June 6, 2011

 
     Did Thomas Jefferson like to dance?  This may not seem a question crying out for an answer, but in Washington you never know.
 
     It all started a week ago when police arrested five people for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial and videos suggested they could have been gentler about it.  So this past Saturday, about 200 people gathered.  No arrests this time, but the memorial was shut down for about an hour and a half while police worked to clear out the dancers.  There is, apparently, a court ruling banning such carrying-on.
 
     You have to wonder why.  Jefferson, our third president, was a man of many talents--a fine writer (his Declaration of Independence has held up pretty well) who presumably also enjoyed the other arts as well.  No dances during his eight years in the White House?  Hard to credit that.
 
     One of yesterday's dancers, the Washington Post reports, was dressed as George Washington.  Got his monuments mixed  up, perhaps.  Oh well, I don't know.  No one dressed as Tom.  But if you want to strike a blow for  freedom of movement, artistic freedom, come on down to the Jefferson.  And dance, dance, dance!