Go-Go Dancer, Your Life is Calling

It probably won't come as a shock to any of you by this point if I tell you that I've always wanted to be a go-go dancer. I don't mean a modern day go-go dancer who performs in sleazy stripclubs wearing next to nothing; I mean one of the dancers who regularly appeared on Shindig, Hullabaloo, Shivaree, or even the Ed Sullivan Show in its later years, shimmying next to my favorite bands. What a gig that had to be if you landed one on TV during the 60s - and what a fab total body workout!

I've tried studying video clips and emulating the moves during my workouts (in the privacy of my home, of course) but I know I'm not getting them all. What we all need is a go-go dance workout video!

There are some go-go dance DVDs available but again, they're kind of weird to watch as they're offshoots on the whole stripper workout trend, and they feature demonstrators wearing underwear. I think if someone could put together a fun, PG rated DVD that was inspired by the actual choreography of some of the music variety shows, it would be a hit! White boots would be optional. 

The name go-go came from the saying "go-go-go" which described a high-energy person. It was also influenced by the French expression à gogo, which means "in abundance, galore", which is in turn derived from the ancient French word "la gogue" meaning joy and happiness. Go-go dancing started to pop up in the early 60s. One of the most famous go-go dancers was a woman named Carol Doda. She got breast implants and began dancing topless in 1964 at the Condor club in San Francisco. Another notable was Lada Edmund Jr., who appeared as the caged dancer in the Hullabaloo A-Go-Go segment towards the closing of the show. West Hollywood's Whiskey A Go-Go club is believed to be the first place to have cages suspended from the ceiling, giving rise to the trend of cage dancing.

Needless to say, the topless factor is not for me; I just think it would be fun to do some 60s inspired dance moves, like in the video clips below. The ultimate form of free dance expression - without the sleaze!