By John ‘Butch’ Dale
Guest Columnist

“Well, you can rock it you can roll it, You can stop and you can stroll it at the hop; When the record starts spinnin’, You chalypso when you chicken at the hop; Do the dance sensation that is sweepin’ the nation at the hop.”

John ‘Butch’ Dale

Remember that song by Danny and the Juniors? Yes, they were singing about those wonderful “sock hops” back in the 1950s and 1960s. And if you have no idea what I am referring to, why … you just aren’t “cool.”

A sock hop was an informal dance held at high schools, usually in the gymnasium or cafeteria, and most commonly after a boys basketball game. The school administrators required that hard-soled shoes be removed to protect the varnished floor. The kids chose their favorite vinyl records to play … either 45 or 33 rpm, and sometimes a designated student would act as the disc jockey, although on rare occasions there might be a live band.

Sock hops had been around since the 1940s, but really caught on in the mid-1950s when rock-and-roll music ruled the airwaves. When the TV show “American Bandstand,” with host Dick Clark, went nationwide in 1957, sock hops became even more popular.

When I was in the seventh grade in 1961, our school sponsored Arthur Murray Dance Lessons for all interested students. Very few of us boys wanted to attend, but our parents thought it would be good if we learned how to dance. The married couple who taught us looked to be quite elderly. Instead of teaching us the latest dance steps, we learned the “polka,” “waltz,” “fox trot,” “cha-cha-cha,” “tango,” “square dance,” “swing” … and even the “hokey-pokey”! But I will admit it was somewhat fun.

That same year, after the ballgames, Dad let me stay and watch the high school boys and girls dance to rock-and-roll records in the gym. Very few boys danced to the fast songs, but almost all danced with their girlfriends to the slow songs, with a simple two-step … just rocking back and forth.

By the time I was a freshman, I was pretty sure I could handle Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet” or Andy Williams’ “Moon River,” but I didn’t have the courage to potentially embarrass myself by dancing to the fast beat songs. I decided that I might try the “stroll” if my buddies did, but if my high school basketball heroes did not dance the “hully-gully,” the “twist,” the “mashed potato,” the “pony,” the “watusi,” the “monster mash,” or the “swim,” why should I?

However, something strange occurred in high school … I had a girlfriend. I discovered that girls want their boyfriends to dance with them. Yes, I did the “twist,” the “loco-motion,” the “hitch-hike,” the “monkey,” and the “jerk.” And yes, I likely looked like a fool out there on the gym floor. But you do what you have to do. My Lord, I even did the “bunny hop” on a few occasions! I had decided that if my teachers could do that dance and make a fool out of themselves, I might as well, too.

Sock-hops were a regular event after each home ballgame. We hit the gym floor in our socked feet and danced our hearts out to the newest songs, along with our favorite older songs … swinging and swirling each other around, performing various crazy gyrations, looking quite goofy at times, holding our significant other tight on the slow dances … and smiling and having fun until the sock hop was over.

All in all, it was a great time in our lives, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

“You can swing it you can groove it, You can really start to move it at the hop; Where the jockey is the smoothest, And the music is the coolest at the hop; All the cats an chicks gonna get their kicks at the hop … Let’s go!”