Escaped Thoughts

Mon, Sep 22, 2003

Dance Like Everybody Is Watching

I love dancing. I love actually doing it, and, as a general rule, I love watching it. But what I absolutely can't stand is watching people dance when they have no apparent interest in dancing. I'm not talking about the guy whose girlfriend dragged him to a dance lesson; I'm talking about people who dance competitively or in performances, but look bored... or worse, totally emotionless. Why are you there? Why are you forcing innocent people to watch you "dance"? We have even less interest in watching you than you appear to have in dancing, if such a thing is possible. This is why I've disliked every Argentine Tango demonstration I've seen. All the people I've seen seem to think that it's good to look bored and/or asleep while dancing it.

So for everyone's sake, learn to enjoy dancing—if you can't bear dance, we can't bear to watch. If that's too much to ask, then for crying out load, at least plaster a semi-realistic expression of some kind on your face. If you can learn complicated step, surely you can at least try to have an attitude of some kind.

And no, swishing your skirt (ladies) or wearing a loud shirt (gentlemen), does not magically give you attitude. The shirt just makes you look stupid.

Other's Thoughts

From the mind of cityZen Cane - Sat, Apr 16, 2005

In tango, I believe the facial expression is aimed at the person's partner. You are hardly worth my time. If you want my interest, you had better be _very_ good. Not so much a dance, as a challenge.
But maybe not in competitive dancing.

From the mind of na - Sun, Jan 13, 2008
insulted

us competitive dancers, know how to entertain. We wouldnt compete if that were the case. We know we are good and its about the feet work, not the face. watch the body move, thats the art of dance. And those "innocent people" can leave the theater if they dont like it. It wont hurt our feelings.

From the mind of Stuart - Sun, Feb 17, 2008

I did competitive dance for years, so spare me the "you are just too ignorant to understand the beauty of dance" attitude. I've seen plenty of fantastic competitors and performers, and they are the ones who understand that it's not just "about the feet work", it's about everything, including expressiveness.

Dance is about footwork the way acting is about lines. Would you watch plays if all the actors just stood on stage woodenly, reciting their lines with perfect accuracy, enunciation, and inflection, but without any emotion at all?

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