Amy Mujtaba

Blue and white dots cast by the shimmering disco ball dip and rise in time to the Whispers' "Rock Steady." They glide across a sea of dancers and swirl around the DJ, who is showered with glistening bubbles in the red lights of the stage.

A pretty young blonde twirls in the arms of an older man in a pink oxford. Her head is back and she's laughing as her legs fly out behind.

Another blonde, this one in a white, low-cut, jewel-studded suit that recalls Elvis during his lean, sexy years, shakes his suspiciously padded butt while dancing with an older woman to "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." His tapered pants burst into dramatic red flares at mid-shin; his footwork is honorable, if not good. He's thirty-six inches tall, and he's a dancing anachronism at Park West's first Baby Disco, a place where Barney is banned and Miller Lite and juice boxes co-mingle on cocktail tables surrounded by red-cheeked, sweaty-haired kids and the conspicuous dance partners they call mom and dad.

"It's great fun. It's a great idea, especially this time of year when the weather can be bad," says Jennifer Kelly of Rogers Park, who heard about the disco from a friend. Kelly is visibly excited as she takes a break from the dance floor, where she's been with her two daughters and her husband. Her 2-year-old is in a squat position with her arms raised above her head, showing her moves to an older girl who looks sufficiently impressed.

Stationary groups of four and five beer-drinking adults form human obstacles on an otherwise active dance floor, crowded with kids ranging from two months to 10 years old in different states of mobility. Those on the younger end are cradled and swayed, while the older kids dance, bat balloons and hula-hoop to music by Madonna and Fleetwood Mac that strains to fit the definition of disco. A ring-around-the-rosy gone awry ends in tears.

But three-year-old Audrey is having fun. "I like the bubbles," she says, while shoving an arm into her coat. A pink glow-necklace rings her neck, and her short, brunette bangs are wet and spiky.

She's all danced out.

(2006-04-11)

Also by Amy Mujtaba

Viva America!
"Are we going to be an America of exclusion, or an America of inclusion?" The first of a never-ending army of speakers ends his speech with this rhetorical challenge, directed more at Washington than at the mostly Mexican immigrants gathered in Federal Plaza to protest H.R. 4437, a House-approved bill aimed at strengthening immigration enforcement
(2006-03-14)

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