School Dances and the Beat

               Many teenagers go to school dances, but what about the other teenagers that don’t go?  A common excuse is that they don’t like dancing or that they don’t know how to dance.  Today, dancing isn’t always learned and perfected when attending dancing socials, many times dancing in the modern age is commonly just felt through the beat and lyrics. 
                School dances can be memorable and many times that all depends on how good the DJ was.  There are always the classical songs that are played at gatherings like the Chicken Dance (also known as the Birdie Song) and the Hokey Pokey.   Many songs though are normally fast paced and meant for freestyle dancing and street dancing.  During school dances it is really easy to spot the people that like dancing and the people that don’t like it as much.  The dancing people normally let the music take control and their bodies just flow with the music.  Those people that like dancing are normally in the middle of the room dancing with a lot of people while the other people stand around the outside of the room socializing.  The people socializing normally have a certain sway to them and seem to be bobbing to the beat.  Some of the socializing people nod their head to the beat and many others sway or tap their foot.  Even the people who may not enjoy the dancing may still enjoy the music.  A lot of times the beat that people are dancing to would be the bass guitar, drums, and piano.  Those instruments play notes that are the defining points in a song and help subdivide each phrase or measure.    
                The beat of a song has each person dancing a different way.  Some people may shake their butts to the beat, tap their foot to the beat, nod their head, move their arms, and even violently shake their heads to the beat.  Rock and hard metal music normally has people pounding the air with their fists and shaking their heads back and forth to the beat because of the way the music is played.  While slow music may not have people fist pumping the air, people still sway to the beat and are captured in the moment by music.  The beat of music can be defined as a pulse, tempo, and rhythm.  Rhythm in music is a repeating sequence of strong and weak beats.  While looking at or hearing music in detail may be difficult, it is usually easy to hear the beat of a song.