|
Katherine Newton (Courtland) (1968)
Good morning! June 26, 2020. About DANCING!!! Wow, thanks for the photo of Domed Shadows, Judy Maxwell! Also enjoyed about the Larry Kane posts and the figs too! You are a group with many talents and stories!! More thoughts on the Domed Shadows: When I went dancing there with a group of SHHS gals in 1967-68, we were the only ones from SHHS who went there and most of our classmates never even heard of it. I was surprised to learn later on here that classes behind me continued the tradition. There were not many popular night clubs that let in underage. We only ordered coke or Dr Pepper though, never tried to get alcohol, but most of the patrons were 21 and up, many who came to Houston for events at the Astrodome. We dressed up with a lot of makeup in heels, hose and dressy dresses to look older. I think they winked at our young age as females, and would not allow same age guys inside. Amazing my parents thought we dressed that way for a movie but even the movies were more of an 'occasion" than now. (Remember the fancy old theaters downtown and the Alabama Theater on West Alabama?) Anyway, for an update on the Domed Shadows, we had been living in Alabama for the 1990s and were transferred back home to Houston in 2001. We bought a home very close to Rice Univ and Rice Village where I spent my early years, so I frequently drove down Buffalo Speedway near Main St for various shopping outings. I could not believe the Domed Shadows was still standing! It looked pretty rough and was renamed a Hispanic name but it WAS there! They finally tore it down around 2007. Only if those walls could talk! Another very interesting nightclub I attended after high school days but while I was still underage, was the Cinder Club! It was 98% Black with fantastic music and we only felt safe going there with dates as a good sized group. The Cinder Club was near U of H, not far from Dowling St in the black neighborhood. They had good sized black bands, almost orchestra quality but played fabulous music like Heard it Thru the Grapevine, Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, Brick House, Chubby Checker twist music, Elvis stuff, etc. As had been a longstanding tradition at Roberts Elem on Greenbriar, I took ballroom dance along with my whole Elementary class in the 6th grade.. We moved to the North side when Mom remarried Geo. Cornell who owned a tax business at Roxella and E Hardy St. and I attended Fonville. Anyway the year of lessons kind of stuck with me like riding a bike. In the 1990s, even though we were in our late 40s, we began to take ballroom dance lessons with a group of friends in Birmingham, AL. Hubby was amazed when an advanced dancer asked me to dance and I could follow him on most of his complicated steps in the swing, rhumba and fox trot (similar to country 2 step). Our 2 kids were going off to college soon and this gave us a whole new hobby and new friends to enjoy every weekend. Thus we began to dance every weekend, at least 50 weeknds ever year for about 25 years now. We have even found places to dance in Paris, Venice, London, Hawaii, and Dubai, and then dancing almost every night on cruises. When dancing in Paris, an older gentleman sat at our table in the balcony, drank both of our drinks, waved and moved on! Europe played mostly American rock and roll but did not respect the line of dance as in most ballroom over here. When we returned to Houston after 15 years in Alabama, it took a little while to discover the underground ballroom dance world. There were actually about 6 formal ballroom dance private membership clubs in 2001-2008, but now I think there are only 2 or 3 left. We danced at great venues: the Petroleum Club, the Downtown Club, River Oaks CC, the Rice Hotel where we had our SHHS Prom. Hubby and I became coPresidents of Houston's oldest club, The Quadrille, created by returning WW2 soldiers who desired to continue the Officers' Balls they had in the Military. We had 5 lovely balls per year at the gorgeous Houston Country Club off Woodway. Nothing like waltzing to nice orchestra music all dressed up in flowing gowns and tuxes, with everyone knowing how to weave in and out of the crowd. We were just social dancers, never competition quality, but absolutely enjoyed it immensely! In between the formal dances, we danced weekends at the St Regis hotel near the Galleria or a piano bar called "Capps", a great old dive where Frank Sinatra's former driver hung out and the band had a singer from Archie Bell and the Drells! (The Tighten Up song) Those two places are still great venues for live music as far as I know. As the dancers aged, the clubs have slowly folded, and one of the few that still exists is The River Oaks Dance Club which held most of their balls at the newer Petroleum Club with a lovely downtown Houston view. Returning to Birmingham for retirement, they have the same struggle with most of their private ballroom groups closing due to age and not as many young people join. Studies have shown ballroom lead and follow dance is the absolute best sport for your brain, better than walking, swimming, golf, etc. Dancers show less dementia than average. So, after 25 years of dancing from 1 to 5 times in a week, the Pandemic has ground us to a halt with no dancing since Feb 1st. We miss the dancing and our dance friends so much. We should practice some at home, but it just makes me sad as we do not know when it will ever feel safe to host or attend a dance again. Wish more of our young people enjoyed dancing like we did in high school. I think many just stand around a bar with music and drink. Many community or senior centers offer dance lessons, so maybe consider them if we ever end this Pandemic! Usually one trades off, so a partner is not needed for the lessons.
|
