Dancing without music
Ioan Mitrea
I've just discovered this newsgroup and I'm quite astonished and even a little
disappointed that everyone is talking about ballroom dancing.
What I like about dancing is that it's the most natural and free way of
expressing yourself, maybe even of discovering yourself. Or, how can you
express yourself when you have concentrate all your attention on the right
steps you have to make ? Dancing becomes then a codifed way of expression and
most of the emotion is gone.
So what do you think about dancing on your own inner music, or on the music of
the wind , of the trees or of the rain?
Sincerely, Ioan
R. Gray
>... how can you
> express yourself when you have concentrate all your attention on the right
> steps you have to make ? Dancing becomes then a codifed way of expression and
> most of the emotion is gone.
Ah, I've heard *this* before. But I've never bothered to answer, so
here's a good opportunity.
The steps are just the alphabet, not the language. Ballroom dancers
learn patterns and partnering skills, ballet dancers do barre work, jazz
and modern dancers each learn their canon of contortions. But the dancing
doesn't reside in the vocabulary.
Partner dancing, and swing in particular, has plenty of room for
improvisation and expression. In fact, it's the whole point of the
dance. All the steps just provide a framework to "hang jewelry on," as
Rebecca Shulman puts it. Over time, one does *not* have to concentrate
all one's attention on the steps, and can free up the imagination and
energy. But always, always, there is awareness of the partner. Some may
find that restrictive, but it's a restriction I'll happily accommodate!
> So what do you think about dancing on your own inner music, or on the music of
> the wind , of the trees or of the rain?
Oh, we have plenty of that going on here in progressive Ithaca! :)
Aesthetically it doesn't do much for me, though.
Somewhat related: A friend of mine has a huge collection of dancing on
video, including dozens of amazing clips from some of the more obscure old
movies. One scene showed a man dancing solo (tap and jazz, athletic, like
Gene Kelly) to the radio. The station kept getting switched, so he'd have
to change his dancing accordingly. At the end the radio was tuned to a
voice making a speech, and damned if he didn't dance to that too, picking
up the rhythms and cadences of the voice!
A friend of mine quotes Isadora Duncan in his .sig quote: [Great dancing
is] "the highest mind in the freest body."
Robinne Gray
rl...@cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY
Icono Clast
Ioan Mitrea:
MI}What I like about dancing is that it's the most natural and free
}way of expressing yourself, maybe even of discovering yourself.
So far, so good.
MI}how can you express yourself when you have concentrate all your
}attention on the right steps you have to make ?
Once you become an accomplished dancer, when your mind and muscles
have learned what, how, and when to do it, you have considerable
freedom to express yourself whether you're Leading or Following.
I've often said that it's just as much fun to sit and watch at
a Swing dance as it is to be on the floor. Everyone is doing the same
thing. Everyone doesn't look like anyone else. Why? Because each
dancer is expressing the dance as an individual. When one individual
then dances with another, the way the dance is presented can change so
dramatically that you can hardly believe it's the same dancer. The
variety is limited to the total of dancers, partnerings, music, and
magic. I'll let you do the math.
MI}Dancing becomes then a codifed way of expression and most of the
}emotion is gone.
Never seen The Dying Swan, have you.
MI}So what do you think about dancing on your own inner music, or on
}the music of the wind, of the trees or of the rain?
I went to go to work but wasn't hired. Before leaving, I made a 'phone
call. Another was anxious to use the 'phone. As I hung up I commented
that "I was arranging for sex". "You have two good hands, don't you?
What do you need the 'phone for?"
So that's what I "think about dancing on your own".
---
* SLMR 2.1a #346 * Don't step on my chrome suede shoes -- Richard Stoll
Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems
> Hi everyone!
>
> I've just discovered this newsgroup and I'm quite astonished and even a little
> disappointed that everyone is talking about ballroom dancing.
rec.arts.dance was originally chartered as being a home for discussion
of ~"all forms of dance not specifically covered by other newsgroups".
It happens that most of us who are now the group's "regulars" are into
ballroom and swing. This does not preclude, and certainly should not
discourage, other folks with other interests from opening up threads
here.
Please stay, and don't be discouraged if threads on your interests are
few and far between for a while; it was a LONG time before r.a.d
reached the "critical mass" of ballroom dancers you see here today.
> What I like about dancing is that it's the most natural and free way of
> expressing yourself, maybe even of discovering yourself. Or, how can you
> express yourself when you have concentrate all your attention on the right
> steps you have to make ? Dancing becomes then a codifed way of expression and
> most of the emotion is gone.
> So what do you think about dancing on your own inner music, or on the music of
> the wind , of the trees or of the rain?
>
> Sincerely, Ioan
For myself, I *appreciate* the structure that the "basic steps" of
ballroom and swing lend to the dance -- because I have too many
inhibitions, or not enough confidence, or something, to simply dance
as you describe it. (And I envy those, like you, who can.)
But don't sell ballroom and swing too short when it comes to creative
expression. There is plenty of attention left over for
interpretation, once the basic steps are learned -- you need pay no
more attention to them than you do to the basic steps of walking.
It seems to me that what you are describing (which I don't do) has a
similar relationship to ballroom and swing dancing that purely
abstract painting does to representational painting. One may paint
in, for example, an impressionist style while still depicting one's
own interpretation of the scene; but an abstract painting depicts
nothing but the artist's inner feelings?
--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego CA
Internet: j...@cmkrnl.com (JH645) CompuServe: 74140,2055
Kace Ong
> Somewhat related: A friend of mine has a huge collection of dancing on
>video, including dozens of amazing clips from some of the more obscure old
>movies. ...
>
>Robinne Gray
>rl...@cornell.edu
>Ithaca, NY
Hi Robinne -- I have been trying to collect these dance video clips too!
Gee.. do you think your friend could make copies? I'll pay for the
costs, of course.
--
~~~~"I'd engage you in a battle of wit but I refuse~~~~
to fight an unarmed man." -- Cyrano de Bergerac
Kace Ong <ka...@technet.sg> Tel: 637-3512
TELEMATIQUE______8B Ann Siang Hill_______SINGAPORE 0106