'Dance Like Grandma's Watching': High schools nationwide crack down on ... - New York Daily News

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BY Rosemary Black
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, February 16th 2010, 4:28 PM

High-school dances are coming under scrutiny by administrators who are tired of students engaging in grinding or freak dancing.

And the measures they’re taking to squelch the sexy dance moves range from having the kids sign contracts, threatening to turn up the lights, play Burt Bacharach and even starting a “Dance Like Grandma’s Watchin’ ” campaign, according to an msnbc.com report.

“The sexual nature of the dancing just seemed to be increasing,” the school’s principal, Charles Salter, told msnbc.com, and the problem was not unique to his high school. “One school found condoms on the floor,” he added.

After Salter canceled dances several years ago because of the grinding, the contracts were implemented. They’ve had a big impact since then, he says.

New York City has no plans to implement any formal measures at high-school dances, says Ann Forte, spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education. But at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, the principal initiated a campaign entitled “Dance Like Grandma’s Watchin’ ” in hopes of discouraging provocative forms of dancing among the students.

The idea, principal David Adney told msnbc.com, is that even though teens may be unconcerned about annoying their parents, they do care about what a grandmother thinks.

Adney’s campaign uses videos to make the point. In one, a student doesn’t get admitted to Harvard due to a citation for grinding. In another, a bandaged student looks upset after a “grinding accident.”

Adney told msnbc.com that his campaign has persuaded kids to stop freak dancing without him needing to come down a lot harder on them.

“It’s about creating a culture of respect and inclusion,” he says.

Many parents say sexuality is so omnipresent in the media today that it’s hard to keep kids from pushing the envelope, according to msnbc.com. Case in point: Adam Lambert simulating oral sex at the American Music Awards last fall. And sexting by cell phone and on social networking sites like Facebook is ever more common.

But dancing provocatively doesn’t necessarily mean kids are having sex, says Dr. Leslie Seppinni.

“I’d rather have kids at a high-school dance taking their frustrations out on the dance floor than going behind your back and having sex,” she says. “Kids want to get out there and express their style, their sexuality. As long as there are monitors at the dances and boys and girls aren’t going into the bathroom together, I think it’s okay.”

And, she adds, it is difficult to keep a teen from being exposed to all the sexy dancing by the stars these days. “Dance is huge these days and the dances are more suggestive because the videos are more suggestive,” Seppinni says. “There are worse things than dancing provocatively. I think parents have to pick their battles.”

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