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Fuck, I Can't Dance (coordination)
Mertzy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
For the past year I've been attempting the art of dance, specifically swing dancing. The style and customization is very attractive to me, and I feel there's a lot of personality I can put in to it, but I've come to the slow, sad realization that my legs, hips, and the rest of my body are not cooperating. I daresay I have rhythm, but when it comes time to coordinate with a partner, let alone myself, my direction seems to falter. I've started working out a bit more to build muscle, which in my understanding helps a lot, but I'm still left cursing my whiteness.
Any suggestions? Methods do not have to cover swing dancing specifically.
Any suggestions? Methods do not have to cover swing dancing specifically.
THE END.
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My advice, then, would be to find someone you can practice with. Having a girlfriend helped me, but maybe you can even just grab a friend who's also interested, if a s/o is not a possibility. Head to Best Buy, buy one of their cheap $5-6 big band compilation CDs, pick out the tracks that are at a comfortable rhythm for you, and just practice.
Also, from what I can tell, muscle doesn't really have all that much to do with it. I'm in about average shape and I had no trouble getting started. For communication with your partner, it's all about frame and distribution of body weight. I'd explain those better but I'm not really good at that - I have just enough of an understanding to be able to lead effectively.
Just out of curiosity, what style of swing dancing are you attempting? My first experiences were with East Coast style, but I've seen West Coast and have tried Lindy Hop.. I find those significantly harder, at least for me. Maybe you can look into trying a different style and see if that works with your abilities better?
Or ballet, or ballroom. Anything that helps conenct you to underdstanding how your body moves will help.
If you don't mind me asking, how does one dance to goth/industrial music?
meh, if the person has fun dancing the way they want to, why not? It's only truly troublesome with specific dance styles, ie jazz, modern, swing, ballroom, etc
I second the motion to pick up some classes. If you really want to learn, you need an instructor who can help you out. Here at least, you can find about 2-3 months worth of intro classes for a decent price (sometimes coming twice a week, some places once, sometimes you can choose to drop in on extra classes). Hunt around a little, check out places where your first class is free so you can see if you learn well from the instructor, etc
Generally, it's 4/4 so pretty much everything works. But 2 step is pretty universally.
Continuous classes and practice.
Professional dancers have generally been dancing since they were babies.
I've been doing various styles of dance for about 2 years and would consider myself a beginner/lower intermediate, for example.
Also, the first few times I played some local shows with my band, I was a statue. I was nervous, but I also didn't really know how to move around to the type of music I listened to, but after I really got in the mood and played a few shows, I was really into it.
Good luck, I think you're going to have a lot of fun. Once I get married, I want to take some form of dance with my wife for fun.
There aren't specific steps or moves like Swing dancing. Industrial music is generally a faster beat compared to goth music. Then again, following the beat is optional.
I will say goth dance or a rivethead stomp isn't good for partner dancing.