# Where me and my classmates the only ones made to dance this in gym? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 6, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564 "2018-06-06T19:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/21 "2018-06-08T09:58:15Z")
God no, the thought of being forced to dance at school is enough to make me curl up and die. I hate dancing. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/22 "2018-06-08T15:29:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Square dancing, polka, Schottisch and even disco! But never heard of the Pata Pata. > > As I got older, I figured the dancing wasn’t so much about exercise as socializing us farm boys. You know, how to touch girls politely and interact in social situations. Like how “gym” used to be the place they’d teach sex ed, but in our case we had real sex ed (with both genders present) in a classroom. HA! I forgot all about the schottische! Our 9th grade dance lessons included that and the polka too. I had to refresh my memory on the schottische - one of the YouTube versions was way fancier than what we were taught. I did find a video of a more folksy version that was more like what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/23 "2018-06-08T16:56:59Z")
We also had a week of square dancing (but no other types of dance.) Makes me wonder how and why square dancing became a seemingly popular part of physical education (at least for a time-- I can’t imagine it’s still common in most parts of the country!) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/24 "2018-06-08T18:04:54Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > Midwest US, 1980s. Like so many others, I did square dancing, hated it, never understood why we were doing it. > > Unsurprisingly, it’s because of racism and anti-Semitism and Henry Ford. Pardon? I vaguely recall square dancing in grade school. It never occurred to me to question why at that age. They were teaching us base two math and Spanish. Adults were all insane back then. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/25 "2018-06-10T00:06:51Z")
Nope, that wasn’t on the rotation but it could have been. I loved all the dancing, square, round, you name it. One of the few P.E. segments that wasn’t about winning and losing, moving a ball around, and getting picked last. I think I won a square dancing award once even, although the memory is dim. My God, the schottische. It all comes back to me now. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/26 "2018-06-10T00:51:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Pardon?. Read this [America's wholesome square dancing tradition is a tool of white supremacy](https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/) And we only did square dancing, OP. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/27 "2018-06-10T01:02:10Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Read this [America's wholesome square dancing tradition is a tool of white supremacy](https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/) Interesting. I thought the appeal was dancing with almost no touching. The only adults I ever knew that square danced regularly were Jewish. I guess they didn’t get the word about jazz. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/28 "2018-06-10T01:57:34Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > In 6th grade (1973-1974) we did square dancing and had a blast. Then in 9th grade, we were taught the foxtrot, box step, and then to our amazement and glee… the Hustle!! Ahhh…someone about my age. 😃 We also learned the hora (not like this bunch of rural midwesterners would go to many Jewish weddings or bar mitzvas), polka, Schottische and even the troika, but not the pata pata. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/29 "2018-06-10T02:00:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Pardon? [Link](https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/). ETA: Oops, I see that has already been posted. Anyway, we had to take square dancing in primary school. My class even had to do it on stage for the school talent show. Had ot again in middle school in a music class. Never any dancing in gym. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/30 "2018-06-12T00:19:53Z")
At my suburban Detroit junior high, we learned the Hora and the Troika and the Tarantella. In high school, it was square dancing. So much damn square dancing that the teacher finally decided on her own to teach us tap dancing. I don’t remember the tap steps but I can still aleman left to my corner; because just because. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/31 "2018-06-12T01:47:12Z")
I never danced to the Pata Pata, but I’ve always _loved_ the song. We did the Go You Chicken Fat Go one, but it was dumb. We had a full semester of Modern Dance (think Martha Graham) and had to choreograph our own dances. We didn’t use music, but we did have some percussion pieces like drums and tambourines to work with. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot more fun than trying to play most team sports in about 40 minutes. The actual sports I liked were tennis and badminton. And I still have a wicked volleyball serve. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/32 "2018-06-12T01:53:46Z")
PA in the 60s and early 70s -------- Square and Polka was about all the dance in gym class. But as school dances were in the gym ------ I don’t know if you want to count them. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/33 "2018-06-12T01:57:44Z")
Mid 70s. We did the pata pata but no square dancing. West Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/34 "2018-06-12T10:28:38Z")
Also in music class, in middle school we had to do this thing where you jumped in and out of between two lengths of bamboo while two people holding the lengths attempted to crush your ankles. This–like square dancing–was deemed “entertainment.” Anyone else subjected to that? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/35 "2018-06-12T17:10:29Z")
For my fellow Americans, here’s a better idea of the [PataPata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Ajt3bEY4w). We didn’t have that dance, but I was a huge Miriam Makeba fangirl. It’s not unlike [The Hustle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZyQIh0sH5A), which, yes, we had to learn. Also the [Virginia Reel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeAUkvf58MI) and other square/contra dances. But my favorite was [Filipino Tinikling.](https://youtu.be/_WLfqDMwA_o?t=48) (Sadly, we kids referred to this as the “Filipino Polka.”) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/36 "2018-06-12T17:48:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also in music class, in middle school we had to do this thing where you jumped in and out of between two lengths of bamboo while two people holding the lengths attempted to crush your ankles. This–like square dancing–was deemed “entertainment.” Anyone else subjected to that? Now that you mention it, I do have vague recollections of doing this. You were supposed to hit the poles down on the ground twice and then slap them together in a distinct rhythm, trapping the dancer’s ankle without crushing your own fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/37 "2018-06-12T19:18:42Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also in music class, in middle school we had to do this thing where you jumped in and out of between two lengths of bamboo while two people holding the lengths attempted to crush your ankles. This–like square dancing–was deemed “entertainment.” Anyone else subjected to that? I do remember something like this. Only I don’t think the holders tried to catch you, you were supposed to do it in a certain rhythm. I think. Elementary school was long ago for me. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564/38 "2018-06-12T19:25:37Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > For my fellow Americans, here’s a better idea of the [PataPata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Ajt3bEY4w). We didn’t have that dance, but I was a huge Miriam Makeba fangirl. > > It’s not unlike [The Hustle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZyQIh0sH5A), which, yes, we had to learn. Also the [Virginia Reel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeAUkvf58MI) and other square/contra dances. But my favorite was [Filipino Tinikling.](https://youtu.be/_WLfqDMwA_o?t=48) (Sadly, we kids referred to this as the “Filipino Polka.”) [This was more like the one I learned.](https://youtu.be/FdMpOOjrRlQ) We added more than a butt bump. There was floor touching, two people ankle touching, undulations. . . we really tarted it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-me-and-my-classmates-the-only-ones-made-to-dance-this-in-gym/815564.md?page=1)