Linda Hall: Floss fall short on dance floor

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

There's a saying about dancing that I love — "Dance like no one is watching".

Children don't think twice about dancing like no one is watching. Toddlers bop up and down and sway to music with huge grins on their faces. It's instinctive and of course some people are better at moving and shaking than others.

Last week when the AM Show was on a road trip, which included Napier and Rotorua, I watched children who had braved the early morning cold in the hope of getting on the telly waving and holding up signs.

I also watched them do The Floss — no they weren't cleaning their teeth. The Floss is the latest dance craze to hit our young generation.

Most dance crazes are started by a particular song ( who can forget the Macarena, Gangnam Style, Thriller, YMCA, The Twist — there are so many of them) but The Floss is a video inspired craze which at least one school in England has banned because of its association with the video shooting game Fortnite.

It apparently became popular last year when Instagram sensation "The Backpack Kid" became famous after being scouted by singer Katy Perry. He did The Floss while performing with her on the TV show Saturday Night Live.

It's quite a fun thing to watch and I'm sure that most of the children doing it have no idea it comes from a video game. They have simply seen other people doing it and copied — as we humans tend to do.

Anyway I was with two of my grandies on Friday evening and I asked them if they could do The Floss. Of course they could. I said "I can too".

So then I had to do a demonstration which resulted in fits of laughter. "No" said Miss 8. "This is how you do it — now copy me. Push your hips our this way and keep your arms straight out that way. Now pull your hands like this and like that."

I copied. "Yah you are doing it — you can do The Floss".

I was rather proud of myself.

The next evening I was with other members of my family celebrating a seven-year-old's birthday. I asked her if she could do The Floss and she and her five-year-old sister didn't do too badly at all.

Now this is where I should have said "Lovely girls, that was really good" and changed the subject. But no not I. I said "I can do it too".

So off I went. Suddenly I realised I wasn't just performing for my grandies. No — the big people were watching, laughing and asking me what the heck I was doing.

Another adult, who shall remain anonymous, said he could do it do — so he and I were in the lounge "Flossing". I was trying to remember the exact moves showed to me the day before — thrust our your hip — ooch that hurt. Arms straight out the other way. That was about all I could remember but I had a jolly good go at it.

I was so busy concentrating that I didn't notice people splitting their sides with laughter. Comments were flying around the room. "is she alright", "she looks odd".

I actually can't repeat some of the comments but for the remainder of the evening I was called Miss Flossy. I think I will stick to the Twist. I do know how to do that and it's far less complicated and much kinder on ones hips.

*Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.