From MemoryArchive
Who: Nancy Stapleford
What: Disco Dancing
When: 1979
Where: Burlington, Vermont
In 1979, I was 19, working as a waitress at Bove's Restaurant in Burlington, attending
UVM part-time, and living in my first apartment with my boyfriend. My friends and I listened to rock music, went to the local bars and clubs, where rock music (
Boston,
Peter Frampton,
Led Zepplin) was the standard fare.
Disco was definitely not an acceptable listening choice within my main circle of friends. We danced to rock music in the clubs - generally in jeans and chamois shirts. There was no art or even real joy to dancing to rock. We just shifted our weight from one foot to another, and I in particular tried to avoid looking at my boyfriend who had no rythym at all. Disco was completely different. The dancing was beautiful and there was a sophisticated and adult feel to the clothes people wore to the disco clubs and the decor of the clubs themselves. My friends would yell at me if I put disco on the radio or cassette player it was considered "plastic" - and there was alot of stigma attached to people who liked disco. I wanted to learn how to dance like I had seen them dancing in the disco clubs and took dancing lessons in town. I wasn't very good, but the instructor taught me the Latin Hustle. What is interesting, is at the time, I didn't tell anyone that I was taking the lessons - especially my boyfriend. I had one friend from high school, Lisa, who did like disco. We used to go out to a club behind the Grand Union on Shelburne Road. It was very different than the other clubs in town. We would put on dresses and platform shoes and go dancing to the sounds of the
Bee Gees and
Donna Summer. What made the club even more appealing was that there were lots of Iranian students who went to UVM and St. Michaels who also loved to dance and would treat us like goddesses. They were polite and bought us drinks and were great dancers. Many of them were very interested in getting an American girlfriend. Lisa's older sister even married one of these students - not because they were romantically linked, but so that he could stay in America and would not have to return to Iran which was now in the throes of religious revolution.
External Links:
Information about Disco records and artists
1970s Music Flashback
