Sock Hops

Only enough lights shine to light walking areas. The place is crowded with teens, some on the floor and others sitting in groups in the bleachers. A band is set up under the far basketball goal, and their limited repertoire contains most of the favorites of the age group. On Friday night after a ball game in the 60’s, teens spent the rest of the evening at sock-hops.

For steady couples, a sock-hop was a time to be with friends and fill up an evening for just a little money. Most of the guys couldn’t dance, but they knew to give it their best efforts in order to please girlfriends. The Jerk, Watusi, Pony, and twist were just some of the popular dance performed to varying degrees of success during the night. Bodies gyrated and arms swung, sometimes so wildly that they swatted others, during faster tempo songs. The air of the gym filled with a mixture of sweat, Wind Song or Wood Hue that girls dabbed on necks and wrists, and English Leather or Jade East in which boys had bathed. Males stood in place and moved only as little as was necessary to appease their dates and to avoid future teasing by friends. These guys weren’t to be pitied because every third song or so, the music changed and a slow dance started. Couples danced and melted together with only minimal movement. It was the perfect balance of high energy and young-love emotions.

If a guy couldn’t get a date for the dance, he attended “stag.” Upon entering the gym, he peered through the dark until friends were located. Then the boy joined the group as they sat three or four rows up on the bleachers. There they told jokes, punched each other, looked over the available girls at the other end of the bleachers, and dared each another to ask a young damsel to dance. Eventually, a brave male would take the dare and make the long trip to where the gaggle of girls was located. Most often, the strutting male would make it only two-thirds of the way before turning around and high-tailing himself back to the safety and harassment of his friends. Once in a while, a boy would make the entire trip, ask a girl to dance, and then return thoroughly humiliated at having been “shot out of the saddle.” But guys continued the ritual because they’d heard stories of others who’d actually asked a girl to dance and she’d said yes, and the two became a couple. Each held out hope that he could be so fortunate.

Sock-hops disappeared sometime; I don’t remember just when. It’s for sure that kids today are missing out on something specials. Those dances were times when kids solidified friendships. They marked times when the joy of love and the excruciating pain of break-ups were experienced. As much as anything, those get-togethers allowed teens a chance to mature a little in a safe place. Guys learned the steps of “courting” until they no longer acted like silly freshmen boys. Girls came to realize the power that they held over what was supposed to be “the stronger sex.”

Do kids dance today? I’m not sure. If they do, it might be alone or with a Wii or some other game control in their hands. Something’s missing when a partner isn’t a part of the equation. Sometimes I wish that good things from the past could return for today’s youth. I bet they’d enjoy a sock-hop.