Dancing SCENE.

School dances of the '50s are, well, a thing of the past. You won't greased-up boys on one side of the gym and bobby-soxed girls on the other. Today's teens let loose on the dance floor in a way that has most principals and teachers spazzed. We first reported on teens shakin' their stuff in, "Generation Extreme" (D/J 2001). Now, it's a hot topic everywhere. EI Captain High School in California states in its handbook, "Students shall not participate in 'freaking' or sexually explicit dancing." No joke--penalties for dirty dancing range from warnings to being booted from the dance to suspension. Washington's Puyallup High School has rules on hand and hip placement. "You can't bend your partner past a 45-degree angle." And, at the polaris School in Alaska, you must, "Avoid violating other people's bodies and personal space, and all dancing must be respectful of others." Respectful--have they ever heard of the Hokey Pokey or Chicken Dance? Now those are freaky!