Sunday, September 16, 2012

Dancing Through Space & Time





Have you gone to a reception or a dance club where it is supposed to be an event for dancing and everyone there does not dance at all? The truth is, studies show that this is because not as many people today know how to dance to the music of today.  The United States of America is a nation made and literally held up by the melting pot of cultures that reside here and migrated here for a variety of reasons.  Not surprisingly, all of these cultures have their very own dances.  Many people who have their roots from other countries are taught these cultural dances as children.  The dilemma is that they do not know how to incorporate them in today's, "modern," music while paralyzed in performing them well to traditional music that they were accustomed to.  What we have to come to realize is that if we allow ourselves to do that, the culture itself will die gradually because of living in the past.

  An alternative to dancing to the cultural music is doing the dances to music of today that have the same beat or tempo as the music we were taught to dance to.  One example of this is the, "Salsa," from the Latin American cultures or Spanish cultures in Western Europe.  We can put this to many different kinds of beats in the so-called, "mainstream," music of today.  How about dances from India & Bollywood? Those are also very energetic dances that be applied to the music of today and the really fast-paced choreography taught to those who have the native blood in them.  What about America's very own Hip-Hop and Break-Dancing? To those who have learned it, you can use it anywhere in America if the music has the right tempo, using dances from today, all the way back to 1980's! There are so many possibilities, that it is not impossible for people not to know how to dance.  Hopping up and down, leg in leg out, that's a dance right there.  Although some people refrain from dancing because they feel they lack the skill or rhythm to do so, I would encourage everyone to try! They might even discover their own hidden passion for dance.  A few years ago, I never thought I would enjoy dancing, but after quite a few Zumba sessions, I was hooked!

2 comments:

  1. I don't think you left anything out. I believe as long as you have passion for music and dance, your heart and soul will pour out in your moves. Great perspective for such a young man.

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  2. Thank you for your kind words! I really appreciate it!

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