events are created to mimic real life events. If you have ever visited a museum, cafe, art gallery, or library and managed NOT to be overtaken by a need to disco, then join me here on the couch. Have a cup of tea. Talk. And let’s save the dancing for an actual *dance*.
I know I’m not in the majority here, but it’s my journal and my thoughts. I would dearly love to attend more events where I can sit and enjoy the company, be thoughtful, and lose the frantic air that permeates a room when 30 avatars are flailing to the music. Mmmm. Mellow gatherings. Just the notion makes me want to break out in a…. stance!
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
3 Comments
Fogwoman Gray
One of the challenges of my life is coming up with events that are not "just another dance". I am then often taken aback when folks at the carnival, or race, or tea are asking when the dance starts 😛
But it is delightful when those who need a lot of stimulation wander off, and a few just end up hanging out and having a good, old fashioned social chat. And much more fun to me doing it in our 3D environment for some reason 🙂
Tricia Aferdita
I think that most of the music I end up having at my events just simply invites dancing. I certainly don't throw a gallery event as a 'dance' per se. But the music is usually pretty upbeat and people just seem naturally inclined to dance.
I do tend to encourage a little more rowdy of an event in Avalon in general, having been involved in what others have called 'stuffy' events.
I certainly never expect everyone to dance and lately I even have not rezzed the couples dances just to keep it simple.
I do see your point though, Ceejay. I would be interested to see if the number of people changed if I just said, come over and sit quietly and look at art.
Thanks for the food for thought!
Raven Haalan
Oooo… interesting. Never thought of it, but yes, you're bang on. Maybe we dance a lot here because we *can* (and conversely, often can't IRL).
Think we might need a sign that features a silhouetted waltzing couple overlaid by a red circle with a diagonal line? 🙂