Come Dance With Me!

I love dancing.

Not, you know, pointe or ballroom or anything–although I do remember part of my tap routine from middle school–but just bopping-around dancing. I love being in a circle of people and dancing like crazy until I’m so sweaty that when people see me, they say things like, “Wow. Wow. . . you’re really. . . sweaty.” In other words, I’m a shamelessly enthusiastic dancer.

I’m the one at my elementary school’s Boogie Night saying, “But what about me? I want to boogie!” and then I start moving a little too much and one of my daughters rushes over and urges me to stop before she dies of embarrassment.

So for a while now, I’ve tried to get other people to host a dance party for me to attend. My arguments: It’s great exercise! It’s community-building! It’s fun! Pretty please!?! And people have smiled politely and not planned any dance parties.

Well, that ends now. Because I’m throwing a dance party. And you should totally come.

For those of you who don’t get the Daily Gazette, there was recently an article about how Niskayuna Legion Post 1092 has been struggling financially. This post is a volunteer-run facility that helps local veterans find support and services that they need, and it’s currently the only American Legion post in Schenectady County. They also do fundraisers to support veterans’ programs beyond the local community, and the hall’s available to rent for parties.

Aha! So I dropped by for a visit, and guess what? We’re going to try a dance party!

The party will be on Friday, April 1st from 7-10 pm at the Niskayuna Legion Post, which is at the corner of Union Street and Cornelius Avenue in Schenectady. Admission will be a free-will donation at the door, music will be not super-high-tech-sound-quality but loud, and the playlist will be some sort of greatest dance hits/pop/think-wedding-but-without-the-Chicken-Dance combination that I haven’t quite figured out yet. The post has one large-ish room that includes a bar, and you’ll be able to purchase water/soda/wine/mixed drinks for $1-$6. All proceeds will go toward maintaining the local post and to Fisher House Foundation, which provides free or low cost lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centers.

It will be super-casual, but if you prefer to look fabulous, please do. I will likely leave my kids at home so that I don’t have to listen to them groan about how embarrassing I am (not sure yet), but if you have fun, dance-loving teens or kids or a baby you can’t leave behind, all ages are welcome. I will be bringing my favorite dance-party enthusiast, Cute W, and I am sure that he’d appreciate having some other guys there, but it’s also a perfect ladies’ night out if you are not as fortunate as I am in the dancing-spouse department.

Umm. . . what else? I’m nervous. I’m really worried, stomach-clenching worried, because I have no idea if anyone will actually come. So. . . please come. Come if you can. If you don’t like to dance, you can chat and drink at the bar. If you don’t like to drink, you can wear workout clothes and consider it your exercise for the weekend. Also, I’m excited. If people actually do come and have a good time and the legion folks are happy, we could potentially do this regularly, and we could help out some veterans and all get together and dance like crazy and have an enormous amount of fun. Come on! Please?

Also, here’s some more information about Niskayuna Legion Post 1092 that I said that I’d pass along:

• They serve breakfast every Saturday from 8-11 am for $6.
• There’s an annual Fish Fry Dinner coming up on 3/25 from 5-7:30. It’s $8/grown-up and $5/kid 12 and under, and folks need to RSVP by 3/22 to Craig Mckim at 355-6855.
• Every Wednesday night beginning at 6 pm, they have a Star Party where folks get together to cut out stars from American flags that have been retired to send the stars to service personnel. Then many of them hang around and watch Survivor.
• They also have a Ziti Night or a Wing Night once a month.
• If you or a family member are a veteran who served during war time, you can become a member of the American Legion or the American Legion Auxiliary.

For more information about any of these other events or membership, you can email 

ni**********@gm***.com











or call 518-382-1579.

Here’s the Facebook event page to share, and here’s a flyer: