Cara and I love a good debate. Here's the next topic in our Etiquette Duel series: My aunts love the chicken dance; they rush out to the dance floor every time it gets played at weddings in our family. I hate it! Do I have to have my DJ play it?
Talley: Of course not; you’re the host of the reception, and you have the right to choose what the entertainment is.
But I’d like to ask you to consider it. Part of your responsibility is to entertain your guests, and you know some of them would really enjoy it. What, really, will it hurt if you allow your deejay to play this song?
One thing I’ve learned over years of Macarena / Chicken Dance / line dancing at family weddings: Unlike other songs, which pair off men and women (and usually only romantic partners!), these participatory dances get guests interacting with more people, of many ages. They provide a moment of communication and fellowship that no other song -- not even Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop the Music”-- can bring.
So I suggest that you ask your deejay to tip you the wink a couple of songs before, so you can make your escape to the powder room, and miss the excruciating embarrassment completely. Or, better yet -- stay. And watch. Ignore the cheesy music, and the twerpy arm motions, and look at the faces of your guests. Watch who they are looking at.
So no, you don’t have to. But are you brave -- and generous -- enough to do it anyway?
Cara: Talley, you’re going to have to forgive me for this one: I hate the chicken dance. With a passion. Don’t get me wrong -- I like to have fun. And Dance. And let loose. But I have no desire to shake my thang to oom-pah music that brings images of Oktoberfest-at-the-old-folks-home to mind. And I don’t want to watch anyone else do it either. Call me a snob, say what you will, but the chicken dance turns weddings into circuses. And I do not like clowns.
Whose side are you on?
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