It seems to me there are two types of people: those who love to dance and those that don’t. At least, it certainly looked that way at the second annual Winnstock Battle of the Bands in Winnipeg April 13.

A thousand people attended the sold-out event at the ubiquitously named “Cowboys” bar in Winnipeg. There, the two types were evident. There was the gang that swarmed on to the dance floor when the first band — Soul Beneficiaries — broke into a rocking rendition of Love Shack. Then there were the people who sat. We’ll call them the toe-tappers.

Cowboys is a well-designed bar. There is the stage with a decent-sized dance floor in front of it. Running in a horseshoe around the dance floor are two levels of galleries or verandahs. There are lots of places to sit comfortably and have full view of the action.

And there were definitely those who did. Then there were those happy souls out on the dance floor who just couldn’t sit through a good tune. And the five bands competing for bragging rights provided lots of great tunes.

Winnstock follows in the tradition of Baystock, a Toronto charity event that features bands made up of amateur musicians from the financial services industry (and some ringers). While Bay Street rocks, it raises money. The eighth annual Baystock is coming up on May 25. Over the course of previous competitions, it has raised $650,000 for local charities.

Vancouver took up the challenge and launched Vannstock a couple of years ago. Then there is Winnstock. Organized by Al “Blues Man” Jacks and a fearless team of volunteers, the event this year raised more than $55,000 for the Manitoba Centre of Movement, a non-profit organization that provides various therapies to physically handicapped adults and children.

The bands did their best to keep the dancers moving with the beat. Mal Spooner, president of Mavrix Fund Management Inc. , strutted his stuff as lead singer for The Dealers, who made the trip from Toronto to warm up the crowd.

Poison Pill provided the leather and hard rock edge for the night. Mutual Fun were the evening’s hippies in their dashikis, long hair and head bands, dispensing beads to the those dancers who found themselves in front of the stage. Hostile Takeover (with Al Jacks’ son on drums) and Sound Advice brought a more contemporary feel to the proceedings.

Maybe it says just as much about the age of those attending Winnstock as it does about the music, but when Mutual Fun started delivering those ’70s sounds, the dancers couldn’t hold still. No one seemed to dance with anyone — everyone just danced. And everyone was smiling. When the strains of Spirit in the Sky sounded, it was more than the dancers could do contain themselves. Shades of the blissed-out ’70s!

The whole Jacks family was at Winnstock supporting Al’s efforts. Sisters came in from points West, and Mom and Dad had a choice table front and centre. Wife Evelyn — of the Knowledge Bureau and Jacks on Tax — was early onto the dance floor. When Spirit in the Sky sounded, the whole Jacks gang was up and dancing. Age imposed no boundaries.

What is cool about people who love to dance is the happiness that is written all over their faces when they are in the groove. There were a lot of beaming faces at Winnstock. By the look of it, there were a lot of people having a great time, which in the grand scheme of things means as much as raising money for charity. It is not easy to manufacture happiness. There were even some pretty big smiles among the toe-tappers. IE