Dance at Youth Group?

Ambient · 03-04-2011, 12:14 AM

Hey guys, so I am currently in High School, and I am tired of the music that gets played during school dances. It mainly consists of songs that encourage doing drugs, getting money, spending money, and having sex. Seeing all of my friends grinding and calling it "dancing" makes me sick.

I have recently gotten into other Dance genres such as House/Electronic/Trance, which are all sub-genres of Techno. I would like to host a dance/rave at my Youth Group, because it is nearly impossible to grind to Techno (it's too fast), and I think dances could actually be FUN if everybody was just having a blast and enjoying themselves without grinding. It also might be a great outreach opportunity!

Only problem is that, due to the negative connotations of dances (grinding/drugs), my Youth Pastor doesn't think that having a dance techno stlye would go down well. What do you guys think?

-Spencer

Jfool · 03-04-2011, 12:37 AM

Tell him exactly what you said here. If he still says no, then honor his answer.

Ethan.Bassist. · 03-04-2011, 01:04 AM

I think it'd be cool. I'll say that you'd be surprised to what people can grind to. But it sounds fun, mix in some dubstep though, dubstep rocks my socks off!!! I never danced much at the couple of school dances I went to with a girl. We mainly just stood with friends and talked until the slow songs when we danced. I don't know how much drugs there are at school dances either. Do you have a decent ratio of guys to girls at your youth group? Because if there is one on one dancing, it would suck if you had 30 guys and 5 girls. But if you get enough people there, to where it is packed out and people are just dancing, then I suppose there's no problem there.

As long as it is properly chaperoned, you should be fine. If you have the kind of youth group that will go for that, go ahead and talk to your y.p about it!

Quintan · 03-04-2011, 01:34 AM

My youth group has actually done something similar to that for new years. It was pretty successful and surprisingly better than any school dance I had ever been to. There is the possibility of kids who will still wanna grind but that's what responsible adults are there for right? Anyway if you guys are doing techno type stuff then just have kids focus on shuffling and stuff like that, you know? And when you present your idea to your yp try to not use the word "rave"or anything else that could sound questionable. Good luck!

jthomas1600 · 03-04-2011, 04:27 AM

It's a sin to dance.

jthomas1600 · 03-04-2011, 04:33 AM

I thought about leaving that post up for a few hours just to see the crazy responses to it.

I think an alternative to the high school dance scene might be nice. I do tend to agree with your pastor though that it could be problematic from a logistical stand point. The line between just dancing and bumping and grinding is pretty fine. I for one don't envy the "responsible parents" having police said activity. Of course from youth group to youth group no two would be the same. For some this might work great. Good luck, let us know if it happens and how it goes.

bobthecockroach · 03-04-2011, 06:04 AM

Just as a cognitive exercise (you are in school after all, you should be focused on learning, right?), count how many people are "grinding" and how many aren't. Almost all statements about the sexual activity (in whatever form it takes) of high school students are overstated. Everyone in high school has the impression that everyone else in high school is kissing/making out/having sex, but in reality, the numbers are much lower than "everyone." You may find things aren't as bad as you think.

Eggbertx · 03-04-2011, 07:34 AM

I dunno, I graduated last year and I remember at my dances there was a huge mob of bumpers/grinders

magical spatula · 03-04-2011, 07:40 AM

I personally think you should just have a Herbie Hancock/deadmau5/Daft Punk/Ratatat party and do the robot all night

Eggbertx · 03-04-2011, 08:37 AM

Everybody walk the dinosaur!

**thesteve** · 03-04-2011, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magical spatula

I personally think you should just have a Herbie Hancock/deadmau5/Daft Punk/Ratatat party and do the robot all night

Along these lines, I think it's important for a youth group dance to incorporate different styles of music than just techno. There is tons of danceable music out there that isn't about "doing drugs, getting money, spending money, and having sex." If you get an experienced DJ for the dance they should be able to set up their play list to cater to your group.

The reality is that if you're playing techno to a bunch of kids that aren't familiar with that style of music, it's going to go over poorly because you're not catering to what they want to hear. You're catering to what you want to hear.

jthomas1600 · 03-04-2011, 11:10 AM

You know, I can actually see more disagreement and issues with this than "movie night at the church". Maybe this is part of your pastors concern. Anybody with some experience in these matters have an estimate of how much it would cost to host a dance? A lot of towns have community centers, a room at the YMCA or something that can be rented pretty cheap. Maybe one option for you would be to find a couple of parents that would help put something together for you that would be independent of your church.

bobthecockroach · 03-04-2011, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambient

It also might be a great outreach opportunity!

Outreach involves reaching out. If you want outreach, go to those in need.

bowstaff981 · 03-04-2011, 11:27 AM

People have alternatives to dances all the time. They're called parties.

Based on my experiences in youth groups the problem with this is that no matter what occurs there will be a person that has a complaint with it. What one person perceives as just dancing and having fun is perceived as sin by others. Parents will be heavily judging an event like this. Somebody isn't going to like it and it's going to be pretty impossible for the youth pastor to come away unscathed from the event. So in his or her mind it is probably better to just avoid something like this.

Throw a party, they are fun.

Ambient · 03-05-2011, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quintan

Anyway if you guys are doing techno type stuff then just have kids focus on shuffling and stuff like that, you know?

What?!?!?! You know what the Melbourne Shuffle is!!!!!! Well I'm glad I'm not the only one

That's so awesome that you know what that is... because I made a tutorial video of how to do it just so that my friends could know how to do it for when I DJ.

Latest news that I got a couple of days ago is that I can DJ for my school's Grub Tolo, which is just gonna be a bunch of people dressed in white with black lights! I know some of my friends have come up to me and showed me that they learned how to do it from my video, so that's good news! Maybe if the school dance goes well, my youth pastor will let me host one at the Youth Group

Check it out:

YouTube - Melbourne Shuffle