That Old Beat Again

There wasa time when little boys were made to waltz with girl classmates. Stout musicteachers sternly presided over the classes from the piano with a foot-ruler. Thelessons were torture. Catapults, tiny frogs and such boyish essentials hidden inshorts were routinely confiscated. As the fidgety lot grew older in BangaloreCantonment, some were occasionally cornered by friends' sisters and introducedto jive. As Green Door or Jailhouse Rock played on the gramophone, many a rascalsuccumbed to the guilty pleasures of dancing. Those memories returned whenJoees, our Hong Kong company's Cantonese-Mandarin-English interpreter, came tosay, "I need to leave office at 6 o'clock. Going dancing with my friend." "Can icome too?'' i asked, joking, "Maybe you have a pretty friend i could dancewith?" Taken aback, she said seriously, "OK, you can come. But guest notpermitted to dance." So instead of an evening hanging around JB's, the famouswatering hole in Wanchai, i went with her to the Miramar Hotel in Kowloon.There, her 'dancing partner' was waiting. No, it wasn't some cool, tall, fancilydressed man. It was a Chinese girl!More surprises unfolded thatevening. As we stepped into the large dancing hall, in the air was not the rockof Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley or Abba but the swirling Victor Sylvester kindof music; gossamer pop of the 1940s and '50s. The band, neatly outfitted intuxedos with slick, shiny hair and shinier instruments, energetically let loosea barrage of foxtrot, quickstep, cha cha cha, rumba, samba and Paso Doble! Thepacked dance floor was ecstatic. The formally dressed post-work couples glidedand slid elegantly with a snap of their heads or a sudden freeze before meltinginto old, slow rhythms. The steps and timing were immaculate, the dancerspoker-faced. Then came the powerful, throbbing beat of El Choclo. Joees said,"Excuse me. My teacher wants me to dance." With that, she and a tall, cadaverousgent in a light suit did a mind-blowing red-hot Argentine tango all the while,serious as ever. I sat at the table nursing a lager, stunned, watching the dancefloor. And breathed a sigh of relief, glad guests were not permitted todance.