So you think you can dance?

November 20, 3:55 PMTwin Cities Performance Art ExaminerBrad Richason

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Photo: Sean Smuda

Going clubbing this weekend, huh? Hoping to win the favor of some lucky lady or fella? Well, I hate to disparage your seductive prowess, but I just don't see it happening. You know the market in those places. All night long the most eligible are hit upon by smooth operators that are better looking, more interesting, and can afford to keep buying the expensive cocktails. What's an average wallflower like you going to do to set yourself apart? Dance?

I was kidding. What? You think you can dance? No, no, no. Planting your feet in the sand and waving your hands in the air isn't dancing, it's drowning.

If you want to see some real dancing, head down to the Southern Theater for a performance of Steppin' Out, a cross-cultural collaboration between Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, DeLaSoulja Steppers, and hip-hop artist, RDM. The production runs December 5-7 and promises an inspired fusion of two distinctive forms: Appalachian clogging and African-American stepping.

While the uninitiated tend to regard clogging as a backwoods dance style far removed from contemporary urban culture, Wild Good Chase Cloggers and DeLaSoulja Steppers plan to deftly display just how amazingly compatible the two forms become when melded through extraordinary rhythm, skill, and passion. Such unified inspiration extends to a musical backdrop that pairs old fashioned folk melodies with hip-hop beats and the rhymes of RDM. Ultimately this thrillingly eclectic collaboration displays nothing less than a redefinition of cultural expectations of dance.

Do I think watching the performance will improve your skills on the dance floor? Come on, this is you we're talking about. You're lucky if you can manage the electric slide without dislocating a hip. But if you spring for two tickets to the performance, your date will be thoroughly impressed with your cultural appreciation and distinctive taste.

Now if you would just learn to iron your shirts instead of looking like you're living out of a box, your date might actually consider being more than friends.