Dance Better Now

Is dance like riding a bike?

Many people assume that dance is like riding a bike. Once they get to a certain level of dance they assume will be able to take leave of dance for an extended period. When they return to dance they then also assume it will be with enough skill to practically pick up where they left off (or maybe a little behind). Is this really the case?

If it were the case, then it would be assumed that much of dance can be automated and that little mental effort is required to dance. However, it has been shown that dance is one of the best ways to prevent dementia. The reason for this is that dance works many parts of the brain at the same time. This includes the parts of the brain that are not associated with automated processes – like the parts of the brain that you sue when riding a bike. If dance uses those parts of the brain that are not the automatic parts, then you need to keep up your practice. This was an observation made by James Joseph in his book “Every Man’s Survival Guide to Ballroom Dancing: Ace Your Wedding Dance and Keep Cool on a Cruise, at a Formal, and in Dance Classes” who put people who have had lessons a few years back into the category of people who can’t dance.

 

It would certainly seem that dance is not that much like a riding a bike.

For leads, figures can be forgotten. Follows are a little more fortunate if they focus on following such that they need not remember figures. However, the more subtle the figure the greater the chance that you will not recall all the figures you know.

You possibly will maintain your rhythm, and be able to step in time - for me this is kind of the case (I never had timing so I seem to lose that first). You might also recall how to learn dance so that you could get back into it faster. However, learning is one of those things that you lose if you do not use it. Therefore, if you stop dancing for a while, then you will likely find that you forget most of what you know. I have found that event focusing on one style (say swing) at the expanse of another (say street Latin) can result on the latter dance becoming poorer. Thus, I would have to say that you can;t hope that doing one dance will maintain your ability in another dance.

This is not such an issue; it simply means that you should keep dancing.

You need not keep taking lessons to maintain your dance. Once you get to a reasonably level (after about a year or so) you can simply dance socially on a regular basis (especially if you dance socially while learning) to maintain your skills. In fact, you will probably find that you will be able to simply watch others dance, reverse engineer their figures and then master them. That will definitely maintain your dance ability.

Don’t feel you need to keep taking lesson, but make sure you keep dancing. You can always go back to the lessons as you need to though.

What is real tango, samba, salsa, waltz etc.?

A few days back I was looking at a video of a samba dance that I was going to post on the facebook page. I liked the song so I went through the comments to see if anyone has mentioned what it was. Here’s the video – I still haven’t found the name of the song so if you know the details of the song that starts at 1:05 (I know the Shakira song) then please leave a comment below this post.

 

As I read through the comments I saw the type of comment that you will often find on such videos. Many people stating that it is not samba or that you can’t call it samba. Then there were others who tried to clarify that it was what’s known as international standard samba.

Some of the comments got a bit more serious. Suggesting that this was a very serious issues to them.

It is a common discussion that you will hear people having. What is the traditional (often implied or inferred to mean correct) way to dance a certain dance. We all, especially when we start dancing, worry that we are not learning it correctly.

Well here’s the low down on this topic.

It’s all made up. Dance is not like the laws of nature where we are trying to understand the facts and actual goings on. It’s not even like the laws of society where we enforce rules with punishment. It is instead an art. There might be rules for competitions or guidelines so that you can easily dance with others, but it’s not the case the dance is regimented and that there is an absolute way to dance.

If you consider the less regulated dances such as street Latin, then it is a form of dance that evolved and the continued to evolve. This means that to say that there is a proper form one needs to pick the point in its evolution that should be the reference point. That’s tricky. Even the regulated dances can change over time as new rules are introduced and people try things within the constraints of the rules. And even then there can be other variations. There are over 30 types of waltz, which we think of being very regulated, and they are all rather different - yet they are called waltz. Interestingly enough, this seems to be the style that few have issues with - I can't recall many Austrians complaining much about how waltz is danced in blues.

No matter the dance you can’t argue that there is a proper way to dance it. Even if you try to go to the country of origin of a dance (which is the default of people, trying to prove they know a dance better than others) you will probably find that different regions of that same country used the same name for the same dance, but performed it differently.

The fact is that dance evolves and you can see numerous approaches to a dance (and music) with the same name. There is not international treaty to codify and legally enforce the style of a dance – dance, as good as it is, just isn’t that important.

The best thing to keep in mind when you get dragged into such a conversation is the following:

• Dance evolves so you can never really say what the proper form is
• Each type of dance can have different approaches and it is best to simply acknowledge them as different dances with different histories, but the same name
• If it is done differently from what you know, then you simply have a chance to learn a new dance
• You can have a preference, but that’s your preference, and it does not make one dance better than another
• When experienced dancers hear people having such a conversation they simply view those people as being ignorant of how dance works and pretentious