Maturus Satis Es Saltare Totam Noctem (You're Old Enough to Dance the Night Away)
- Van Halen had they gone to a Classical School

1. Come Because It's Fun

This cannot be stressed enough. Don't come because it's good for you. It is, but don't come for that reason alone. Come because it's a fun evening. The dances are easy to learn and we practice each one before we dance. There is so much laughing, feasting, hanging out, talking, dancing, and joy that you have to try pretty hard not to have fun! It is not, not, NOT a reenactment of a dance. It IS a dance and it is fun!

2. Come Because It's Not Your High School Dance

You might have loved your high school dances, but most of the time we hide our eyes when we see pictures of big hair, weird clothing, and (for some of us) that most ridiculed of hairslyles - mullets. Hair and clothing were only the start of the trouble at our high school dances. The dances had no form, so you either ended up just awkwardly standing around or acting completely silly...or worse. The Colonial Dance is so much better! It not only discourages all that may be unsavory in a high school dance; it also provides all that is good. It gives a venue for kids to get together and have fun, a venue in which young men and women learn to relate to each other respectfully and joyously. Both sexes are matured by this interaction; without this setting they tend to fear or objectify the other sex.

3. Come Because Culture is Ordered in the Dance

In David Hackett Fischer's (no relation) grand work on the early immigrants from Britain to North America titled Albion's Seed, he quotes a scandalized New England tutor who is trying to educate the children of a noble Virginian family. Exasperated, he opines that they study only Greek, Latin, and dancing...and it they must omit two, they retain dancing. Now, those Virginians had their priorities right! Proper culture is on full display and flourishing at the Colonial Dance. Young men ask young ladies to dance. Attention is shown to one's partner, but aptly given to your neighbors and others in your set.

4. Come Because It's Glorious (and, if I didn't already say it enough, fun!)

Glory is something that we see from time to time in our world. Sometimes it's easy to miss. Occasions like the Colonial Ball put it front and center. Clothing "glorifies" us! Music glorifies time. Charity glorifies our relationships with others. At the dance, girls begin to see the glory of what it means to be a woman and young men learn how to enjoy, value, and protect the glory of evening like the Colonial Ball.

5. Come Because It Restores Parents to Children and Children to Parents in the Context of Joy

All that I have said is amazing. You might be tempted to think it is too good to be true (come and see). Here is what is even more amazing: it is an environment in which parents and teenagers are together having a blast! Where else does this happen? So often in our culture - from Sunday School to the movie theater - almost everthing that is leisurely and fun is age segregated...but not this dance! It is an environment in which parents and students are having fun and are blessed to see the other group enjoying themselves as well!

If the evidence I've presented has convinced you that the Colonial Dance is a wholly worthwhile way to spend next Saturday evening, then be sure to register by the end of the day tomorrow (Thursday the 19th) for a $3 discount on your ticket. Whether or not you snag that early registration rate, I'm sure you will find this event to be a fantastic investment with lasting, positive impacts on your family.