Tango with Tabby
December 13, 2010 3:58 AM   Subscribe

Dancing with Cats is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats to dance with them, or why.

Courtesy of the Museum of Non-primate Art.
posted by greatgefilte (37 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not sure this is so much 'dance', as 'cat attacking freakishly moving human'.
posted by Summer at 4:07 AM on December 13, 2010 [2 favorites]


My wife actually received as a gift the book of DWC, from which a good portion of this material was taken. I have still to discern whether this, and its sister site "Why cats paint," are serious, elaborate put-ons or both.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 4:30 AM on December 13, 2010


You could always ask Burt Reynolds
posted by aeshnid at 4:32 AM on December 13, 2010


At first I thought, looking at some of the images, that the trick to getting a cat to dance with you is to use a fake tail, scarf, or veil to get their attention, and compel them to chase after it as you dance, thus giving the appearance that the cat is dancing with you. However, some of these dance moves are inexplicable, and the only rational, logical conclusion I can come to is that these are specially-trained cats who have been imbued with the love of dance from an early age. How fortunate the owners are to have such gifted pets.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:52 AM on December 13, 2010 [2 favorites]


I have still to discern whether this, and its sister site "Why cats paint," are serious, elaborate put-ons or both.

snopes says elaborate put-ons
posted by jammy at 5:01 AM on December 13, 2010


Funniest site I've seen in ages! Better than "Does it blend"... no don't go getting any dark mashup ideas, that would just be WRONG.
posted by sammyo at 5:08 AM on December 13, 2010


jammy: "snopes says elaborate put-ons"

That's "painted cats" on Snopes; not "cats who paint".
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:11 AM on December 13, 2010


some of these dance moves are inexplicable

If you had to wear an embarrassing sweater like that, you would jump out of the picture, too.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:20 AM on December 13, 2010


It's a hippie thing.
posted by mightygodking at 5:21 AM on December 13, 2010


It's simple. They're mildly insane. Nothing wrong with that.
posted by jet_manifesto at 5:56 AM on December 13, 2010


That's "painted cats" on Snopes; not "cats who paint".

Actually, it's both.
posted by onya at 5:58 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


What, no one's ever seen What's Michael?

(OK, I know it's just a comic, but the author nails other cat behavior perfectly, so I figure he draws from experience.)
posted by Ron Thanagar at 6:00 AM on December 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


I have no idea how these people got their cats to dance with them, or why.

Oh, I think we both know that you know the answer to that.
posted by anniecat at 6:36 AM on December 13, 2010


Photos are one thing. Even if they're real & not composites, snapping a picture of you & a cat both in mid-jump at the same time doesn't mean he's "dancing" with you. Let's see some videos & then we can see what this dancing cat thing is really all about.
posted by scalefree at 6:39 AM on December 13, 2010


That's "painted cats" on Snopes; not "cats who paint".

Same authors, though.
posted by gaspode at 6:54 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh, and Burton Silver, one of the creators of "Why Cats Paint", "Why Paint Cats" and "Dancing with Cats" is a well-known cartoonist in New Zealand.
posted by gaspode at 6:56 AM on December 13, 2010


I don't know crap about dancing with cats, but I fondly remember dancing and jumping all over the place with my dog. Great fun. But it was way back in my weed days.
posted by nicolin at 7:01 AM on December 13, 2010


Suggested re-title: Dancing with Cats that have been Tossed into the Photo.
posted by tippiedog at 7:08 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Let's see some videos

You actually get to see them paint already on the website.
posted by Vanifriss at 7:10 AM on December 13, 2010


I dance with my cats. It involves music, grabbing them by their front paws, and then bouncing in time to the music.

So far, I have escaped without major injury.
posted by sandraregina at 7:20 AM on December 13, 2010 [4 favorites]


Cats are weird.
posted by iviken at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


the only rational, logical conclusion I can come to is that these are specially-trained cats who have been imbued with the love of dance from an early age.

I have a buddy with two cats. When she and the cats were all much younger, she would frequently come home after a night of drinking (conveniently right in the witching hour for nocturnal felines), put loud dance music on the stereo, and dance around the living room with the cats. They loved "dance party" with twirly wobbly human.

She did own the DWC book, and it was the inspiration for her cat dance party.

She claims they were especially fond of the Counting Crows' "Hard Candy" album.
posted by pineapple at 7:46 AM on December 13, 2010 [4 favorites]


King of the Hill got me to look up this and this. Still sort of in shock.
posted by theredpen at 8:12 AM on December 13, 2010


Think of the possibilities: cats genetically engineered to grow the required cerebral complexity to perceive and respond to rhythm.

And how!
posted by freya_lamb at 8:47 AM on December 13, 2010


No one has mentioned Red Dwarf's Cat yet? I'm disappointed.
posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 9:24 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


these cat-dancing people apparently rely on stills only....there was never a video camera available.... ever??
posted by naplesyellow at 9:28 AM on December 13, 2010


Wow, I can't believe this site still exists, I think it used to be on Angelfire or Geocities 100 Internet Years ago.

Glad they kept the animated GIF, it really ties the website together.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 9:36 AM on December 13, 2010


I have still to discern whether this, and its sister site "Why cats paint," are serious, elaborate put-ons or both.

I was given Why Cats Paint when I was, oh, I don't know, about 8. I really enjoyed the book at the time, but I mostly just looked at the photos: the text had a bunch of big words, and I wasn't really interested in the critique. Then I put the book on my shelf, noticed it every once in a while, but otherwise didn't pay it any mind. All that time, I knew there was a book that had carefully explored the topic of cats who paint, but that was it.

Then, a couple months ago, a friend of mine was over for dinner and somehow the book came up in conversation. So, I went to get it. And, for the first time in nearly 20 years, I actually opened it up and looked at it.

When I was 8, it seemed like a very serious study of an interesting phenomena in the animal kingdom. As a 26 year-old, however, it quite obviously was a downright silly parody of high art.

It's amazing how much actually reading the text in a book can change your perception of it.
posted by meese at 10:10 AM on December 13, 2010


Yeah, the critique really gives the game away with that one.

(My cat occasionally responds to my movement by trying to sever my hamstring, and if you were fast with the shutter it would probably look like dancing.)
posted by restless_nomad at 10:25 AM on December 13, 2010


Quickly: Cat Dancing is real. Haven't checked all the links, but there's a book with photos published by Chronicle in SF (maybe also a calendar?) that is all about dancing cats and the cat-dancing humans who dance with them. (Years ago, I did some work for Chronicle and cat-dance swag was prominently displayed in the office.)

Cat-juggling, however, is an entirely different story.
posted by turducken at 11:39 AM on December 13, 2010


My daughter introduced me to Fancy Catz just two days ago. I suspect that Dancing Cats is much like Fancy Catz, only behind closed doors.
posted by Xoebe at 12:53 PM on December 13, 2010


I make my cats dance.

It's always spontaneous; using whatever cat is closest, a song will come on the TV, and there is simply no choice but to grab the cat under the front arms, stand it up, and make it do a little jig, Points are awarded for getting the back legs to gyrate, the tail to swish on its own, or the front paws to do something other than be locked forward Frankenstein style.

My cats have learned that the opening theme song to The Big Bang Theory is a good time to be scarce if they want to keep their dignity intact.
posted by quin at 1:32 PM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


When I was young (and heartless) I used to dance with my cats. I discovered that when you grab a cat's paws and make it stand on its hind legs, its natural reaction is to back away. I was thus able to formulate the first rule of cat-dancing: the human must always lead so kitty can walk backwards.

I also used to make them play air guitar.
posted by phliar at 3:52 PM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


jammy: "snopes says elaborate put-ons"

That's "painted cats" on Snopes; not "cats who paint".


Marisa: try reading the whole article - thanks
posted by jammy at 3:56 PM on December 13, 2010


My coworker says 'bird people are fucking weird'. Yeah, well, cat people are kinda fucked up too.
posted by LoudMusic at 4:39 PM on December 13, 2010


jammy: "Marisa: try reading the whole article - thanks"

Someone already pointed this out to me. I didn't respond, because I found Snopes' debunking to be highly suspect. What would they have to gain by "disproving" cat dancing and cat painting as hoaxes? Plenty, I imagine. The idea that cats can paint and dance makes people uncomfortable; it challenges their pre-conceived notions about animals in general, and their pets in particular. It's much like the revelation that the Earth goes around the Sun, in many ways - groundbreaking and shocking.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:26 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


My coworker says 'bird people are fucking weird'. Yeah, well, cat people are kinda fucked up too.

Owning a lot of different kinds of pets means that, at some point or another, I've been to a fair or convention for every kind of critter you are likely to encounter in (or sometimes outside) a house.

I've come to discover that anyone who self-identifies as an [insert animal type] person, is the kind of person who's going to end up being a bit strange.

So, I can say without hesitation that [cat/dog/bird/reptile/equine/rabbit/small animal/goat/pig] people are fucking weird. But they've got nothing on saltwater fish/ reef keeping people. Spend a couple of thousand dollars to keep pets that are essentially on perpetual life support? There's something wrong with the lot of us errr, them.
posted by quin at 10:38 AM on December 14, 2010


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