[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While the image of the school dance, with awkward boys and girls standing on opposite sides of a room, may make you nervous about going to a dance as an adult, The Center at Medfield’s “Afternoon of Music” should put those fears to rest.
Featuring the musical stylings of DJ Bob Vartanian, on Thursday, July 18, seniors both watched and participated in a day of dancing after they ate lunch. Vartanian mixed slow songs like Elvis’ “Return to Sender,” Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet,” and Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” with faster hits like the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout.”
Before the seniors did the twist, though, Vartanian informed them: “Fun fact about the twist. It was invented in the bathroom when a guy got out of the shower, grabbed a towel and started drying his backside.”
The Center’s director, Roberta Lynch, explained that the program was really just meant to be fun and give people a chance to enjoy the music and their time together.
“A couple of months ago, we started having a DJ come in once a month to provide music for people as they enjoy lunch, and then after lunch, dancing. It’s also a time when we have our club program intermingles with independent folks, so they can enjoy the music and the camaraderie, and just being together.”
While the robust crowd seemed to number around forty people, Lynch did not seem satisfied with that number. She would like to see even more people participate in the future, and believes they will - but the July date likely impacted the number of people present.
“This is the second week in July, and it’s pretty slow here,” she explained. “A lot of people are on vacation, so again, this is a new program that we’re trying to develop, to get more people to come in and enjoy the music in the afternoon.”
Everyone enjoyed themselves, and while the number of people may not have been what Lynch was looking for, the number of participants willing to dance was much higher than most school dances - or even weddings. So, if you’re looking to dance (or redeem yourself for not doing so in high school), the Afternoon of Music at the Center is the place to be.
