The age-old generation gap in everything from clothing style to curfew to dating to grades has never held a candle to dancing in the parent-shock factor. Elvis Presley shook things up 50 years ago, and now a new form of dancing has parents locking the doors to their children's bedrooms. "Freak dancing" is causing a new conflict, this time at Montgomery Blair High School.

The average Blair student never realized that parents don't know about freak dancing or, for that matter, that their sons and daughters are doing it.

In previous years, you could walk into almost any Blair dance and find at least a small percentage of the students freak dancing. According to a December 2002 Silver Chips article, in a poll of 100 Blair students, 63 percent said they participate in freak dancing. I did not find this number to be as startling as I am sure many parents did. I can remember freak-dancing happening even in middle school. I judge this is probably one of those situations where the communication between parent and child has lagged.

Do parents know what freak dancing is, and to what extent their teens are doing it? The first step to understanding the phenomenon is defining freak dancing. Well, talk to a teenager and they might say freak dancing is "grinding," but in simple English, it's when two people dance and rub extremely close to each other in a sexual fashion to the beat of the music. That sounds shocking in its description, but I assure you that it is much worse in real life, even though most Blairites have become accustomed to it.

The future actions of the PTSA and other organizations to ban or regulate the dances in order to abolish freak dancing will not solve the problem. Neither will proposals such as the one named by parent Anne Marie Moriarty in the Silver Chips article: that students who freak-dance would be marked with pen on their hands, and if they repeatedly offend, then they will be kicked out of the dance entirely.

If the teens don't "freak dance" at school, then they may try somewhere else.

The underlying issue is the sexual nature of the dancing, and what means about teenagers today. The same questions that were brought about when children listened to Eminem and Madonna (in the 80's, that is) are being said now. It almost appears as if that as time passes, sex and all the taboos that surround it enter teen life earlier and earlier. Could anyone have predicted thirteen-yearÐolds rubbing up against each other? The thought makes every parent shudder (my mother especially).

What a lot of people do not realize is that school-sponsored dances bring in an immense about money for student-run organizations such as the SGA (Student Government Association) and BNC (Blair Network Communications). These organizations depend on the dances to bring in enough revenue to last through the school year.

The threat from the PTSA and the school administration to shut down or police the dances could hurt some of the more productive associations at school that encourage the more positive aspects of teen life. There must be a way to have teens be free to dance and express themselves while not crossing the line and without shutting down profitable dances.

The secret is out: parents now know the hefty threat of alcohol, drugs, and smoking are nothing in comparison to that of adolescents grinding up against one another during a school-sponsored dance. The dirty tango is in its last days at Blair, and probably many other Montgomery County schools. Now would probably be a good time to bridge that age-old gap between generations—find out how exactly your kid is shuffling his or her feet on that dance floor.

Schweber-Koren's note: Izaak Orlansky helped write and edit the January Inside Blair article on DIVA Dancers. Thanks for all the help, Mr. Orlansky.

Upcoming

Feb. 7—Report card distribution and MBHS science fair

Feb. 11—Early release day

Feb. 13—Grade 9 parent meeting, 7:00 pm

Feb. 17—No school—Presidents Day

Feb 18—PTSA meeting at 7:30 in SAC (student activity center)

Feb. 28—Registration deadline for April 5 SAT I

March 7—Interims mailed