Inaugural Dance Quotes

These boozy and licentious variety halls thrived on the patronage of civil War soldiers on furlough, prompting moralists to persuade the city to require in 1862 that all theatrical and musical performing spaces be licensed and that the sale of liquor and employment of “waitresses” be banned wherever a curtain separated performers from customers. Entrepreneurs of leisure promptly dove through this loophole by inaugurating nightspots that featured a raised platform in the rear, a piano, and an open dance floor surrounded by tables and chairs.

At the Capitol [on inauguration day], an icy wind swept across the East Front in the brilliant sunshine. As [President John F.] Kennedy made his way down the aisle to his seat, he saw Congressman Tip O'Neill, who held J.F.K.'s old House seat, together with George Kara, an affluent Boston businessman with a reputation for showing up, Zelig-like, in the most unexpected places without the requisite tickets. O'Neill recalled that Kara had nudged him and said, 'Years from now historians will wonder what was on the young man's mind as he strode to take his oath of office. I bet he's asking himself how George Kara got such a good seat.' That night, O'Neill and his wife danced over to the president's box at the ball in the Mayflower Hotel to congratulate him, and sure enough, Kennedy asked, 'Was that George Kara sitting beside you?' O'Neill told Kennedy what Kara had said. And J.F.K. replied, ‘Tip: you'll never believe it. I had my left hand on the Bible and my right hand in the air, and I was about to take the oath of office, and I said to myself, "How the hell did Kara get that seat?’” Todd S. Purdum, “From That Day Forth,” February 2011

Jazzercise, meanwhile, continued to grow throughout the eighties, and Judi’s star continued to rise. After Jazzercisers danced for a TV audience of millions at the Los Angeles Olympics, they were invited to perform at the 1986 rededication of the Statue of Liberty, a $6 million extravaganza held at Giants Stadium. That same year, President Ronald Reagan honored Judi as one of the country’s “top woman entrepreneurs,” and she would go on to receive an inaugural lifetime achievement award from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports alongside honorees including Bonnie Prudden, Jack LaLanne, and Dr. Ken Cooper.