A New Kind of Dance...called "The Cicada!"

By Jennifer AuBuchon

So ... I went to the pool with a friend and our kids yesterday. I like to think of these trips as "mini vacations" if you will. Lounging by the pool, the summer hits playing in the background, water splashing, kids laughing, gentle breeze blowing through the air. But not yesterday. Not only was it a record high temperature kind of day. The only "music" we could hear was the chorus of cicadas. Not only were they singing to us on this fine, sweltering hot day. They wanted to dance.

Now in order to live long enough to blog another day, I'll change the name of my friend to "Tucker." Tucker loves to dance, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when she jumped off her lounge chair and began shaking her tush, waving her arms around and whipping her hair back and forth like a grown up Willow Smith, but I was. I mean ... we're at the pool not a club, but whatever floats your proverbial boat. But, then she did it again and again. Then I realized she wasn't the only one doing this dance. Two teeny boppers next to us started screaming and frantically waving their arms in their own crazy dance when it hit me. They were doing a brand new dance called "The Cicada."  

Every time they went to lie down peacefully on their chaise loungers, one of these peskly little beasts would dive bomb onto their bodies, causing otherwise normal people to jump up and dance in front of complete strangers. I was quite enjoying the show until two particulary bold cicadas asked me to dance. One headed down my tankini top and the other began crawling up my thigh. Now yes, my husband was out of town, but this is ridiculous. I wasn't at all prepared to be violated by a bug! So ... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em as the saying goes. So there we were, a bunch of wanna be street dancers performing our own versions of this new dance craze sweeping our good city.

You don't have to go to a pool to see it either. I saw a mom doing it when she dropped her kid off at basketball camp today. I heard about a friend's husband getting approached by a bunch of girlie cicadas while trying to fertilize his backyard. I think my neighbor did it while getting her mail too. Another friend posted on facebook that she was asked to dance when one attached to her lip today. They are forward little fellas.  

So next time you head out your door to go anywhere ... at least for the next couple of weeks ... don't forget your dancing shoes!  You never know when you'll be asked to perform "The Cicada!"