Sunday, July 8, 2018

Rock'n Roll in College

I learned ballroom dancing in the seventh grade. Sister Mary McCauley—a nun of the Sisters of Mercy order—hired someone to teach our class of 26. That same year we also learned how to square dance, which I greatly enjoyed. My problem with ballroom dancing was that I always wanted to take over the lead.

Given that and the bad case of acne I mentioned last week, I wasn’t popular at mixers when the ban played a waltz or foxtrot. I did have partners for the polka as I could throw myself into that dance with abandon, and the boys went along for the ride.

In college, I met a fellow freshman who’d had her own dance studio in high school. When I asked her to teach me to rock'n roll, she took on the challenge. With rock'n roll, I became a little more popular on the dancefloor. Of course, in the college I attended—a small library arts college for young women—we young women also danced together in the evening between study hall and lights out.



Our dorms were on the top floor of the ad building. A long hall—probably a couple of football fields long—extended down the center of the fourth floor, separating the various dorms. At night, we’d play music—loudly—and dance down that hall. Or, we’d push the beds and dressers in our dorms aside and have our own mixers. I slept in St. Lucy’s Dorm in which there were 48 beds—an enormous room. There we were, dressed in pajamas and robes just rockin’ and rollin’!

That continued throughout my freshman and sophomore years when we lived on the 4th floor. In my junior and senior years, we lived in private rooms for two or three in the various college houses. Sometimes all of us in one house would rock ‘n roll in the basement, but mostly that got left behind as we became more serious about studying. I didn’t go to the twin-college mixers because I was, quite simply, a wallflower.

In June 1958, I graduated and entered the convent. There was no dancing there and no phonographs on which to play dance records. Nor could we listen to the radio or television. The only music we heard was that of the liturgy. Of course, there was the melody of our chanting of the Divine Office several times a day.

At Mass, we sang a number of prayers. For Sunday Mass, the choir would sing a specially arranged song. The one I most remember was “Ubi Caritas,” which came to everyone’s attention in the early 1960s after a Benedictine priest—Father Paul Benoit—composed his melody for this ancient Latin antiphon. (Since then, many composers have set the words to their own melodies.)

Those of you who have had the opportunity to read my convent memoir, Prayer Wasn’t Enough, know that I daily disobeyed the convent traditions and rules by singing songs from the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s while I did my obediences—especially sorting the laundry. I was never reprimanded for this even though I’m quite sure the novice mistress knew I sang. Benedictines have always sung, and I don’t think she minded that my song wasn’t chant.




This video from YouTube shows that rock'n roll is still popular today!

Did you get a chance to rock ‘n roll? What was your favorite song to dance to?

Peace.

26 comments:

  1. I loved Rock and Roll dances when I was in high school. The administration and my parents weren't quite so sure about it. My brother was very good at it and the one and only time we danced together at a school dance, we put on quite a show doing the dance moves where then he pretended he was throwing a casting line for fishing and I'd dance in on the imaginary line and he pretended to reel the line in.

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    1. Dear Jean, my brother was also really good. I loved watching him dance to "Hound Dog" sung by Elvis. I can just see you and your brother at that dance. I remember the fishing line! Once one got the beat of the music, the feet just flew, didn't they! Peace.

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  2. Oh Yes---I certainly did. My boyfriend at the time and I were pretty good at it.. I was never a dancer. When I was young, Mom put me in a dancing class... I was the KLUTZ of the world. I hated it.... But --rock and roll was my thing!!!!

    As much as you loved music --I can only imagine how hard being in the convent must have been. I couldn't live without music... It's such a huge part of my life...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Dear Betsy, yes it was my thing also! Once I could really feel a beat--and with that music you did--then I could let go and just enjoy--not count the steps as with ballroom dancing.

      I did miss dancing and music in the convent. Even now, at 82, I find myself putting on music in the kitchen and dancing around the table--it's in the middle of the room--to slow or fast music as a soup bubbles away on the stove. The cats just hurry away; they don't want their tails stepped on! Peace.

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  3. When I read your memoir, I remember thinking how structured the nuns' daily lives are. And for someone with a rock-n-roll soul, you were definitely mismatched. :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, yes, a nun's life then was totally structured--all done with the ringing of a bell. I don't think I ever thought of myself as having a rock-n-roll soul--I'm loving that--but as I spent about 3 hours today watching video it all came back and the old body started to move! Oh the beat! Peace.

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  4. The Rride of Erin is the only dance I can remember from my school days. You can see it here
    Later I did enjoy moving (not sure it was dancing) to the beat of Rock and Roll.

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    1. Dear Sue, oh, thanks so much for the link to the Australian dance. Is it a dance that comes from Celtic settlers? Irish and Scottish? I so like the stateliness of it. It's totally different from the jiving and jittering of rock-n-roll, but the music just enters in and sounds, to me, so nostalgic. I'd like to see you dance that--with a special dress. Peace.

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  5. I used to go to school dances right before rock & roll became popular. New Orleans jazz was popular in Stockholm then and there were many bands that played at the dances. My favorite song was called High Society. It has a great clarinet solo and I seemed to always have crushes on the clarinet players.

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    1. Dear Inger, although jazz originated here in the United States, I really not listened to it until a friend introduced me to the recording a several really well-known jazz musicians. that must have been when I was in my forties. I'm going to go to youtube and look to see if the site has "High Society" so I can listen to that "great clarinet solo."

      I never got crushed on those who played the instruments, but I did on the singers! Peace.

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  6. I have always wanted to learn to ballroom dance but I have not yet found a willing partner. It looks like so much fun. But then again, I am terribly uncoordinated so maybe it’s best I stay a spectator.

    Do you have pictures of you dancing?

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    1. Dear Birdie, I don't have a picture of me dancing, but I wore the poodle skirt and the sweater set and had the ponytail and the white anklets and saddle shoes--just like in the video here on this blog!

      Ballroom dancing is a little too staid for me and I didn't enjoy it much because I tended to lead and the boys didn't like that. But rock-n-roll was so much fun. That and the polka. I bet you'd do fine wth both of them--you just listen for the beat and move the body! Peace.

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  7. I did enjoy dancing to Rock and Roll, but was/am no good at dancing. Too tall and gangley and don't know how to follow.

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    1. Dear Judy, thanks for stopping by. I was sort of gangly also and I always wanted to lead in ballroom, but in rock-n-roll it seemed to me that the beat did the leading! Peace.

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  8. Iwas only at a couple of dances when it hit me that itbwas not my tjing. I felt unwanted. I ended up joining a girl friend whose parent went to an ethnic club and there I danced with pride and joy all sorts of dances. Rock and roll came after university. And singing was my way of coping as well.

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    1. Dear Heidrun, it's wonderful that you were in the ethnic club. I bet you learned so many dances from so many cultures. How many do you remember? Please look at Elephant Child's comment. She left a link and there you can see an ethnic dance in Australia. Like you, I coped by singing. Peace.

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  9. I loved to dance and when rock and rolling with my girlfriends, I always tended to lead. This became a problem during the occasional times I was asked to dance by a boy. I still dance and I still lead.

    My children and grandchildren were shocked when I told them that many colleges were single sex when I was growing up. Of course, most of them were Catholic or had a religious affiliation.

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    1. Dear Arleen, yes, I led also. It may be a sign that I'm a really controlling person!!! Yes, many colleges were single sex and we girls met the guys at mixers and football games. I think my problem with boys was not only that I was shy and had acne but that I felt just a little superior to them. Drat my pride! Peace.

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  10. Loved rock and roll. There were few prescribed steps and as long as you kept the beat--you were good. I still sometimes put on a tune and dance around the house. Great exercise.

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    1. Dear Patti, like you, I dance around in the kitchen. The cats get out of the way, protecting their tails! Finding that beat just makes the body move doesn't it! Peace.

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  11. What you call rock & roll dancing I call jitterbugging. And it was great fun!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, I use those two terms interchangeably. The difference for me, I think, is that with jitterbugging there was the almost throwing a girl over a boy's shoulders and I never was able to do that--so I think of myself as a rock-n-roller! Peace.

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  12. Love your posts, you have great recall and story telling talent. I love all music, but especially rock and roll. My husband and I enjoy concerts often. I admire such talent. I love that I share a birthday with Robin Trower.

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    1. Dear Nawm, I've always had a good memory, but as I age I'm remembering the past better than the present! I'm glad to discover another blogger who loved rock-n-roll! Have a good week. Peace.

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  13. Those were such innocent times...or it looks like it to "modern" eyes.

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    1. Dear Sandi, they do look innocent, but I can remember that we were deeply concerned about a nuclear attack. People were building bomb shelters in their back yards. Peace.

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