dance
Thu Mar 23 11:08:37 EDT 2017
Maybe I "took" to contra dancing because it was the first dancing I'd ever done that was connected to the music. There'd been other forms of dancing, but it was just in time to the music, but not really connected to it; the music could have been almost anything. Ballroom dance was probably the worst about this, since (other than waltzes) it's 3-beat dances to 4-beat music. Dissing the music at a fundamental level.
There had been some square dancing somewhere in elementary-school P.E., but that never clicked. Nobody really wanted to be doing it. People weren't paying attention. The pace at which we were able to do it wasn't a tempo where anyone would see why it was - or could be - fun. And the other half had cooties. The sort of introduction that I'm sure put most people off it for life.
So the dancing most people do has no structure. Not to be confused with most of the dancing people do. Most people just don't dance. And occasionally they see people doing some kind of dance that does have structure, and it looks like some of them are having fun, but it doesn't look accessible.
Karl Senseman
I don't remember my first contra dance. I do remember my friend elissaanne insisting that we go. And I took to it. Some parts made sense; some didn't. (A few still seem arbitrary, and would be good points for brain-twisting new dances.) I met a lot of nice people. I (eventually) met my wife. (That hasn't been all good, in the long run, but it's not contra's fault.) It's been a reason to travel. And there have been mystical, magical evenings. [Boulder, Colorado]
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/875438.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Maybe I "took" to contra dancing because it was the first dancing I'd ever done that was connected to the music. There'd been other forms of dancing, but it was just in time to the music, but not really connected to it; the music could have been almost anything. Ballroom dance was probably the worst about this, since (other than waltzes) it's 3-beat dances to 4-beat music. Dissing the music at a fundamental level.
There had been some square dancing somewhere in elementary-school P.E., but that never clicked. Nobody really wanted to be doing it. People weren't paying attention. The pace at which we were able to do it wasn't a tempo where anyone would see why it was - or could be - fun. And the other half had cooties. The sort of introduction that I'm sure put most people off it for life.
So the dancing most people do has no structure. Not to be confused with most of the dancing people do. Most people just don't dance. And occasionally they see people doing some kind of dance that does have structure, and it looks like some of them are having fun, but it doesn't look accessible.
Karl Senseman
I don't remember my first contra dance. I do remember my friend elissaanne insisting that we go. And I took to it. Some parts made sense; some didn't. (A few still seem arbitrary, and would be good points for brain-twisting new dances.) I met a lot of nice people. I (eventually) met my wife. (That hasn't been all good, in the long run, but it's not contra's fault.) It's been a reason to travel. And there have been mystical, magical evenings. [Boulder, Colorado]
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/875438.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]