You Can Dance If You Want To...

The first half of the evening was taken up by two sets from the jazz trio Tripleplay - Ken Vandermark on saxophone, Nate McBride on bass, and Curt Newton on drums. Interesting stuff, not too dissimilar from the more frenetic portions of the KV5 set I saw last October. It's probably just because I know Ken dedicated one of the songs on his last album to the Ex, but I hear a lot of that group's frenzy in his compositions. That influence is more apparent in Nate's compositions. Haven't listened to the CD yet.

There was this older man - about 40 or 45, I'd guess, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and loafers. Modest haircut, respectable moustache. He was dancing during both of Tripleplay's sets. Feet pivoting and tapping, upper body swinging, head shaking (gently - remember, this was a JAZZ show; there were families with their kids enjoying the performance; no moshing, please), eyes closed, mouth ooo and aaa and oh, yeah! He was totally arrhythmic - hard enough to stay in sync with the group when they're changing tempos at a moment's notice, but he wasn't even dancing in rhythm when the group was just going on a 4/4 bender. (I'm guessing there were 4/4 passages in the music - I'm no music theorist.) I doubt he cared one bit, though. Strange to see someone twice the age of me & my peers become so animated & involved with a performance so off-kilter, when I've been at shows where the crowd at a full-on rock show barely moves.

So - thoughts on dancing @ shows? I'm not looking so much for justifications on why / why not, but some viewpoints & ideas behind it. Is this common inertia the fault of a TV nation, bred to consume passively instead of actively participating in an experience? Should folks feel guilty for not dancing? What's inspired you to dance (if it has happened?) Comments, if you please.