Men dancing with men. Reminds me of a story I once told about such activity among Korean soldiers in Vietnam. That’s not a hijack, is it?
Alright, Shade, I’ll play.
Tonight – 1.
Overall – probably between 6 and 10.
I’ve done some ballroom, but mostly do swing and country partner dances – Two Step, West Coast Swing, Cha-Cha, Hustle (usually seen as part of the swing realm), Waltz, and others.
Now before anybody gets a slack-jawed look and says “Whut? Guys dancing with guys in country?!” – while most people at country bars would probably not react well, it’s not a big deal at all on the circuit of competition events around the country (and around the world).
The best dancers can do both lead and follow – male and female. In fact, it’s still more common to see women leading other women. I’m still working at following better on several of the dances.
The dance group where I am had a dance tonight – got a friend (male) to lead me in Two Step (which I can follow pretty well) and West Coast. I led him in one also. He’s much more hesitant about dancing with another guy at the club where everybody goes on Friday night, though – figuring he’d get too much of a “Redneck” reaction – although that club is much more “college kid” than “redneck”. Personally, I wouldn’t care that much.
In our culture, it’s unseemly for women to dance with men. It’s very, very common for men to dance with men, and women to dance with women.
If a man and a woman dances, they must have a close relationship (sibling, spouse, child, parent, etc.) or else the dancing would be seriously frowned upon and the woman disgraced.
This is, of course, in public settings where most or all people are of the same culture. Clubvs and other “Western” places are a different matter all together.
Anecdote: a cousin was at an uncle’s house, and everyone was dancing. A few minutes later, an uncle closed the drapes. My cousin, who was new in the country, asked him why. The uncle explained that people would look in and, seeing the men dancing with men, think they’re gay. (This uncle also told my cousin that the American government has a mandatory sex-change operation - paid for by the state - for gay people.)
WRS
While I am female and therefore unable to address the question in the OP, I would like to say that without knowing the first thing about Shade and Pete, I have a minor crush on both of them. Guys who are confident, secure, and willing to break a few taboos are sexy.
None.
Score! Take that, people who say dancing with a man is pointless!
Just kidding. But yes, one of the reasons is I’m naturally uncomfortable with it, and I want to fight against being narrow minded like that.
I would reciprocate your crush but while men are ok, I draw the line at animals. Especially spikey ones 
Oh, fine – ChoppedLiverMonstre here. 
And Shade…
That’s how I read it first, too – and wondered what a porcupine had to fret about.
On my 21st birthday my friend Darrin gave me a lapdance. He was too cheap pay for a stripper to do it. Does that count?
On occiasion I’ve danced with some of my guy friends just to be funny, but never in a serious “Dance for the sheer joy of dancing” way. I don’t enjoy dancing for the sake of dancing. When I do dance (rarely, poorly) I do so because I enjoy being close to women undulating seductivly in time to the music Also I very rarely go to dance clubs because I really don’t like the club/house/whatever music most dance clubs play. Though I have been thinking about taking classes for swing or ballroom dancing.
The other time I’ve danced with other men was at a company xmas party a couple of years ago when I worked for a smallish ISP. The (male) owner was big into ballroom (and other) dancing and thought it’d be a great idea to hire a couple of dance instructers he knew to give lessons to us at the party. Out of ten employees there was only one (married) woman. Of the remaining 9 male employees only three of us had SO’s to bring along. So the six single, awkward, drunken single geeks had to partner up for the lessons. Hilarity ensued.
Porpentines are spiky animals too, it’s just that they are Elizabethan ones and therefore much cooler.
More than 2, less than 6… it’s hard to remember as usually alcohol was involved. In most of the cases it was a wedding receptions (my brother in law and my best man would account for a couple of the dances) or some other situation where we were amongst friends (or at least the dickheads were vastly outnumbered). It was done for fun, a laugh and for a chance to shock the easily shocked.
To specifically answer some of Shade’s other questions…
**Did anyone ask if you were gay? They didn’t ask me
Am I odd? Yeah… but geez, come on. There are far odder things to do.
Am I repressing something (irony)? If I’m repressing something, I’ve even managed to hide it from myself.
For that matter have you ever asked a man to dance? Yeah, but not a stranger
Did you get punched? No
I’ve danced with one man, and only a few more women … of course, that’s mostly because I dance like a bulldozer on ice …
Presumably, there MUST be some straight males who actually enjoy dancing in and of itself, but I’ve never met one.
For most men, dancing is one of many things you just HAVE to grit your teeth and endure if you want a woman in your life.
Have I danced to please a girlfriend/spouse? Sure.
Have I gone to a Kenny G concert to please a girlfriend/spouse? Natch.
Have I endured weepy chick flicks like “Beaches” to please a girlfriend/spouse? Of course.
But I NEVER got the slightest enjoyment out of doing any of those things!
Now, I can’t conceive of any straight man calling up a buddy and saying, “Hey, wanna go see the Kenny G concert?” Nor can I imagine any straight male friends asking me if I’d like to accompany them to a new Meg Ryan movie. And THAT’S about the equivalent of another man asking me to dance with him.
I forget the name of ther comedian from whom I’m stealing this line, but…
“Men hate dancing. We DO it because we think there’s a small chance that it might lead to sex. But if we LIKED dancing, we’d do it with other guys, wouldn’t we?”
Seriously? I mean, asking someone to dance, learning to dance, making a fool of yourself, dancing with someone you don’t like or doesn’t like you, etc, can be painful. But pressing each other together and moving in unison is about the best thing that can happen to people before they know each other’s names You can even have conversation at the same time, if you want.
“The vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music.” --George Bernard Shaw. See, I can quote too. (Yours was funnier though.)
General PS. Let’s include dancing with a man just for the humour value. Why not.
General PPS. I was joking about ‘repressing something’ I just knew someone’d kae that joke and wanted to first if so. To quote someone or other “So I shouldn’t worry?”/“Not based on that, let us say.”
Well, yes that’s a rather nice bonus.
However, I won’t be doing that kind of dancing with men.
Lots of men like to dance!!! Loads of them!
But you have to go to a real country bar, or a square dance to find them. Try looking into the halls, schools, and bars in the small towns of Nebraska, etc. Obviously you are not into the country music or square dancing scene. Men even like to dance with their wives after decades of marraige! If a woman can learn to like country music, she can dance her life away. You would be amazed at how many men, all ages, love country and square dancing, better than golf, bowling, or whatever for them. There are thousands of square dance clubs and events all over the country. Go to a square dance store and get a directory of clubs, schools, and events. (dont see any men dancing with men though)
Yeah, I never a man and a woman couldn’t get something extra out of dancing
We should probably start another thread “where is good dancing in your country.” FTR I’m in england, and have tried ballroom, which is doing ok in cambridge, but seems dying everywhere else, and Salsa, which seems more popular. Salsa also has the advantage you can translate it into a club scenario, and is slightly less strict about needing a couple. I’ve never managed to do anything but jerk irrythmicly in a club, so I don’t count that.
What else has anyone found?
At squaredances? I’ve seen plenty of men danging with men at squaredances.
Julie
Actually, we think it is pointless to dance with women too, unless there’s a good chance it will get us laid…
To answer the OP: zero.
If I ever have a son, one thing I will tell him is that if you want to double or triple you chance of getting any action with the fairer sex… ya gotta dance.
I’m not big on the organized-type dancing (Ballroom, Salsa, Square) but if I’m seeing a good rock n’ roll band (Detroit Cobras or The Sadies for instance)… I’ll dance, hell yeah. On the other hand, a team of super models would have a tough time dragging me out on the floor for any Abba, disco or “dance music”.
BTW Astorian, I wouldn’t sit through Beaches or a Kenny G concert to save my (sex) life. If you dance occasionally, you don’t have to.
"Presumably, there MUST be some straight males who actually enjoy dancing in and of itself, but I’ve never met one."
I like dancing. In clubs, bars and as Susanann suggested, country places.
Since there always seems to be an over abundance of women at such places, I’ve never danced with another male.