Human and Dancer Aren't Mutually Exclusive

According to a 2008 Rolling Stone interview, in The Killers' hit dance single "Human," the first lyric in the chorus is actually "Are we human or are we dancer?" It wasn't "denser" or "dancers," despite what the great internet debate was arguing.

The lyric itself was apparently inspired by the Hunter S. Thompson claiming that America was raising "a generation of dancers." While Thompson's quote was grammatically correct, Brandon Flowers "took it and ran" and made it less "correct" because grammar is irrelevant.

The important thing about the use of "dancer" versus the grammatically correct "dancers" or "denser" is that it makes "dancer" and "human" both adjectives. With the addition of the "s" to "dancer", the last word in the lyric becomes a noun. You lose the parallelism. When you use "denser," the song can completely change meaning. But when "dancer" is used an adjective, it becomes a state of being and the lyric states a supposed truth: one can't be human and also be "dancer."

But what even is "dancer"?

When I still lived in Wisconsin about a decade ago, I was enrolled at the The Backstage Studio in Ripon, Wisconsin  to learn how to dance. Most of it was fairly simple: shovels, ball-and-chains that resembled the "Charlie Brown" from the Cha-Cha Slide, twirling and being cute. I was a good dancer for a chubby eight-year-old. However, I stopped dancing when I moved to Kentucky because my parents claimed that there wasn't any local dance studios in Winchester, but I've always kind of missed it.

Today, an old friend of mine from the dance studio posted some pictures from this year's dance recital, ten years since my last recital. The same teacher was there and everything. It was sort of weird thinking that since I've moved past the Mason-Dixon line, this little dance studio with a small and, in retrospect, kind of sketchy waiting room and a shiny wooden floor, stayed alive with a lot of the same people. It stayed alive.

In that moment, I knew I was still "dancer." I was no longer a dancer, but I was still "dancer." While I could never, and still can't, do a cartwheel and I've always been pretty clumsy, I still had the spirit of "dancer." I still liked to leap onto my wing and spin around. I still twisted in place when I was waiting for something. I still felt music pump through my veins more than blood sometimes.

But was that what Flowers or Thompson had in mind?

Maybe "dancer" meant a carefree young person who didn't listen to the words but swayed to a beat because understanding causes problems and ignorance is bliss. Maybe "dancer" meant somebody who took on the world and made it their oyster after leaving everything behind. Maybe "dancer" meant a lover, not a fighter. But what does that make somebody who's "human"? Is that somebody who is calculating and cautious and weighed down with problems? Is it somebody who thinks? Is it somebody who is fighter?

And why are they mutually exclusive?

That's the thing, I don't think they are. Even when I don't even really know what Thompson or Flowers had in mind, I don't think anybody is 100% human or 100% dancer. It's just one of those things.

The second lyric in the chorus is "my signs are vital; my hands are cold." Is being "alive" and feeling "alive"
the same thing? Maybe that's what Flowers is getting at. Maybe humans just exist while dancers feel "alive."

But what a better time to feel alive?

Why I Love Prom (And Why It's Okay If You Don't)

Director Dr. Tim Gott gets down at the Gatton Academy Prom.

This past weekend was the rite of passage for many upperclassmen at the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky: prom.

According to the whiteboard on the front desk, we were to leave for the Alumni Center, where our prom was taking place, at 6:45 pm since apparently snacks were starting at 7:00 pm, but prom didn't really start at 7:00 pm on April 14th, 2014. It actually started a lot earlier.

It started with a young girl watching a slew of Disney Channel Original Movies dealing with school dances, playing ridiculous amounts of online dress up games, and asking her seventh grade best friend if in the event they didn't have dates to prom five years from then, they would go together as friends. Before, that young girl had superficial ideas of what prom would be like.

But while that younger me had the wrong ideas, I still love prom, but it's not just because of the dress, the hours you spend on your hair and makeup, the flowers you may or may not get, having a date, taking a God awful number of pictures, or any of that.

It's because it's a school-sanctioned last hoorah with your closest friends before you move on with the rest of your life. It's about dancing (poorly or not) to the line dances you knew in elementary school. It's about singing to "Livin' On A Prayer" while you wait for your nails to dry with your best girl friends. It's about watching two juniors play ping pong in their gown and tux before going to take pictures. It's about the cheesy selfies. It's about singin'/screamin' at the top of your lungs to whatever songs they are playing at that moment. It's the moment you walk outside and see all your classmates and you think to yourself "Wow, I never knew how beautiful/handsome everybody was." It's about swaying side to side in a giant circle with a group of people who became your second family. It just has everything to do with the people there with you.

While your back may be sore, your feet may be bruised from not keeping your heels on, and your "waterproof" mascara formed circles around your eyes, it felt like it was worth it to me. As I am on the last leg of my senior year--as well as recovering from all the pizza I ate and washing all the hairspray out--I can't help but love it all. I had fun. I was always told that prom was about preparing and to be let down when it actually happens. But for me, it was different. Maybe the little girl in me would've been disappointed because it wasn't magical, but it was fun. It was what it's supposed to be. And it was great.

However, I realized before this past Saturday that prom wasn't for everybody and I understood that. I still understand that. Big rooms with small dance floors and close bodies aren't for everybody. Some people don't like dressing up. Some people just aren't comfortable with it. But you know what? That's okay. Because there's nothing wrong with that. You are no better or worse a person for hating/loving prom. I just love that you've been along for the ride, even if you weren't there for the flashing lights.