CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A dancing style school administrators say mimics a sexual act brought a recent Concord High School dance to an abrupt end for almost half the students and could result in cancellation of future dances.
Principal Gene Connolly said the school will cancel the upcoming homecoming dance and all remaining dances if students refuse to halt “grinding.”
Grinding is described as a style of dancing where the girl leans forward and the boy puts his pelvis against her backside and thrusts.
“It’s feigning a sex act,” said Connolly. “This style of dancing is wrong.”
Connolly told parents at a Parent-Teacher-Student Organization meeting Tuesday they would be offended as well.
But some students and parents don’t think it is offensive. They say grinding is a sign of the times, like the jitterbug and disco were in years past.
“We were raised to dance like that,” said senior Kayla Bisson.
Connolly said students began grinding about three years ago. Administrators tried to intervene, noting that the school handbook calls for dance styles to “comply with standards of modesty and safety.”
and mandates that partners face each other.
That didn’t work, so administrators met with the student senate last year and drafted a “dance memo of understanding,” in which students acknowledged current dance trends “can appear sexual.” Students also said the administration did not want to police dancing styles.
They agreed students would use their best judgment but administrators should have the final say. The memo also said anyone whose dancing made others uncomfortable could be asked to leave.
The issue came to a head at last Saturday’s dance, the first of the year, when half a dozen boys were asked to leave after they refused to stop grinding despite repeated warnings. About 150 of 350 students who attended the dance left with them.
The students eventually wound up at a park where they played music and danced.
Senior class president Ben Nicholson said students feel administrators’ actions were done out of spite.
“It’s not so much about dancing as it is about a culture clash,” he said.
Some parents agree.
Tom and Cathy Cooper said the teenagers are acting no differently than they did decades ago.
“If you remember Elvis Presley, there’s a grinder,” said Tom Cooper.
Pete Duval said he doesn’t object to grinding because it doesn’t lead to further touching.
“The look is extremely sexual, but the intent is not,” he said.
The sides haven’t much time to settle the issue if the homecoming dance is to be held on Oct. 7. The dance raises money for the senior prom.
“Eventually things may change and this may be considered mild,” said parent Cheryl Hunter. “But right now, it’s inappropriate.”
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Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com
AP-ES-09-21-06 0903EDT
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