The High Level Hustle

A query came across the High Level Messenger the other day. All names have been altered to mask identities.

Premkumar: Hey man, I'm listening to the retro on the HL radio blog... I'm dancing to it... but Nicole (his girlfriend) refuses to join me... "It's retarded!!" is what she said, before promptly proceeding to chuck my brand new Tevas out the window. What's the HL thing to do to people like her?

Mr. Premkumar, we at the High Level Project are completely sympathetic to your anguish. Oftentimes, we too have been similarly baffled by such instances of inexplicable reticence. Indeed, it has become increasingly difficult of late to convince younger clubbers of the therapeutic qualities of Modern Talking or the artistic merits of Rick Astley. Regrettably, to say “oh Mambo? Yah I was there last night” no longer effects the same admiration and respect it used to. Where once it was the verbal equivalent of “I rub shoulders with the social elite”, today it connotes “I enjoy consorting with junior college students and National Service types.”

It has been one of the tragedies of our generation that many have ignored or resisted the euphoria of Mambo nights. Fret not valued reader, for the High Level Project is pleased to present a step-by-step tutorial detailing some of the easy-to-learn gestures, gestures that have given Mambo nights a unique, and distinctively Singaporean cultural flavour. Once she has acquired the rudiments of these techniques, she will be unquestionably convinced that ‘retro’ and ‘retarded’ are not utterable in the same context.

Our demonstrator will elucidate the essentials in a rigorously choreographed medley. Note the static position of the demonstrator, who does not permit the temptation of footwork to affect the execution of the hands gestures. In addition, it is likely the reader would find walking about a trifle cumbersome on the teeming dance floor.

Elbows aloft, forearms swivelling back and forth. The preliminary motions to most songs.



Here, he illustrates exactly why we shouldn't blame it on the sunshine, moonlight or the good times but on the boogie (see radio blog).



In this segment, our demonstrator gestures his availability to the ladies in concorde with Spagna (ibid.).




Lastly, the High Level step, where he personalizes the gestures into a combinational sequence for added flourish. Observe, for our demonstrator, how the little smile at the end of the sequence proves irresistible.

Model: The Chowzzer
Hair by Somewhat Lacking Studios
Makeup by Photoshop