I’ve been to a handful of weddings in my time; mostly as a kid, tagging along behind my parents as we celebrate some friend of the family’s union. This past summer, I’ve gone to two in which the people getting married are close to my own age.

In comparing the two experiences, I’ve reached a startling conclusion: You should dance at weddings.

I know, I know, revolutionary and controversial and yet it’s true.

My sister got married on Sept. 8, in a lovely ceremony at Memorial Park with the reception at a charming place that had go-karts, laser tag and a bar area where one could watch the Huskers lose to freaking UCLA on six giant- screen televisions and five smaller ones.

And I danced. I was in the wedding party though, and led to believe that I was required to. But that doesn’t change much.

The fact is: at a wedding, after the couple’s first dance, after the father- daughter dance, after the mother-son dance, the music will play and you will have to decide if you are going to dance or not.

I myself am under 21, so I can’t drink at weddings. Okay, so I could drink at weddings if I really put some effort into it, even though people still ask if I’ve started high school (the bridesmaid’s dress adds something to my cause). But anyway, that takes away a good chunk of things I can do at wedding receptions.

I don’t have many people to talk to other than my family. And, at my sister’s wedding in particular, I didn’t want to watch the Husker game because it hurt my soul. So I danced.

Wedding time passes faster when you dance. Once the meal is over, the cake has been cut and the music has started there’s no set time of how long you’re supposed to stay. I’ve always figured there’s a line between “I came for the food” and “there’s alcohol here so I’m never leaving ever” that’s hard to tread.

In my case, I was both a member of the wedding party and actually related to the bride; so I couldn’t leave until the disk jockey stopped playing anyhow. So, short of bringing some serious homework or going to bowl by myself, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do with my time other than dance.

But I was shocked to find that the dancing was actually pretty fun. There are dances that everyone knows: the Macarena, the cha cha slide, the cupid shuffle, the Time Warp; and it might be human nature, but it’s fun to dance in a group.

Like I said, dancing gives you something to do, and it tires you out, and it’s a nice way to bond. I’m definitely in favor of dancing at weddings.

That being said, forget slow dancing. You can book it the heck out of that reception hall once “The Way You Look Tonight” comes on.