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[–] 226 points 7 months ago (19 children)

When they filmed the movie 'Van Helsing' in Prague they needed one hundred couples who knew how to ballroom dance. Everyone thought this was going to be difficult to set up, but it turned out that literally every extra they hired could waltz. Back in Soviet days, the country didn't have a lot of money for sports equipment, but every school had a record player. They taught the kids ballroom dancing for the Physical Education requirement.

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  • [–] 67 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    We went to dance classes all throughout I think eight grade and learned a few of the classical dances. Waltz, Foxtrott, Cha-Cha, Tango. That's Eastern Germany in the early 2000s.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (1 child)

    Dance classes in a normal German secondary school? Wow, we never had that. We had a private dance school for couple dancing in town, it was popular at about age 13.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    It wasn't in school, it was an after school thing at a dancing school. It was relatively affordable - I think it was at least in part paid for by the ministry of education - and we all went there together after regular lessons. I never heard of anyone not attending.

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  • [–] 37 points 7 months ago* (9 children)

    My middle school in the us made us learn to waltz in gym class. I'm ass at it, but it was fun.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    My elementary school PE did a couple weeks every year where we did square dancing and line dancing. I guess that’s the southeastern US coming in. Sometimes we did some other more traditional English dance where the boys and girls would be in rows facing each other where there were some set steps and then the couple at one end would dance down between the lines to the other end, there would be more steps and then the next couple would move, and so on. It was like something out of a Jane Austen movie.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago

    I learned square dancing in high school in Ohio. I was the only boy in a class of all girls, because I had broken my wrist and couldn't play basketball. I would love to tell the story of how this helped me get girls, but I was much too big of a loser to take advantage of the situation.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    You can thank Henry Ford's bigotry for that.

    No, really. He hated seeing his employees dance to jazz (the popularity of which he blamed on 'the Jews', because of course he did), so much so that he pushed to have "proper" dances taught in public schools, dances that were old-fashioned even in his time.

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  • [–] 24 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    To graduate from my (American) high school, you needed a given number of gym points, and you were given one gym point per day of gym class. But, I learned, you earned one and a half gym points per day of dance class! I figured this was a great scam: I already hated gym class, so I'd get my points out the way faster.

    Fast forward a couple of months, and I'm working harder than I ever was in gym class, I'm enjoying myself more, and I'm hanging out with girls in leotards first thing every school day. There was literally no downside.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Not just Soviet days. Today, it's expected (although not mandatory) to attend a course on ballroom dance and etiquette around the age of 16. It's usually not in school PE classes, but evening lessons in dedicated ballrooms or community centers with professional lecturers.

    There are also similar courses for adults commonly available. It's considered a fun hobby for couples.

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