In Our View: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

In 1994, a trio of college kids at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, dreamed up a game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while watching a marathon of the prolific Hollywood actor’s films on television.

Inspired by the concept of six degrees of separation – the theory that everyone on Earth is no more than six relationships away from being connected to any other person on the planet – the game challenges players to link other Hollywood actors to Kevin Bacon through films they’ve starred in together in the fewest steps possible.

For example, Zac Efron was in “High School Musical 2” – filmed right here in St. George – with Corbin Bleu who was in a 2009 short film called “Beyond All Boundaries” with Kevin Bacon, so Efron would be just two degrees from Kevin Bacon and, in fact, so would the city of St. George.

St. George’s City Council, however, has done its level best to get one step closer to Kevin Bacon by impersonating the fictional town of Bomont, Utah — the setting for Bacon’s breakout 1984 film “Footloose” — through their failure to rewrite an old and, frankly, ridiculous city ordinance that prohibits dancing without the proper permits.

The fact that officers from the St. George Police Department were made to stand guard at the “Monster Mash Dance Party” with cameras in hand to make sure that no one moved in a rhythmic fashion last Friday at Fiesta Fun Center is just plain laughable. And while it is funny, residents of St. George shouldn’t be laughing because, in fact, the joke is on us.

The enforcement of this ordinance really shouldn’t be an issue. It shouldn’t be the basis for news stories making their way around the country, and the residents of St. George should have been spared the embarrassment of living in a town so tightly wound that people have to obtain a permit to allow them to dance.

The dancing ordinance should have been dealt with the last time it caused controversy two years ago when bands were playing at the GoGo37 concert hall in St. George, but those in attendance weren’t allowed to dance.

If the City Council is going to issue an event permit for a concert hall, a Monster Mash or any other event at which there is a reasonable expectation that music will be played, there has to also be a reasonable expectation that people will move their feet and bodies to the rhythm of the music.

To claim that the proper procedures weren’t followed is disingenuous. If they followed enough of the procedures to obtain an event permit and play loud music, they followed enough of the procedures to allow dancing.

The mayor and the city council need to fix this throwback ordinance, and they need to do it sooner rather than later. GoGo37 may be gone, the Monster Mash may not be able to continue next year, but there will be another event or another concert venue that will arise, and our elected officials need to make sure that when they do, our fair city won’t face another round of national news stories comparing us to “Footloose.”