Ok, so some might claim I’m just fishing for excuses to post this ridiculous video, but I swear, there’s something feminist about this one.
On a Cincinnati news show the weather reporter Bob Herzog throws a dance party every Friday morning that there are no traffic accidents. From the Globe and Mail:
The concept is simple: When there’s no traffic news on Friday morning – which happens regularly in Cincinnati, population 332,000 – it’s dance-party time in front of the traffic map…The phenomenon started last year when a friend showed Mr. Herzog a funny YouTube clip of high-school kids celebrating a “Dance Party Friday.”
“I thought, ‘I should do that once,’” Mr. Herzog said, quickly adding, “Don’t get me wrong – I can’t dance. At all. I’m bad – I’m really bad.”
…And thus, Dance Party Friday was born. There are ground rules, which Mr. Herzog discussed with his boss at the start: He dances only when there are no tragic stories in the news and no accidents on the road.
If you’re having trouble picturing this:
For me, a big part of why this video is funny is because it’s grown men in suits dancing badly. They’re so cheerfully making fools of themselves and in a sense, rejecting the expectations of seriousness, and taciturn professionalism, that we normally associate with grown men in suits.
And to me this video isn’t just funny, it’s also kind of exhilarating. Because who hasn’t wanted to shake their booty (or scream, or throw something heavy and possibly flaming…) in the face of workplace demands - demands which often include dehumanising ourselves, and following stringent gender guidelines on how to behave.
Do you hear distant cries of revolution? No? Ok, well at least enjoy the video. And if you want more, go here.
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three comments
Oh Thea :) Right there with you on finding a reason to post this (I agree with your tie-in though, this definitely has a shameless flavour). I laughed until I cried (no really, there's a little tear from laughing so hard).
Do you think we could get Nick Czernkovich to do this?
Posted by Catherine
March 27, 2008, 6:37 PM
Best Ever.
Thank you for sharing this.
Big surprise that I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU that grown men in supposedly professional and powerful positions dancing ridiculously (on TV nonetheless) is cause for celebration!
Happy Almost-Friday!
Posted by Meghan Marie
March 27, 2008, 8:14 PM
It's also femmenist cause of all those women dying in traffic accidents, often that's a drunk driving issue(a pretty male prevalent issue), or an road rage or cell phone issue(questionably more about both sexes just workin too hard to be safe). Yes. I love this, with all it's fearleesness about steriotypically gay-associated drama stuff and as a great alternative to those generic busty & skinny blond weather babes(gee whiz hooters isn't the only one with funny employment ethics) or token young minority member whethercaster("put her on weather, it'll look good on us") that crop up on news that smack of too much imformality dealing with political issues and the hairsprayed all-american family/hollywood look that appeal to conservative notions of trustworthy political voices. Yikes! That's longwinded. You can tell I really hate them. This kinda seems like a newscast with that atmosphere, so I love to see this going on on it. Also, the very idea of drawing attention to how many traffic accidents there are and how many people die under the radar, is it seems to me, a beautifully optimistic move. What a fun, strange, surprising little bright patch to discover!
Posted by Myra
March 29, 2008, 9:49 PM
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