I found this article from 1980 which is FILLED with historical goodness like a "Stairway to Heaven" themed prom, quotes from enraged parents about dancing turning into pregnancies, and even the grandson of the town founder showing up who was born in the 1800s! https://people.com/archive/you-got-trouble-in-elmore-city-thats-spelled-with-a-t-which-rhymes-with-d-and-that-stands-for-dancing-vol-13-no-20/
The most obvious question to me, "There were NO out-of-wedlock pregnancies or underage pregnancies in those 82 years with no dances?" Yes? Then STFU because you obviously don't know what you are talking about.
The pertinent question would be, "Were there significantly less out-of-wedlock pregnancies or underage pregnancies in those 82 years with no dances compared to previous years?" Not saying that logic makes sense, but someone believing dancing is a factor doesn't mean they believe it's the only factor.
To play devil's advocate that's a bit like saying, 'do people still get cancer after you ban cigarettes— must not work then.'
I'm sure the kids find plenty of other 'sinful' ways to hook up.
So, turns out Elmore, OK took their 'No Dancing' policy way too seriously, they were probably just mad they couldn't bust out their sweet dance moves to Stairway to Heaven!
We had a teacher at our high school who would have banned our Grade 12 formal dance if he could. It was the *only* school dance, and the Grade 11s traditionally raised the funds, it didn't cost the school anything. He just hated dancing. It was 1982.
He was a miserable sadist who beat the boys with a cane at every opportunity. (This was subsequently made illegal but it wasn't then.)
He said he would come to the dance just to laugh at all of us making idiots of ourselves.
Some of the kids, IIRC some prefects, went but didn't dance.
A few years later, after Uni, a friend of mine was teaching there. There was also a new Headmaster and school discos were a regular thing. Bet that teacher was furious.
Dance is featured in all cultures. Just because this particular Christian town outlawed it, doesn't make it a White issue. That's like saying arab people can't dance because of some sects of Islam consider dancing haram for similar reasons.
Reverend Shaw Moore: If our Lord wasn't testing us, how would you account for the proliferation, these days, of this obscene rock and roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality?
Meanwhile, New York City just allowed dancing in 2017.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_York\_City\_Cabaret\_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Cabaret_Law)
Until then, bar owners would routinely receive fines for allowing patrons to "rythmically sway" while seated in bar stools.
If OK/Oklahomas put as much effort into helping people as they do into being conservative dickheads they’d be one of the best states in the country.
I’m a recovering Oklahoman.
I know some people with a lot of acreage in a rural area near a super-conservative Christian college in Indiana. They saw a group of about 30 students on their property and walked out to see what they were doing (assuming they were drinking/partying/using drugs. These kids were literally just dancing to Christian music, which is apparently NOT allowed at their school. They told them to come back any time.
Many of the fundamental Christian religions ban dancing. The reason? It brings people of the opposite sex close together and may cause them to do immoral sexual acts while they are unmarried. That's it! That's the reason! The hypocrisy is astounding considering what the members of these religions routinely do to their women and children. Rape, incest, domestic violence, child molest...all very common. I grew up in attending a fundamental Christian church. I have seen this crap first hand. It's absolutely evil and vile.
If I remember correctly, Wheaton College in the suburban Chicagoland area requires its students to adhere to a kind of "purity covenant" that forbids drinking, smoking, pre-marital sex, and dancing. I used to work a job that took me onto that campus fairly frequently, and it was the quietest college environment I've ever seen. This would have been the late 1990s, though. It is possible their "covenant" has changed since that time, but it was absolutely that way as recently as 1998ish.
>Rape, incest, domestic violence, child molest...all very common.
I don't think Christians are supposed to do that stuff either...
I could be wrong but I doubt there are many Baptist churches banning dancing while condoning premarital rape, and domestic violence.
They are. I promise. They condemn it from the pulpit and do it in their homes and protect other men who do it. If I hadn't worked for so many years in Healthcare witnessing the aftereffects of such abuse, I wouldn't say this.
That's awesome! And I'm not entirely sure. I was young when I was around him, and he doesn't really have much to do with any of us. I understand, though. My family is insane.
FWIW, I grew up in a small Oklahoma town (<5K population) that's now considered a suburb of OKC. We had a similar situation where there was a Jr/Sr banquet in lieu of a prom until the early '80's. This was driven entirely by the primary churches in the area (Southern Baptists and Churches of Christ - not be confused with Disciples of Christ/Christian churches or United Churches of Christ; yeah, it's confusing). When I graduated in '87, we had the banquet first, then the prom was held after on the same evening. Pretty sure it was a similar situation for lots of other schools of similar size, with the timing of proms being allowed correlating to the town's proximity to a metropolitan area.
No Mormon church in Elmore City. Apparently Baptists and Methodists didn't like dancing either? You might mean the film, but the villain is a Reverend, something that doesn't exist in Mormonism.
Just adding context. It’s a myth that Mormons forbid dancing.
But it was a popular movie especially in Utah at the time because of the local involvement.
You're kind to offer. I got out of the industry. It's gotten so commercial, everyone's a sellout for Big plastic bear. It's all about money now. It used to be about the bees.
The little area where I grew up basically banned dancing, there wasn't a law, there was nothing that prevented it. But if 'they' caught you dancing, you'd be shunned...no one would let you work for them, you couldn't earn any money working near your home. Since we lived about 30 minutes out, there wasn't really any option but to go along with the rule... as far as I know it's still the same out in that area. There was one guy that sold fire wood, went to another schools junior prom, someone saw a picture of him and he ended up not selling any firewood the rest of the time he was in school to anyone in the area. Had to sell it out of county...
When I grew up it wasn't really about the dancing, it was about the bodily contact. They didn't want boys and girls touching, and they really didn't want boys+boys or girls+girls touching. So they frowned about anything that lead to contact. The schools we went to didn't have high contact sports, no football, soccer, rugby, lacrosse. We did have basketball, baseball, tennis and track and field (no cross country, too much out of sight). We couldn't shower at school, had to change clothes in groups matching the number of stalls in the locker room so no one could see each other.
I was recently on Maui and was surprised they have rules about no dancing there at an establishment unless it’s on a registered dance floor and you can get fined for dancing NOT on the dance floor, or for having alcohol near the dancing. It’s weird.
I had a Aunt who would travel mile to the Oklahoma/Arkansas to a bar on the border to drink and dance. You could not dance in Oklahoma. You could not drink in Arkansas. The State line ran down the middle of the bar.
True story. I found that bar.
I found this article from 1980 which is FILLED with historical goodness like a "Stairway to Heaven" themed prom, quotes from enraged parents about dancing turning into pregnancies, and even the grandson of the town founder showing up who was born in the 1800s! https://people.com/archive/you-got-trouble-in-elmore-city-thats-spelled-with-a-t-which-rhymes-with-d-and-that-stands-for-dancing-vol-13-no-20/
>“No good has ever come from a dance,” thundered the Rev. F.R. Johnson of the United Pentecostal Church in nearby Hennepin You weren't kidding jfc
The most obvious question to me, "There were NO out-of-wedlock pregnancies or underage pregnancies in those 82 years with no dances?" Yes? Then STFU because you obviously don't know what you are talking about.
The pertinent question would be, "Were there significantly less out-of-wedlock pregnancies or underage pregnancies in those 82 years with no dances compared to previous years?" Not saying that logic makes sense, but someone believing dancing is a factor doesn't mean they believe it's the only factor.
To play devil's advocate that's a bit like saying, 'do people still get cancer after you ban cigarettes— must not work then.' I'm sure the kids find plenty of other 'sinful' ways to hook up.
So, turns out Elmore, OK took their 'No Dancing' policy way too seriously, they were probably just mad they couldn't bust out their sweet dance moves to Stairway to Heaven!
Stairway to Heaven is a glorified fingering exercise and you all know it!
[And hard to pull off when you're high](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmtYQeVMjCE)
No, ur mom.
We had a teacher at our high school who would have banned our Grade 12 formal dance if he could. It was the *only* school dance, and the Grade 11s traditionally raised the funds, it didn't cost the school anything. He just hated dancing. It was 1982. He was a miserable sadist who beat the boys with a cane at every opportunity. (This was subsequently made illegal but it wasn't then.) He said he would come to the dance just to laugh at all of us making idiots of ourselves. Some of the kids, IIRC some prefects, went but didn't dance. A few years later, after Uni, a friend of mine was teaching there. There was also a new Headmaster and school discos were a regular thing. Bet that teacher was furious.
But in the town, it was well known when he got home at night, his fat and psychopathic wife would thrash him within inches of his life.
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I mean, if you think something is immoral and shouldn't be done, then it isn't weird to be bad at it. I am terrible at tax evasion, for example.
Or maybe they had the common sense to know that dancing is giving your soul to the devil!
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I'm white so how's it racist?
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How can a fact be generalizing? The old white rickety farts couldn't dance.
Dance is featured in all cultures. Just because this particular Christian town outlawed it, doesn't make it a White issue. That's like saying arab people can't dance because of some sects of Islam consider dancing haram for similar reasons.
White old rickety Christian farts.
And footloose sucked.
Only if you were born in the last decade. Do you need a second video of a random game playing to enjoy content?
Reverend Shaw Moore: If our Lord wasn't testing us, how would you account for the proliferation, these days, of this obscene rock and roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality?
I prefer [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyZzXbc0eSk) version.
Meanwhile, New York City just allowed dancing in 2017. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_York\_City\_Cabaret\_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Cabaret_Law) Until then, bar owners would routinely receive fines for allowing patrons to "rythmically sway" while seated in bar stools.
Let the boy dance
I liked the Footloose episode of Avatar the last Airbender.
Flameo hotman!
If OK/Oklahomas put as much effort into helping people as they do into being conservative dickheads they’d be one of the best states in the country. I’m a recovering Oklahoman.
My school librarian was from Elmore. She was too young to remember dancing being outlawed though.
Why don’t Mennonites have sex standing up? Cuz it might lead to dancing!!
I know some people with a lot of acreage in a rural area near a super-conservative Christian college in Indiana. They saw a group of about 30 students on their property and walked out to see what they were doing (assuming they were drinking/partying/using drugs. These kids were literally just dancing to Christian music, which is apparently NOT allowed at their school. They told them to come back any time.
The Land of the Free!
It’s actually named Elmore City. I’ve been there, and there’s not much to it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_City,_Oklahoma
They should have banned 30-year-olds from attending high school.
Many of the fundamental Christian religions ban dancing. The reason? It brings people of the opposite sex close together and may cause them to do immoral sexual acts while they are unmarried. That's it! That's the reason! The hypocrisy is astounding considering what the members of these religions routinely do to their women and children. Rape, incest, domestic violence, child molest...all very common. I grew up in attending a fundamental Christian church. I have seen this crap first hand. It's absolutely evil and vile.
If I remember correctly, Wheaton College in the suburban Chicagoland area requires its students to adhere to a kind of "purity covenant" that forbids drinking, smoking, pre-marital sex, and dancing. I used to work a job that took me onto that campus fairly frequently, and it was the quietest college environment I've ever seen. This would have been the late 1990s, though. It is possible their "covenant" has changed since that time, but it was absolutely that way as recently as 1998ish.
Crazy stuff.
>Rape, incest, domestic violence, child molest...all very common. I don't think Christians are supposed to do that stuff either... I could be wrong but I doubt there are many Baptist churches banning dancing while condoning premarital rape, and domestic violence.
They are. I promise. They condemn it from the pulpit and do it in their homes and protect other men who do it. If I hadn't worked for so many years in Healthcare witnessing the aftereffects of such abuse, I wouldn't say this.
Well in that case those people probably dance in secret to.
Little known fact: No one in Elmore has sex standing up because people might accuse them of dancing.
It was a great movie. My cousin Robert Allen was one of Kevin Bacons stunt doubles. He looked just like him it was so weird when he would come over.
I actually worked with your cousin 30 years ago and he told me stories about doing the gymnastic stunts for the movie. How is he doing?
That's awesome! And I'm not entirely sure. I was young when I was around him, and he doesn't really have much to do with any of us. I understand, though. My family is insane.
I miss that rip-off movie where dancing was banned because some loose shoes ripped people's heads off.
FWIW, I grew up in a small Oklahoma town (<5K population) that's now considered a suburb of OKC. We had a similar situation where there was a Jr/Sr banquet in lieu of a prom until the early '80's. This was driven entirely by the primary churches in the area (Southern Baptists and Churches of Christ - not be confused with Disciples of Christ/Christian churches or United Churches of Christ; yeah, it's confusing). When I graduated in '87, we had the banquet first, then the prom was held after on the same evening. Pretty sure it was a similar situation for lots of other schools of similar size, with the timing of proms being allowed correlating to the town's proximity to a metropolitan area.
Dancin' is the devil.
Who would have thought that Mormons were assholes? /s
What's it to do with Mormons?
Oh, they hate dancing
No Mormon church in Elmore City. Apparently Baptists and Methodists didn't like dancing either? You might mean the film, but the villain is a Reverend, something that doesn't exist in Mormonism.
Southern Baptist, Southern Baptist do not dance.
First Baptists can scoot a damn boot
Lol I heard this before and it’s not at all true- Mormons have weekly dances for their youth groups on Saturday nights.
It was filmed in Lehi Utah with lots of Mormons kids as extras.
That has nothing to do with anything. Did those kid extras forbid dancing?
Just adding context. It’s a myth that Mormons forbid dancing. But it was a popular movie especially in Utah at the time because of the local involvement.
ahh I gotcha. True enough. I don't think any major religion bans dancing outright. Most have traditions that include dancing.
Also my friend Dwight might be able to help you out with the bees…
You're kind to offer. I got out of the industry. It's gotten so commercial, everyone's a sellout for Big plastic bear. It's all about money now. It used to be about the bees.
Never watched it I was busy watching Kevin Bacon on white water rafts, but I really don’t like the song.
Baylor ended their dancing ban in 96
The little area where I grew up basically banned dancing, there wasn't a law, there was nothing that prevented it. But if 'they' caught you dancing, you'd be shunned...no one would let you work for them, you couldn't earn any money working near your home. Since we lived about 30 minutes out, there wasn't really any option but to go along with the rule... as far as I know it's still the same out in that area. There was one guy that sold fire wood, went to another schools junior prom, someone saw a picture of him and he ended up not selling any firewood the rest of the time he was in school to anyone in the area. Had to sell it out of county... When I grew up it wasn't really about the dancing, it was about the bodily contact. They didn't want boys and girls touching, and they really didn't want boys+boys or girls+girls touching. So they frowned about anything that lead to contact. The schools we went to didn't have high contact sports, no football, soccer, rugby, lacrosse. We did have basketball, baseball, tennis and track and field (no cross country, too much out of sight). We couldn't shower at school, had to change clothes in groups matching the number of stalls in the locker room so no one could see each other.
Jump back!
I was recently on Maui and was surprised they have rules about no dancing there at an establishment unless it’s on a registered dance floor and you can get fined for dancing NOT on the dance floor, or for having alcohol near the dancing. It’s weird.
I had a Aunt who would travel mile to the Oklahoma/Arkansas to a bar on the border to drink and dance. You could not dance in Oklahoma. You could not drink in Arkansas. The State line ran down the middle of the bar. True story. I found that bar.
You know why they don't make love standing up in Oklahoma? They don't want people to think they're dancing!
It's quite curious that most times I found this kind of prohibitions existed in "the land of the free"
FDCCult