The Fast Decline of the Slow Dance

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Judging from teen dramas on Netflix, the slow dance seems to be alive and well. But when you talk to actual teens, it’s clear this time-honored tradition is on life support. In this episode, we trace the history of slow dancing from its origins in partner dances like the waltz to the modern “zombie sway” seen at middle-school dances and high-school proms. Plus, former slow dancers offer up stiff-armed, nostalgia-soaked stories about a rite of passage that’s fading fast. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. This episode was edited by Zakiya Gibbons. Derek John is executive producer. Joel Meyer is senior editor/producer. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Thank you to Benjamin Frisch and Carlos Pareja. Special thanks to everyone who shared their slow dancing stories, including Ralph Giordano, Matt Baume, Meryl Bezrutczyk, Ari Feldman, Ava Canade, Eileen Zheng, and Harper Kois. Here’s the article by Kyle Denis that we mentioned in the episode: The Death of the Slow Dance? How the One-Time Rite of Passage Has Evolved for Gen Z. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends. If you’re a fan of the show, we’d love for you to sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring without any ads. Their support is also crucial to our work. So please go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, we are ready.
0:08.6	Jordan Armstead lives in New York City.
0:11.0	I am 16 years old.
0:13.2	I called her up to pick her brain about a topic I'd gotten curious about.
0:17.7	When I say like slow dance to you, what do you imagine?
0:21.3	I imagine like a very old-fashioned like, I'm going to marry this man of slow dance.
0:27.8	She also imagines scenes from movies and television.
0:37.4	These scenes present the slow dance as a right of passage, a pinnacle of connection, the
0:42.4	perfect moment.
0:44.1	And Jordan can only picture them because she's never slow danced herself.
0:48.4	So unfortunately I am a slow dance virgin.
0:51.9	I've never been as the dance ball board.
0:56.4	I really am exposing myself here.
0:59.2	When I was Jordan's age, I'd only slow danced a few times.
1:02.1	Once was at summer camp with the first boy I ever kissed.
1:04.9	It was a whole stereotypical teen slow dance thing.
1:08.6	My hands on his shoulders, his hands on my waist, close together, awkwardly rocking
1:13.2	back and forth.
1:14.8	And way more than the swaying itself, I remember looking around, watching everyone.
1:20.0	My eyes darting completely outside whatever magical moment I was supposed to be having.
1:27.8	I can't say that I loved it, but it did make me feel like I'd checked off some teenage
1:32.2	life experience box.
	...

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