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Thread: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

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    Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    I was wondering what people's views were on the subject of chemistry between dancers, really whether it's something that's just there (like fancying someone the moment you see them) or something which can be worked on and develops over time?

    Some people are very easy to click with when you dance with them, but is this dependent on whether your personal styles gel at some level or another, or is it based (sometimes) on considerations such as the fact that they're a friendly or engaging person, or make you laugh, or one of any number of factors which means you like someone?

    Furthermore, do you have to (on some level) actually have to vaguely fancy the person you're dancing with to have true chemistry with them? A lot was made of the alleged 'chemistry' between various couples on SCD, but this was presumably a device to bump up ratings. Amongst professional dance couples, is it more a case of the fact that they seek each other out because they're a) technically very accomplished, b) physically matched in terms of height and age, rather than some mystical idea of chemistry? Presumably a competition dancer is, on one level, an actor, so it doesn't matter what they feel, so long as they can project the mood of love, or anger, or flirtation, to an audience?

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    Registered User Feelingpink's Avatar
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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    My theory is that it depends on what each of the two people believe is important. So, for me, musical interpretation is key. If I want to find the 'perfect' dance partner, that's going to be important to them as well. (Conversely, me pairing with someone who is moves motivated or likes fast music is unlikely to be a heavenly partnership).

    On the 'fancying' aspect, I don't believe you have to for chemistry. One of my favourite dancers is someone I don't fancy in the least, but it's incredibly comfortable being physically very close (and he always smells nice). If you watched us dance, you might assume we were interested in each other, but we aren't (& it's a shame we haven't danced for a long time).

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Terpsichorea View Post
    whether it's something that's just there (like fancying someone the moment you see them) or something which can be worked on and develops over time?
    Both.

    Quote Originally Posted by Terpsichorea View Post
    Furthermore, do you have to (on some level) actually have to vaguely fancy the person you're dancing with to have true chemistry with them?
    Yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by Terpsichorea View Post
    Presumably a competition dancer is, on one level, an actor, so it doesn't matter what they feel, so long as they can project the mood of love, or anger, or flirtation, to an audience?
    Sure - but also, if you don't have to put effort into acting, then you've got a massive advantage, because it's always easier to be convincingly true than to be convincingly false.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    On the 'fancying' aspect, I don't believe you have to for chemistry. One of my favourite dancers is someone I don't fancy in the least, but it's incredibly comfortable being physically very close .
    The word comfortable is key, you need to feel relaxed with the partner. For some this takes time to achieve for others it is instant. You can also lose connection with someone if for some reason they breach your trust and you become uncomfortable near them.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    I think you need to separate dance chemistry and personal/sexual chemistry. Though they may often be found together I don't believe that one is reliant upon the other.

    I have found that dance chemistry can often change over time and people with whom I have felt very compatible when dancing with in the past may no longer feel the same. There are also people with whom I relate well at a personal level and/or find sexually attractive but with whom (IMO at least) the dance chemistry is minimal or even non-existent.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cruella View Post
    The word comfortable is key, you need to feel relaxed with the partner. For some this takes time to achieve for others it is instant. You can also lose connection with someone if for some reason they breach your trust and you become uncomfortable near them.
    without a shaddow of a doubt that is true

    Quote Originally Posted by Terpsichorea View Post
    Some people are very easy to click with when you dance with them, but is this dependent on whether your personal styles gel at some level or another, or is it based (sometimes) on considerations such as the fact that they're a friendly or engaging person, or make you laugh, or one of any number of factors which means you like someone?
    First thing i always talk while i am dancing with someone i havent danced with before normally trying to be funny (doesnt always work).
    I dont take myself too seriously and am certainly not looking for a life or a competition partner (i dont want to compete) so nothing really matters as regards to whether i click with the person i am dancing with Without being big headed about it i think i can hold my own as a dance partner keep it simple and keep it smooth is what i try to do. . Funnily enough because its not that important as far as my life is concerned it seems to work without trying.
    dancing for me is a hobby and for me hobbies have to be fun

    As for fancying someone well i have had some great dances lately with people who are completely not my type

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    I don't believe you have to be sexually attracted to the person you're dancing with to have good dancing chemistry, for example. I came second in the Open Blues Champs which were held at Breeze - October 2007 with drathzel and I had no sexual feelings for her, I can't speak for her, but she's very happy with where she is in life at the moment (in regards to her and her bloke) and I definately am not her type.

    To have good dance chemistry I think you need to gel well together, when you dance with them, it should be like dancing with an extension of yourself, rather than another single human being, you become one and as such, move as one. It's a strange feeling and I can count on my hands the amount of people I can do this with.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Personally I think that the dance is a performance - an act. Flirting, dramatising and generating some chemistry between partners is part of it. And as with most great acting, subtlty is what makes it spark/sparkle.

    If you ham it up too much, it looks hammed up and fake - a pantomime. If you subtaly seduce and entice your partner, it generates chemistry rather than indifference. Most of it is paying attention to your partner, or keeping their attention on you. If you can do this with a smile, then you are well on the way towards having a good chemistry on the dance floor

    If you "connect" with your partner as well as having chemistry, then you have a brilliant dance floor coupling.


    Ooooh an old 2003 thread ...
    Injecting a little passion
    and I've also got this:
    Online workshop: Sensual Dancing

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie View Post
    To have good dance chemistry I think you need to gel well together, when you dance with them, it should be like dancing with an extension of yourself, rather than another single human being, you become one and as such, move as one. It's a strange feeling and I can count on my hands the amount of people I can do this with.
    Hmm, sounds a bit like a certain other act

    Guess that's where a lot of the confusion comes from

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by robd View Post
    I think you need to separate dance chemistry and personal/sexual chemistry. Though they may often be found together I don't believe that one is reliant upon the other.

    I have at times danced with a few people for the first time, don't know them whats so ever, and we have had an amazing electifying dance. For me the connection is when the partner is able to interpret the music, dancing with me and allowing me time to do some shines,giving me all their attention, having a sense of fun and playfullness with the music,and leading me, not so much with moves, but with ideas and interpretation,telling a story. I don't believe you have to be sexually attracted to someone to have a connection on the dance floor.
    if you love the life you live then you'll get a lot more done

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Chemistry is there regardless of fancying that person or not in my experience if you have a connection.

    If a good dancer can make you feel special for the track of that song and make ya heart beat a little faster cause your so together then they turn into Brad Pitt. When music stops, as if by magic, Joe Ugly re-appears but there is something special that you keep with you and stays when you see that dancer. However, there is the odd occassion im sure when both are there.

    The dance world enables many an ugly man to get laid. Thats what does it, seduction on the dance floor via good connection during dancing.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    Hmm, sounds a bit like a certain other act

    Guess that's where a lot of the confusion comes from
    I think the confusion comes from what we feel when we experience real connection on the dance floor. I'm not talking about those brilliant dances that leave you wanting more, or the dances where you just seem to gel. I am talking about those mind blowing exceptional dances that you just can't put words to, just can't explain what you feel. These dances don't leave you wanting more. With these dancers a second dance would be dangerous!

    The feelings experienced during one of these dances are difficult to describe and difficult to understand. They make you excited. Too excited. They leave you feeling giddy in a way that doesn't seem to make sense and you just don't understand. The only other time you experience this in life tends to be with your sexual partner. This is where the confusion comes in.

    As a very happily married woman who dances with many men I have had lots of discussions with my husband about the different types of connections on the dance floor. There is only one other dancer who leaves me feeling giddy and I had issues with this. I actually felt guilty. Stokie knows when I have danced with him just by the look on my face afterwards. This guilt and the way he left me feeling was an issue for me. I didn't understand it.

    However I now understand a little more. It's just confusing those feelings and needing to put words to them and in doing so mistakenly linking them to the other times when I have felt them which have always been sexual.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirlie Bird View Post
    I think the confusion comes from what we feel when we experience real connection on the dance floor. I'm not talking about those brilliant dances that leave you wanting more, or the dances where you just seem to gel. I am talking about those mind blowing exceptional dances that you just can't put words to, just can't explain what you feel. These dances don't leave you wanting more. With these dancers a second dance would be dangerous!

    The feelings experienced during one of these dances are difficult to describe and difficult to understand. They make you excited. Too excited. They leave you feeling giddy in a way that doesn't seem to make sense and you just don't understand. The only other time you experience this in life tends to be with your sexual partner. This is where the confusion comes in.

    As a very happily married woman who dances with many men I have had lots of discussions with my husband about the different types of connections on the dance floor. There is only one other dancer who leaves me feeling giddy and I had issues with this. I actually felt guilty. Stokie knows when I have danced with him just by the look on my face afterwards. This guilt and the way he left me feeling was an issue for me. I didn't understand it.

    However I now understand a little more. It's just confusing those feelings and needing to put words to them and in doing so mistakenly linking them to the other times when I have felt them which have always been sexual.
    I have only had this "connection" with one guy... Chemistry on the dance floor can be confused sometimes with sexual chemistry but I have to say that I have only confused it the one time... Strange tho how dance chemistry works.. sometimes you can get it with the dancers you never thought you would "gel with"

    xx

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    The dance world enables many an ugly man to get laid. Thats what does it, seduction on the dance floor via good connection during dancing.

    Maybe this is how Ceroc should get more men into dancing.. I can see it on the flyers now......

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post

    The dance world enables many an ugly man to get laid. Thats what does it, seduction on the dance floor via good connection during dancing.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Interesting thread!

    For me, there are so many different variants of why I 'click' or don't 'click' with someone on the dance floor, it would be too hard to write a definitive post!

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post

    If a good dancer can make you feel special for the track of that song and make ya heart beat a little faster cause your so together then they turn into Brad Pitt. When music stops, as if by magic, Joe Ugly re-appears
    There's one guy I can think of and he's a 'wonderful' dancer and full of personality on the dance floor, a real WOW but one day I went and ruined everything by striking up a conversation, and Ugh ..he turned out to be a total nerd and grew more and more unattractive by the second

    I vowed to myself, never to talk to him again and banish that horrible memory from my head for ever I've thankfully managed to recapture a bit of the chemistry again, a few times now.. what a relief!

    On the other hand, I've had dances when the lead's not that great but they're totally charming, enthusiastic, humble and funny and they've made me feel incredibly special... those moments are priceless!
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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Caz View Post
    I can see it on the flyers now......
    UGLY?

    NOT EMPTIED YOUR LOVE PLUMS INTO A GORGEOUS LADY RECENTLY?

    CEROC CAN CHANGE ALL THAT


    "CEROC...BETTER THAN ROHYPNOL"
    Last edited by Double Trouble; 24th-January-2008 at 08:13 PM.

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    For me, chemistry is created by both dancers responding to the music and each other in a complementary way. That can involve a harmony where the dancing styles blend together (almost) seamlessly, or it can be a series of 'challenges' from one dancer - not necessarily the lead - to which the other responds, often by challenging back. The first case can sometimes result in time slowing down or my mind going into a trance-like state; the second can push my dancing to the limit, sharpen the senses to a fine point and create a sense of danger!

    Now I'm also trying to think whether there is anyone I've danced with who falls into both the above categories - and I think the answer is no.

    If I fancy my partner it does give the chemistry a head-start, but I can certainly connect with some partners that I don't fancy because we both share a similar response. I've not yet had a dance connection develop from nothing over time, but time can cause it to intensify...

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    The dance world enables many an ugly man to get laid.
    So what's the attraction for the ugly women?

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    Re: Chemistry between dancers - is it innate or can it be created?

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    UGLY?

    NOT EMPTIED YOUR LOVE PLUMS INTO A GORGEOUS LADY RECENTLY?

    CEROC CAN CHANGE ALL THAT


    "CEROC...BETTER THAN ROHYPNOL"

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