Children keep on dancing through the generations

There's more to Cape Girardeau than Bubba and beer.

There's something called culture. That's with a capital "C" and it stands for children who dance the night away in those weekly dance classes.

Parents pay for it. And for those sequined costumes that the kids wear for the annual end-of-classes recital.

But it's worth it to see all those dancing feet.

Becca and Bailey and many of their friends spent the past year in dance classes.

Becca had tap dancing. Bailey had a class that involved both tap and ballet.

It was an annual Wednesday night occurrence for us, hauling the kids to dance classes.

Of course, you see the parents of the kids who have classes around the same time on those Wednesday nights. But you don't see the kids and parents who are there other nights of the week, at least not until the evening of the recital.

On a recent Saturday night, the Academy of Dance Arts held its annual recital at Academic Hall Auditorium. The place was filled. It seemed like every girl in the city was enrolled in dance classes including most of Becca's and Bailey's friends.

And you thought all that tapping was just noisy pipes.

There's nothing like a dance recital. It lasts longer than a soccer match, but has better costumes.

Everyone claps. Parents are an appreciative lot, particularly when children are kicking up their heels to those good old rock 'n' roll tunes. After all, most of us grew up with those tunes.

I was in a play in eighth grade, but I never danced in a recital. Of course, when you have two left feet, it's better to sit out the dance.

Seriously, you've got to love a recital that features a potpourri of music, everything from Dance of the Swans from "Swan Lake" to Stupid Cupid from "Princess Diaries." Throw in some Broadway tunes, a Dixie Chicks number and Nat King Cole and you've got the makings of some toe-tapping entertainment.

Both Becca and Bailey seemed thrilled to be on stage. Give them an audience, some flashy costumes and they're ready to go.

They've got dance fever, and so do all those other dance students.

There are countless hours involved in a recital. When you watch your child rehearse week after week, it's hard to appreciate just how good the performance can be when the music isn't on pause.

Dancing has been around since the dawn of time, or at least as long as there have been dance partners.

Prehistoric paintings found in Africa and southern Europe show people dancing in "American Bandstand." Yes, Dick Clark was there too.

Dancing was big in Greek and Roman times although some Romans disliked it. The famous orator, Cicero, claimed, "No man dances unless he is drunk or insane." But that was before the big-budget musicals and Gene Kelly danced in the rain.

During the Middle Ages, church officials prohibited theatrical dancing. However, wandering dancers kept it alive by performing at fairs and in TV commercials.

King Louis XIV of France danced in court ballets for 20 years.

During the 1700s, women quit wearing heavy skirts, tight corsets and heeled slippers, which made it hard to dance freely. They shortened their skirts and began to wear regular ballet slippers, which clearly wasn't good for the well-heeled set.

During the 1900s, hundreds of new dances came and went. In the 1920s, people danced the Charleston. In the 1930s and 1940s, they did the big apple and the jitterbug. In the 1970s, disco came and went, along with those horrible white suits.

But, of course, it's tap dancing that thrills Becca and Bailey.

After all, it's not everyday you get to beat up the floor and be applauded for it.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.