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At every bar or bat mitzvah party I attended in my youth, the DJ would use the moment when everyone's energy had flagged to "take things down to Club Med." This usually consisted of a conga line set to "Feeling Hot, Hot Hot," followed by a limbo competition to "Going Loco Down in Acapulco," and a rousing group dance to "Hands Up" — complete with choreography even the most rhythmically challenged guests could master.
The fake trip to someplace tropical worked like a charm every time. Who doesn't dream of being someplace warm and sandy in the doldrums of winter or at a coming-of-age fête at an event hall in New Jersey? Even an imagined tropical vacation that solely existed through song, dance, and leis obtained from the Oriental Trading catalog sent people into spasms of ecstasy. That could also have been from the limbo, though.
With that and the current temperature (36° in New York at the time I'm writing this) in mind, let's all take a journey through some of the best beach parties in pop culture history. We all deserve some fun in the sun, and if Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" video is the only way that's going to happen right now, so be it. Grab your towel and dive in. The water's warm and Zac Efron may very well be there, too.
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