(no subject)

[sorcyress]

Talking with Kyu has made me realize that I'm really the only person I know who dearly likes both (what I've termed) proper and improper dancing.

The difference is that 'proper' dancing is the stuff I do more often --stuff that has actual steps, patterns, accepted positions for dancing in. SCD, vintage, regency, all ballroom ever, contra ...all proper stuff. Swing too, for the most part, though occasionally I meet someone who doesn't have any idea what the steps are, but still knows how to lead (or let me lead them) and we can just screw around and move.

Improper stuff is what happens at prom, in clubs, at the college dances I go to occasionally, at the Otakon rave. It doesn't have any steps, there are no official positions, and you can't really be any better than anyone else, you can just have more rhythm and less self-consciousness. All it takes is listening to the beat and letting your body move.

In proper dancing, it's about the people. It's about smiling and flirting, light touches, and having two -or four, or six, or eight, or more people work as one glorious well-oiled machine. It's social.

In improper, it's about yourself. It's about closing your eyes and turning the music up so high that you can't have any other thoughts in your brain past just moving. Sure, there are other people around, and at times, you might even be dancing with them. But you're not dancing *with* them, not really, you're just each your own little island, wrapped in music that happen to intersect for a moment.

Proper dancing is for extroverts. Improper is for introverts.

And I dearly love them both.

~Sor
MOOP!

Comments

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

I've been known to waltz with my eyes closed and all for myself, does that count? (Definitely introvert here. And for the longest time I felt much as blaisepascal describes, until I decided that my "proper" moves are so awesome that they'd fit into an "improper" crowd, too, and feel perfectly at ease after getting the vague idea of what the other folks are about.)

I also totally thought "proper and improper dancing... the kind with the lady on the right and on the left?"

[blaisepascal]

In part response to your comment on my journal...this is an example of why I like you ;-).

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Which? The waltzing for myself, the intraversion, the awesome moves, or the country-dance dorkitude?

[blaisepascal]

A little of all; definitely the "country-dance dorkitude", but all have parts I like. Although I admit it is to a certain degree the parts where you agree with me ;-).

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.