GROUP DANCING AT ITS BEST

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Call it a serendipity, or a pleasant discovery, but group dancing is certainly entertaining.

Last night was a night of fun and meaningful entertainment, as I and my friends watched several men and women did group dancing in a nightspot in Quezon City.

The occasion was the opening of Sugar Ray’s Sports Pub and Resto in the Fisher Mall complex along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. Sugar Ray’s is the former Morita Resto, which had a slot at the other end of shopping mall complex, but had closed shop. Bobby del Rosario, a fishing magnate, owns Fisher Mall and Sugar Ray's.

Our Clouds@Night, a band led by Gabby Claudio, a former political affairs secretary in the Ramos and GMA administrations, provided the live music. Gabby, now a Pagcor board member, played the lead guitar. Hermie Aquino, a friend, treated me and another friend at Sugar Ray’s.

Aside from booze and excellent cuisine, Sugar Ray’s offers ballroom dancing to patrons and denizens. Dancing couples could go to the dance floor, but, at certain intervals, they can join group dancing (or line dancing), which is led by a dance instructor, who provides the dancing moves, which have to be followed religiously by the dance enthusiasts.

Customers, who are not in the mood to participate, or who simply do not know how to dance, could stay on their seats and watch the group dancing. I swear that watching them is entertaining and relaxing too.

While Gabby’s band played a series of disco music, nearly two dozens of women went to the dance floor and joined the dance leader for 30 long minutes of line dancing. I and my friends were happy to stay on our seats and watch group dancing, which is certainly a form of aerobic exercises.

I had fun watching the odd mixture of women, who went to the dance floor to show their dancing prowess. Bored housewives, mistresses guarded by their jealous lovers, middle-aged professionals, obese women who wanted to shed off extra adipose tissues, and ladies, who just want to have extra endorphins, were among the participants.

I saw a short, roly-poly woman, who stands barely five feet, but she danced feverishly and she did it without any trace of inhibition on her face. She is probably a member of the Club 40 Plus, as indicated by her girth. Incidentally, this club does not refer to women aged 40 and above; they are women with a waistline of at least 40 inches.

A woman with a pair of eyeglasses looks nerdy, but my naughty mind could not help but muse if she were a daughter of a pair of strict parents, who did not allow her to go on date during her younger days because she was going after for some scholarship or cum laude honors in college. She too danced passionately as if the salvation of her soul depended on it.

A trio or seemingly bored middle-aged housewives appeared to have found their freedom on the dancing floor, as they kept on gyrating in wild abandon. The dance floor seemed to have been their sanctuary; the dance leader, their high priest.

I gleefully watched a comely young woman joining the group dance, even as his lover, an aging gigolo with a pair of beagle eyes, watched her approvingly on the sidelines. When the music ended, they hurriedly paid their bill and left. They could have a different agenda.

Some millennial women joined several ladies, presumably over 60 or senoritas (senior citizens). The senior citizens sported heavily dyed black hair ostensibly to look a little younger. They too enjoyed the night. The younger ones had their hair dyed either blonde or auburn.

They danced and gyrated in complete abandon and, of course, to their hearts’ content; there was no dull moment watching them. Most had perfected the steps shown by the dance leader, while others made occasional lapses. But they were happy.

By 10:30 pm, the music ended. It was time to go home. I was told Sugar Ray’s opens at 6:30 pm and closes at 10:30 pm, although customers are given an extension of 30 minutes to finish their drinks. By 11 pm, it closes automatically.

I have the impression that the place does not intend to compete with the likes of Pegasus, Classmate, Heartbeat, and other high-end nightclubs along Quezon Avenue. Ergo, Sugar Ray’s is for clean fun.  It's not for dirty fun, or something that has a happy ending. It’s for legitimate people looking for legitimate fun.

I saw the guys leaving the place with smiles on their faces. Yes, group dancing could be therapeutic too.