Fall 1982, Issue 1

Sand-dancing at Warren

A dance needs three things: A floor, a band, and police.

The floor to dance on, the band to dance to, the police to decide how successful the event is.

By those standards, the dance Tuesday night of Welcome Week at the Earl Warren Apartments was a success. The cops arrived at 11:00 quell the noise after complaints from the VA Hospital. (Funny, nobody at the apartments complained).

A party is not a success unless broken up the police. The Welcome Week dance was not exactly “broken up" but Tom Tom and The Amazons were effectively silenced by officers. Up to that point the four/fifths female band had been playing a respectable menu of rock, a little new wave and only one reggae song. (Let's hear it for bands that remember The Stones, Bowie and the Beatles).

The most interesting aspect of t he dance, however, was the parking lot dance floor. Amazing what a little sand, oil and asphalt can do.

The oil and sand lot was a leftover from a summer which saw virtually every UCSD parking lot resurfaced. It made for a slick, slippery surface. Ideal for dancing. It was somewhere between easy to move and treacherous. It definitely beat a gym floor or cement.

Of course it had one drawback: dust. As the mob danced the dust rose in a light cloud. It covered shoes, coated legs and permeated the air. Coughing ensued. Unfortunately sand only makes a good dance floor when it stays on the ground.