I am the same way as you D’kian and some others. I do not quite get dancing and do not enjoy it too much. I react to music I like in my own way but usually it is more internal.
I think it is like general music taste different for most people and for some it just doesnt quite appeal.
I think that performance dancing is an art however. There is a big difference between recreational and professional performance dancing and they serve different purposes obviously.
I am the same way as you D’kian and some others. I do not quite get dancing and do not enjoy it too much. I react to music I like in my own way but usually it is more internal.
I think it is like general music taste different for most people and for some it just doesnt quite appeal.
Perhaps. Very little of the music I enjoy is suitable for any kind of dancing (though I’m sure someone half-stoned out of his mind can dance to anything; I mean, they already do). But I don’t discount the possibility that I’m just odd. I am quite eccentric in many other areas, too. I don’t mind, I just wish people would stop suggesting I should.
Well, I for one, am not suggesting anyone or everyone *should* dance or even like it, I’m just explaining why I do for those that can see no good or usefulness in it. I certainly don’t have a problem with those who don’t, just like I don’t have a problem with those who don’t like sports, but I can at least understand where the other side is coming from. (Most of the time, anyway.) 
I’m curious, D’kian, what sort of music you listen to that no dance would be suitable for?
With plenty of music (that I like) I can barely sit still. I’ve got to dance.
I remember when I was 7 I was watching a movie about a Rock n’ Roll star, and when he was playing “balls of fire” I got up and started dancing like crazy - the music was just too energetic to sit still.
Is dancing art? Oh yeah. It most definitely is. You just need to see the right dancers to understand how abstract things like freedom, self-confidence, nobility, passion etc’ take on a physical form. It’s like it hits you in the face.
It’s also a great form of self expression, but it doesn’t come right away, it takes time, exactly like megr.ferg described it:
For me Dancing is a great outlet for personal expression. The arts have never been my thing, but when I found dancing I realized what I had been missing. It gave me a way channel feelings an emotions I had floating around into something creative and fun. This of course did not happen on the first day. Before I could improvise and add in my own flare I had to learn the steps and the basic rules of leading and following. Once I got the basics I could really start listening to the music and letting my body respond to what I heard.
I also like the following (I find it interesting. I never thought of it that way or noticed it):
What I think makes dancing unique is that it adds a social aspect. You can learn a surprising amount about some one after a few songs when dancing as a couple. Unlike most social situations you are actual touching them. You can feel how assertive or passive their movements are, if their hands sweat, and how responsive they are. In addition you get to see them in action. You get to see how they handle themselves when you miss a beat or someone bumps a toe. For me it turns into a tiny social experiment. From the more intimate view the dance connection (or lack there of) I get a sneak peak at who someone is, and they get a peak of who I am.
You know, I’m not sure how accurate this is. To give you an example - I would normally hold hands with very little contrast or strength, but yet I’m not a passive person. The way I hold hands does show something about me, but the interpretation is not necessarily so straight forward in all cases.
Would be great if you can tell more about what you learned (the meaning of certain styles/ movements), or give an example.
I’m curious, D’kian, what sort of music you listen to that no dance would be suitable for?
RUSH, Pat Benatar, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, various kinds of classical music.
Meat Loaf is perfectly danceable. Even his cover of songs such as “Dead Ringer for Love” are. There’s a difference between dance and an epileptic fit, however, while someone who understands music will dance, many people seem to just convulse.
Joan Jett too. Pat Benatar’s “Fire and Ice” is excellent for mood dancing— and as far as classical music goes, there are very few compositions you *cannot* set good coreography to - I have seen disasters of bad coreography, but I also got to see an incredibly impressive Beethoven’s Ninth that was dramatized onstage, with the choral finale being he most lavish, of course. Beethoven’s “The Creatures of Prometheus” also worked beautifully.
And then you’re not even addressing the whole genre of Ballet there. Even works that are no longer as musically attractive as they once were (such as Monteverdi’s first full-fledged opera L’Orfeo, which some claim as the first opera in the world despite the evidence of La Serva Padrona coming first) become much fresher with the application of dance, as Gordi Savall’s version of L’Orfeo did in the Barcelona Liceu (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU681o8BlZs
). I do have a soft spot for L’Orfeo and do not consider it boring like some of my colleagues- I like the whole of Monteverdi’s opus.
RUSH, Pat Benatar, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, various kinds of classical music.
Meat Loaf is perfectly danceable. Even his cover of songs such as “Dead Ringer for Love” are. There’s a difference between dance and an epileptic fit, however, while someone who understands music will dance, many people seem to just convulse.
I don’t see that anyone can dance to “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “Bat Out Of Hell,” or"Anything For Love."
Joan Jett too.
How? Surely some of her covers are appropriate for dance, but not her own songs like “Bad Reputation,” or “Fake Friends”
Pat Benatar’s “Fire and Ice” is excellent for mood dancing—
Maybe. My favorites are her lesser known work like “In The Heat of the Night,” “Too Long A Soldier,” “Tret Me Right,” and the acoustic version of “We Belong.”
and as far as classical music goes, there are very few compositions you *cannot* set good coreography to -
Perhaps. But the next time I see a bunch of twentysomethings dance to classical music it will be the first. Hell, the next time I see abunch of twentysomethings out of school listen to classical music out fo their own volition will aslo be the first.
And then you’re not even addressing the whole genre of Ballet there.
Again, there’s very little ballet dancing at dance clubs. Ballet is a highly athletic artistic medium which requires years of practice to perfect. It’s not something weekend dancers can even contemplate in their dreams.
How? Surely some of her covers are appropriate for dance, but not her own songs like “Bad Reputation,” or “Fake Friends”
I’d show you, but geography interferes.
Perhaps. But the next time I see a bunch of twentysomethings dance to classical music it will be the first. Hell, the next time I see abunch of twentysomethings out of school listen to classical music out fo their own volition will aslo be the first.
Come to the Vocal Arts Symposium in the summer, you’ll get to see a couple o’ hundred who don’t only listen to it, they perform it- quite a few of them are something-teens, too. There’s a ton of other programs of that kind.
Again, there’s very little ballet dancing at dance clubs. Ballet is a highly athletic artistic medium which requires years of practice to perfect. It’s not something weekend dancers can even contemplate in their dreams.
I’m sorry, I thought the discussion had taken a tangent from music in nightclubs to whether or not some music was danceable or not. My bad on that.
From what i’ve seen of club dancing it looks more like some sort of primitive mating ritual. I’ve never liked it, despite that fact that if I enjoy the music I find it very difficult to sit still. Perhaps part of my negative attitude towards club dancing is also that I have no clue how it’s done. The moves seem so arbitrary and I suspect my sense of rythm is lacking.
On a few occasions though I have really enjoyd dancing at clubs, but this has been of very good clubs where everyone has primarily enjoyed the music(singing, dancing and generally just having a great night out). In most clubs though it’s been too loud, people are too drunk, it’s extremely crowded and most guys are there in hope of getting laid.
Ballroom dancing on the other hand seems like it could be alot of fun. I’ve actually made a promise to myself to have a go at tango as soon as I have the time.
I’d show you, but geography interferes.
I still don’t see how.
RUSH, Pat Benatar, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, various kinds of classical music.
I would think ballet, ballroom (such as the waltz) or contemporary dance would cover most of classical.
As for rock music, and even metal, contemporary, jazz or jive could be well-suited.
D’kian, do they have the show So You Think You Can Dance there in Mexico? If so, you ought to check it out. Although the host and judges can be annoying, the dancing, choreography and costume design is usually stunning and you can see many types of dance with different types of music. Here are some clips…some of my favorites and some with music I typically wouldn’t think of dancing to and/or of songs you mentioned.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBucli_Kj2A (I wouldn’t have had any idea how to dance to that music, but this guy is one of my absolute favs…awesome!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7WxOIgxDmc…feature=related (skip forward to about 1:10 when dance starts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-h4TXyGrM (so quirky, weird and sexy, but I love it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HXBZCv9Rnk (Anything for Love on Dancing w/ the Stars)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_I2WtD0alY (Bat Out of Hell on DWTS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bgMvaviExw (Ha ha! I couldn’t resist throwing this in there. It’s amazing.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bgMvaviExw (Ha ha! I couldn’t resist throwing this in there. It’s amazing.)
Soviet Break Dancing :lol:
I knew I had to reply in this thread…
YES!
This is a great thing about SOCIAL dancing: it is an art, and it is at the same time a great way to socialize!
I organize a weekly social dance of Argentine Tango, aka “milonga” in Gainesville, Fl. A beautiful (in my eyes) example of my kind of tango is shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnC03nKl\_rE
. Javier Rodriguez and Geraldine Rojas are my heroes (they are no longer together).
The website of my social dance is www.tangoyte.com . The name, “Tango y Té” means “tango and tea”, something like “tango tearoom,” to denote that it is for enjoying tango and other innocent things that go with it.
Every week I get to re-create a small benevolent universe, where every woman that enters desires to be embraced by me… where everybody smiles, and people tell me, “great music, David” and I think to myself: “I’m so happy that I created the setting that allowed you to notice it!”
Dare I add also that, in a sense, Argentine Tango is the most philosophical dance of all…? This is a long story, I don’t have time now. Let me just say a few things. The only way to dance beautifully together is to master your own individual posture, balance and *walking*–freedom, fluidity and lightness are achieved only by being grounded all the way down.
Dancing confronts you with truths about yourself: you have to move, literally, as a whole person. In Argentine Tango, all movements are fundamentally, movements of the body as a whole, and the legs follow the body, as they are literally pulled along by the motions of the body. The interesting thing about dancing this way is: the only way to dance beautifully is to be conscious only of the music and how it feels to move to it, for yourself and your partner. You can’t fake it.
(What I wrote here is not generally understood, as there are many misconceptions in the way tango is danced today which I also continue to wrestle with in learning this dance.)
D’kian, do they have the show So You Think You Can Dance there in Mexico?
I’ve no idea. I don’t watch any kind of “reality shows.”
I’ve posted this before, but since it’s appropriate to this thread: David Elsewhere:
He starts at about 40 seconds in …
One can draw yet not create art. Same thing with dancing. It can be art in a certain context. It is not by default.
The interesting thing about dancing this way is: the only way to dance beautifully is to be conscious only of the music and how it feels to move to it, for yourself and your partner. You can’t fake it.
But only after you have already invested a considerable amount of work into every detail of mastering the technique. You won’t dance beautifully without it. It should look easy and flowing in the end but there is nothing easy about getting to that place.
One can draw yet not create art. Same thing with dancing. It can be art in a certain context. It is not by default.
But only after you have already invested a considerable amount of work into every detail of mastering the technique. You won’t dance beautifully without it. It should look easy and flowing in the end but there is nothing easy about getting to that place.
In order to master the technique you have to start also by feeling what your body is doing and isolating/analyzing it. Then you have to integrate each action into a whole.
In the end, it should not just look easy, it should FEEL easy. The point is: feeling is using your senses. It is required for being objective, just as looking is, but in the case of dancing it is more important to feel than to look.
In short, I would have to demonstrate it to you. Face to face.
Clear enough?
I still don’t see how.
Esthe, although I am sure that by now you may have seen it, are you familiar with the movie by the Spanish Director Saura, called “Tango”? If you have not seen it, buy it off amazon!
Incidentally, have you used any of the compositions by Astor Piazzola for your tango dances?
I knew I had to reply in this thread…
YES!
I’m a pathetic dancer. However, my wife loves it and my daughter actually danced in her first Broadway show in NYC this past weekend. I’ve come to appreciate it as an art form, when done well and with a certain level of precision and expertise.
Esthe, although I am sure that by now you may have seen it, are you familiar with the movie by the Spanish Director Saura, called “Tango”? If you have not seen it, buy it off amazon!
I think for a lot of people here it would be instructive to think about what it is, and look at examples of things that are done primarily for show , as contrasted by things that are done with an earnest belief. A lot of people, when they find out that others admire them for something they do, shift their focus and lose the original authentic impulse. I think from what I remember, the substance of the movie “Tango” is merely “for show.”
When it comes to art it is easy to make this mistake, because the artist wants to show something. Plus, in dancing, when you do a choreography, you have to think about what the audience perceives. But this fact should not become a reason to bypass your own consciousness!
When you learn a social dance like A.T. it helps that you have one more consciousness to keep your head straight (your partner.) I’m not sure how this applies to ballroom though. Ballroom does not have a good record of adopting dances like swing and tango, as it looses a lot of the sweetness and expression of the originals and creates a bad charicature of them.
Incidentally, have you used any of the compositions by Astor Piazzola for your tango dances?
Piazzola created more modern music primarily for listening, not for dancing. Even though it is sophisticated music, qua tango music it didn’t retain the sophistication of the older tango music that makes it a joy to dance to.