Wouldbe
31st-May-2007, 12:24 AM
After only dancing for just over a year I felt I needed a bit more from modern jive dancing than a beginners class and an intermediate class. It's not that I didn't feel challenged any more by intermediate moves, it's that I started to forget a lot of those I'd learned because they were all beginning to blur into a few similar sorts of shapes and that my dancing was becoming repetitive. Anyone I danced with more than once in the course of an evening would be subjected to the same set of moves limited to what I could remember, and I felt "This is not what it's all about".
For me, injecting playfulness into dancing has been a real turn-around. It felt a bit forced at first, taking more daring than I thought I was brave enough for, but in playing/flirting/wiggling more and generally taking it all less seriously my confidence has really increased, so I push boundaries even further, and I find myself enjoying my dances a lot more again. [I don't ever cross the line of decency though - at least I hope not!]
Part of this process for me has been learning to follow - I have to laugh at myself doing this because I'm unlearning a lot of what I've been taught as a lead and mistakes come in their droves! There are also those moments where, if I dance with another guy, there's a nervous tension that I shouldn't be holding his hand or touching his shoulder that creases me up mid-dance everytime. This is why I try to have at least one dance like this per dance night - recommend it to anyone for the amusement factor.
On Saturday at a freestyle I was dancing with another guy and a girl came running over, hijacked us and led us two complete novices through a whole song double-trouble. That took my evening to a new level again - WOW, so much fun, and for her courageousness...
:respect: Feel free (you know who you are) to strike again anytime... in fact, that's an open invitation... don't be shy!
So what's my point? Well, do other people like to be surprised by their dancing in this, or other ways? Do people prefer to take their dancing seriously, concentrating on good technique and style, and feeling proud at the end of a dance? Would other people like to feel able to take it all less seriously but they're finding it so damned difficult to stay upright that they daren't relax? Has anyone gone through a similar mind-process about their own dancing? Just me being nosey, really, I guess! No poll this time though, I promise.
For me, injecting playfulness into dancing has been a real turn-around. It felt a bit forced at first, taking more daring than I thought I was brave enough for, but in playing/flirting/wiggling more and generally taking it all less seriously my confidence has really increased, so I push boundaries even further, and I find myself enjoying my dances a lot more again. [I don't ever cross the line of decency though - at least I hope not!]
Part of this process for me has been learning to follow - I have to laugh at myself doing this because I'm unlearning a lot of what I've been taught as a lead and mistakes come in their droves! There are also those moments where, if I dance with another guy, there's a nervous tension that I shouldn't be holding his hand or touching his shoulder that creases me up mid-dance everytime. This is why I try to have at least one dance like this per dance night - recommend it to anyone for the amusement factor.
On Saturday at a freestyle I was dancing with another guy and a girl came running over, hijacked us and led us two complete novices through a whole song double-trouble. That took my evening to a new level again - WOW, so much fun, and for her courageousness...
:respect: Feel free (you know who you are) to strike again anytime... in fact, that's an open invitation... don't be shy!
So what's my point? Well, do other people like to be surprised by their dancing in this, or other ways? Do people prefer to take their dancing seriously, concentrating on good technique and style, and feeling proud at the end of a dance? Would other people like to feel able to take it all less seriously but they're finding it so damned difficult to stay upright that they daren't relax? Has anyone gone through a similar mind-process about their own dancing? Just me being nosey, really, I guess! No poll this time though, I promise.