My Dancing Valentine

The pace at which we live our lives has changed significantly in the past century, not that I know that by personal experience of course, but I’m fairly well educated and all that, I read a lot, and I have a tendency to listen to my elders when they talk, so I learn things. In our technologically saturated society, easy entertainment is always at our fingertips. But in days gone by, entertainment took more effort, more thought, more planning. Rather than browse Netflix to keep themselves occupied on a Friday night, people would have community dances, singalongs, potluck dinners, quilting bees and any number of other social gatherings. Entertainment was a social event more than a solitary one. But as entertainment has moved into the digital age, a regularly occurring community social gathering seems like it has become an antiquated idea.

On Friday night we got a little glimpse of a bygone era. Daniel is in one of the jazz bands at USU and every year right around Valentine’s Day, they have a gig at Elite Hall in Hyrum. I was under the impression that the event was sponsored by USU, but that was not the case. The USU jazz bands are the invited performers who provide the music for a community dinner and dance. And it really was a community affair. While there was a contingency of college students in attendance, there were also attendees of every age from married couples to aged grandparents. Almost all in attendance were dressed up for the occasion, some even in period appropriate gowns. Dinner was served for those who wanted it, and there were dance lessons an hour before the live music began.

Nathan joined Kevin, Malia and I on Friday and Kevin and Matthew drove back up last night so Matthew could attend. We had some scheduling conflicts and Matthew really wanted to go, so Kev decided spending a load of time in the car was just fine. And it gave Matthew a chance to get a long drive under his belt, which is also a perk for our soon to be legal teenage driver. I think we all really enjoyed the event. We were flies on the wall, as it were, not participating in the dancing, but we had a great time! The music was great, it was fun to see Daniel in his element playing both his sax and his clarinet, and I loved watching all the attendees try out their best dance moves. Nathan commented that it would be a great date night and was pleased to see that they hold dances fairly regularly, one of which is a 1940’s swing night with era appropriate clothing encouraged. Matthew loved the music as well and it made him even more excited for his own jazz night which is happening tomorrow evening. 

With Daniel away at college, we don’t get to attend all his concerts like we did when he was in high school, so it is good when we can actually make it to one in person. Many of them are streamed and we watch them from home, but nothing can compare to live music!