Thank you, Cupid.
No, not the sadistic, weapon-wielding cherub. I’m talking about the guy who delivered the masterpiece known as “The Cupid Shuffle” to the world last year. I never thought much of the song, other than the fact that the dance was a newer, hip version of the Electric Slide. It even includes a little “Walk It Out” segment to show you how modern it is.
Why do I like the song so much, even after a year? Because it’s funny to watch people avoid the dance floor, a few of them jiggling around on the perimeter because they’re too sober and self-conscious to dance. And then, I play the Shuffle and the dance floor fills up as if people were waiting for something to give them permission to dance.
Apparently, a song with instructions done by dozens of other people is okay to dance to, despite its simplistic beat and lyrics. But even the instructions apparently aren’t specific enough for people to understand. To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right. Now kick…
I don’t understand how people can mess up going to the right when the guy is telling you to go to the right. ”Walk it by yourself” is a little confusing for people that don’t know how to walk it out. I think doing the Twist for that turn is acceptable, but I always end up seeing people just doing a 90-degree turn when they realize that everyone around them is facing a different direction.
I can’t dance. Not well. Okay, a little bit. But it only took me a couple of rotations to figure out how to do the dance. And that was watching the 4″ tall video on my computer. If someone is doing it right in front of you, it seems like it would be easy to pick it up, but instead people are stopping and staring at the feet in front of them, going left when the loud voice from the big black boxes says, “to the right.”
And the people that do seem to go in the correct direction don’t seem to put any style into it. Just simple shuffle steps, single kicks, no upper body movement. I have vague memories of line dancing from the few country music videos that MTV used to play and it seems to look like that most of the time. It looks like they’re really concentrating on the steps instead of feeling the music and letting their bodies flow.
It’s entertaining. It used to bother me that people couldn’t do such a simple dance, but it’s really entertaining now. I like to play all the big new songs and watch people hesitate to hit the dance floor, and then throw this year-old song at them to watch them fill the floor and screw up the instructions. I highly recommend playing it to a large group of, um, rhythmically-challenged people. It’ll make your night.
rhythmically-challenged…heh heh. One of the most hilarious nights I’ve ever had out on the town was in Greenville at this cheesy club called “Chiefs”, where the majority of the crowd inside seemed to be the bleached blonde, tanning-bed-baked divorcee type, squeezed into jeans and halter tops. But MAN, when the Cupid Shuffle came on! All these chicks hotfooted it to the dance floor to do their little white-girl moves. And of course, all the half-drunk guys who had been standing by the bar hoping that one of the gals would come stand by them to order a drink (”Heeeeeyyyy, pretty lady. Can I get that for you?”), were out there trying gamely to imitate. It was depressing on a level that I didn’t know existed.
Why do you have to pick on the rhythmically challenged. Not all people can feel/catch the rhythm as easily as others, so if you actually have to stop & listen to get the rhythm then it makes it hard to follow instructions & get the rhythm. I happen to love this song for some reason but I never mastered the electric slide (for some reason it was too hard) even though they taught it in elementary school from 1st-5th grade in gym class (I guess they were trying to make gym fun). Some things that is realitively easy for others can be quite difficult for the rest. Not to mention, to the right, to the right… which way is right? That can get in the way too. Sometimes watching someone “walk it out” in a dark bar can be rather difficult, especially when you see something taking place in front of you but when you try to do it it just doesn’t work out quite like you think it should. You apparently aren’t rhythmatically challenged at all, I can tell if you can learn from watching a little bitty box on your computers. MTV has these cool things on demand where they show you how to do some dances. I watched & tried for over 2 hours one day. I still can’t figure it out. So why do you have to
Your comments got cut off, but in response to what came through:
I admitted that the “walk it out” is something that is confusing. It’s something that you can either pick up easily or that you have to work at. It’s not easy.
The post is more about the fact that people refuse to get on the dance floor until this song plays, then they get excited even though they don’t really know the dance. I don’t understand why songs with better beats don’t get people excited and ready to dance. It’s a simplistic song with a structured dance, which, in way is harder to dance to than a song with layered beats that you can freestyle to.