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Be my valentine? How about a dance?

  • September 20, 2011 at 4:10 pm

Dim the fluorescent lights. Unlock the gymnasium doors. Hormones are in the air. “All day long, you could just feel that there was a dance after school,” Dawes Middle School teacher Jolene John said. When the clock struck three Thursday, the DJ’s lights flashed and Nelly started rapping about his Air Force ones, but the dancing did not begin.

“Nobody ever dances at dances. they just stand there and talk,” said eighth-grader Kyleigh Hagood.

But standing around gets boring, and 15 minutes later, girls are dancing, a mob of pink shirts and ponytails.

“I think some of the boys are kinda shy to ask the girls to dance,”student body president Maren Vik said.

P. Diddy sings, “Baby turn around and let me see that sexy body go bump bump bump,” and the lights flash and the girls dance.

DJ Keith Brown, who daylights as a Lincoln Public Schools para- educator, keeps the music as clean as he can, and plays what the girls want.

Kelsey Pike, a seventh-grader, dances the electric slide, something teachers showed the kids so the dancing wouldn’t get too dirty.

Seventh-grader Chris Bledsoe stands by the wall in a black T- shirt, listening. “I hate it. system of a down,” he said, referring to one of his favorite bands. “put that on.”

He discusses the girls who dance.

He points to one group of girls with brown hair and baggy grey T- shirts and says, “Girls that couldn’t get dates.” he points to the girls in pink shirts and cute ponytails and says, “Girls that did get dates but aren’t dancing with them.” he points to the short girls. “Sixth- graders.”

Then Luis starts to dance. Luis Corral, 14, an eighth-grader everyone likes. Luis breaks the ice for the boys. in a blue O’Neal jersey and baggy jeans, he slides in with each group of girls, shakes his hips, flashes a smile.

As Luis dances faster, his girlfriend talks to her friends by the wall. after the dance, Luis will go with his father to SuperSaver to buy his girlfriend a Valentine’s Day gift. Today, in first period, she will get a dozen roses. He’ll get a singing card.

Not every girl is so lucky in love. the sweaty air thickens, and boys leave to eat pizza in the cafeteria. Ariana Munoz keeps dancing. a tiny 11-year-old, she changed after school into a short denim dress and black boots – scuffed – like she rode to school on a fast motorcycle.

When Ariana came to the dance, she had a date, but now, she dances as a single girl.

“I had a boyfriend, and he didn’t like the way I dance – that I have good rhythm,”Ariana said.

They dated for “three weeks – no, four,” she says, but “he was trying to control my life. so he sent one of his friends over and told me that I’m dumped.”

Maybe that was a better Valentine’s Day present, better than a card or a flower or a box of candy.

“Nobody’s controlling me,”Munoz says, throwing her arms out and dancing. “I feel like I’m free.”

Be my valentine? How about a dance?

Related Reading:

I Hate Valentine's Day [Blu-ray]I Hate Valentine's Day [Blu-ray]The creative team behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding reunites for an all-new love story with a big fat twist! Nia Vardalos stars as Genevieve, an independent single woman who owns a Brooklyn flower shop along with a strict philosophy on dating: every relationship should last no more than 5 dates so that she never gets dumped or hurt. But when she meets restaurateur-next-door and all-around nice guy Greg (John Corbett of Sex And The City), she still insists that their delicious courtship tick towards its inevitable end. What do you do when the one rule you never break becomes the one thing that could break your heart? Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Zoe Kazan (Revolutionary Road) and Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) co-star in this hilarious romantic comedy with no strings attached, written and directed by Nia Vardalos.

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