At what age did you start dancing?

[pygmalion]

Just curious. At what age did you start dancing, formally and/or informally, and are there any pros or cons of the age at which you got started?

Yes, I know I'm mixing topics, here -- formal versus informal training mixed with age that one started dancing. For me, the two questions are intertwined. I danced informally around the house all the time as a child, but started formal training in my thirties. So yes, I know that there might not be a poll option that perfectly describes your situation. If that's true, select the "other" option and post your story. EM's want to know. :wink:

[DWise1]

Well, very first instruction was a couple ballroom classes in college when I was about 19. I used them to satisfy requirements for my most dreaded classes, PE. Never did learn to dance and the only music I could even begin to follow was for the tango. So I just figure that they don't really count.

I also tried attending a few dances (rock, c. 1970) and I guess I was half-way able to fake it (at least my partner didn't bust out laughing nor look away in disgust), but I had absolutely no idea where I was with regard to the music which was a very scary feeling for me. So I don't figure that that counts either.

For the next 28 years, I was a complete non-dancer and everybody had long given up on me.

I count the beginning of my dancing as being the intermediate Salsa classes I did after work (yes, intermediate; since they were my very first classes, I had no idea how incredibly over my head it really was). I was 48 at the time. That was almost exactly four years ago.

Before then, I was considered to be totally lacking in any sense of rhythm and, of course, I just could not hear in the music what everybody kept telling me to follow. Once I got started, it took about six months before I started to hear it (after a few months of beginning ECS) but then another year, about half-way through intermediate WCS, to finally be following it fairly well and reliably.

Pros and cons?

Con: I should have started a lot earlier in my life. Especially before my marriage started to disintegrate so that I could have had a real dance with my wife.

Pro: At least I didn't wait even longer and end up wasting even more of my life being a non-dancer.

The lesson my experience teaches:
It's never too late to start -- but don't put it off any longer. And if I can learn to dance, then anybody should be able to.

[pygmalion]

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)

[DWise1]

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

[dancin_feet]

I started formal training in jazz at the age of 9 because I was unco-ordinated as a child and was having problems with weak knees, ankles. I played netball at the time and was forever falling over my own feet. Dancing helped a lot and I ended up giving up netball and sticking with dancing, trying various styles until the age of about 14. I went to college and started work so I couldn't afford formal training anymore until I was 30. Have now been back for 12 months and it is like riding a bike, you don't forget, you just get out of practice! :D

[Sagitta]

I waited too long - 2003 - for any dance experience of any sort. I count my dance adventure as really starting late summer/early fall 2003. DF was one of the things that helped me going and encourage me to continue. Boriken's poetic descriptions of salsa which connected to my love of the music, and others too. The descriptions of latin motion that got me started, even though I do lots of heel dancing now due to big toe problems...

[DanceMentor]

23 ... I was out of college and had nothing to live for...then I found dancing! :lol:

[Sakura]

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

:shock: Isn't our motto on DF (among others!) that, "It's never too late to learn how to dance?!?!"

I'll have started a year ago in September. Along with suddenly being hit by my Nana and Granddaddy's stories of Dancing, being a high school kid with no sport in school that really calls to you (breaking your own nose in diving and having coaches that are more interested in torture and mocking you than helping you get better definitely drives you away from that sport... :evil: :cry: ) leads you to go, "Huh. I'm bored... I REALLY wanna dance... I hope there are some good studios close to this middle-of-nowhere town! Oooooh, Internet!"

And there was. And it's still good. And here I am now! Addicted and loving it, just like everyone else here on DF! :D

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[NeoDevin]

Well, I started tap, jazz, ballet and ukrainian when I was 3, but I quit for 10 years, before I got started on ballroom, which eventually led me back to tap and ballet.

[DWise1]

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

:shock: Isn't our motto on DF (among others!) that, "It's never too late to learn how to dance?!?!"

It most certainly is true that it's never too late to learn to dance. But I added that that is also no reason to postpone it any longer.

But I had interpreted Pygmalion as saying that she is in the same situation as I had expressed, that of having started too late to have been able to have had those very special dances with that special person you love and have shared the greater part of your life with. I know what you have told us about your grandfather and I know that it is painful for you. But think of what it would be like if the reason why you couldn't dance with him wasn't because of his health, but rather because his heart had turned cold against you. I am glad that you are not experiencing that and I do sincerely hope that you never will from anyone.

Or maybe I was just projecting and had misinterpreted her. I hope that was the case.


And in the meantime, going to dance classes and going out dancing lift my spirits like nothing else can. One woman commented to me once that she sees me always smiling and laughing in class. Of course, part of that is how I deal with being frustrated with myself; I just enjoy a good laugh at myself. I think it also takes some of the pressure off my partner.

[salsachinita]

Salsa & I found each other in my late teens, but I started the dancing part aged 19. The rest is well documented here in DF, I'm sure you all knew my stories backwards :roll: :lol: !

Before that, my vice had been acting, which I had to give up due to my own commitment to visual arts in senior years of highschool. The summer after graduation, I started salsa, with a kick-@ss ballroom wiz kid as my partner (hence I can sorta follow ballroom).

As a child I loved ballet but got excluded due to physical limitations :cry: . Since then I've done some jazz, flamenco, & lambada (these are dances beside Salsa, which is really what I live for).

I wish I had started earlier, but in hindsight, everything happens (or doesn't happen) for a reason. Perhaps I wouldn't have been ready to learn :? .......

[bjp22tango]

I danced around the house as a child, and I soaked up A LOT of ballroom and jazz unconciously watching old movies (fred & all his partners, gene kelly and all his partners) and picked up contemporary dance watching American Bandstand and Soul Train before ever having a place to take lessons. I had one year of ballet when I was 7. I was shy in the extreme in high school so didn't dance there. :oops:

When I got out of college I found swing lessons at the local community college. I also took Jazzercise, Belly Dance, Hula and Jazz classes . Then I moved to Maryland in my mid-twenties, found an independent dance studio, and the rest is history.

My favorite dance is the dance I am working on at any given moment, but I do especially like Rumba, Swing, Salsa, Samba, Hustle, NC2Step, Arg. Tango, and Quickstep.

Dance has enabled me to find many, many like minded friends who can relate to my fanatacism. I live in a rural area, so I have to travel 1 -3 hours for large dance venue opportunities. It means I have friends in all the large cities in my state.

If I could do it over, I would love to have been able to start earlier, but I consider myself very lucky to have started in my twenties. I know many people who didn't discover dance until almost retirement age!

[squirrel]

I started in December 2000 when I first went to a Salsa club... until that date, I had a few lessons of Ballet (very few) as a child, and liked it a lot, but my parents had me stop. Until the a.m. date, I only danced a few occasional dances at parties (blues... the grinding type :lol: ) and 'played' with my hair on hard rock music (my favourite at the time).
I don't regret I started dancing when I was around 25, because I had time to do other things too (read, listen to other music...). Now Salsa takes up most of my off-job time... :)... and some of the on-job time as well...

[Purr]

I started taking lessons right before my 36th birthday. That was 2 1/2 years ago. 8)

[MacMoto]

When I was about 5 or 6, I begged my mum to let me take ballet lessons. She took me to a "modern ballet" studio but didn't like the look of it so didn't enrol me. That was the end of my dream to become the next Margo Fontaine :lol:. I did a lot of freestyle club dancing in my early 20s (most friends went to clubs to drink, have a giggle and meet a member of the opposite sex; I went to dance :lol:), but as far as dance training goes, apart from odd folk dance and ceiligh dance lessons at school, I didn't have any until last year, when I started going to my first salsa/merengue classes.

I do wish I had started earlier, but if I did get my ballet training as a child, my life might have turned out very different, and I might not have discovered salsa.

* I never thought I could be described as "a young adult"... :oops: Doesn't that label usually apply to people in their early 20s?

[SuzieQ]

I started dancing at age 48. I wasn't allowed to dance when I was growing up, and basically never thought it was something I could do. My younger daughter started taking swing dance classes and I would sit and watch. She taught me to lead so she could practice. I finally decided to join in the class and was hooked. We do ballroom, swing and country-western and for the last three years have been competing pro-am in country-western. My husband also has started to dance. We have a wonderful teacher.

[pygmalion]

Yay! SusieQ! :banana:

Welcome to the forums. :D

[Vince A]

I voted in the "over 40" category.

Although a dancer since age 13 - I wanted to dance and dance at that age. I loved it. And I worked hard at learning, and I attribute dance as one of my most valuable asset that I used to . . . "seduce" . . . for lack of a better word, females - not at 13, but an older age of course.

I kinda lived by and believed the saying, "that a man who moves well on the dance floor, moves well in the sack!" So, I kinda of lived by this . . . oh, what a slut I was. Got that??? WAS!

I still try to be sexy on the dance floor, but most of the time, it is very reserved, unless dancing with my wife.

Dancing at age age can do nothing but good for anyone - your psyche, your self-esteem, your love life, your health, etc.

[Sakura]

ND, it's good to see you back here on DF! You've been gone for some time! :D

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

:shock: Isn't our motto on DF (among others!) that, "It's never too late to learn how to dance?!?!"

It most certainly is true that it's never too late to learn to dance. But I added that that is also no reason to postpone it any longer.

But I had interpreted Pygmalion as saying that she is in the same situation as I had expressed, that of having started too late to have been able to have had those very special dances with that special person you love and have shared the greater part of your life with. I know what you have told us about your grandfather and I know that it is painful for you. But think of what it would be like if the reason why you couldn't dance with him wasn't because of his health, but rather because his heart had turned cold against you. I am glad that you are not experiencing that and I do sincerely hope that you never will from anyone.

:cry: :cry: :cry: I'm very sorry to hear that that happened to you... I hope that continuing to dance helps dull that pain.

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[DWise1]

ND, it's good to see you back here on DF! You've been gone for some time! :D

Dwise1. I waited too late, too. :( 8)
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

:shock: Isn't our motto on DF (among others!) that, "It's never too late to learn how to dance?!?!"

It most certainly is true that it's never too late to learn to dance. But I added that that is also no reason to postpone it any longer.

But I had interpreted Pygmalion as saying that she is in the same situation as I had expressed, that of having started too late to have been able to have had those very special dances with that special person you love and have shared the greater part of your life with. I know what you have told us about your grandfather and I know that it is painful for you. But think of what it would be like if the reason why you couldn't dance with him wasn't because of his health, but rather because his heart had turned cold against you. I am glad that you are not experiencing that and I do sincerely hope that you never will from anyone.

:cry: :cry: :cry: I'm very sorry to hear that that happened to you... I hope that continuing to dance helps dull that pain.

Sakura Kitty :kitty:
Thank you. Though it's actually in the midst of happening and hasn't even begun to crescendo yet. And I do apologize for being such a downer. I want to and need to keep the dancing part of my life as positive as I can, which is why I've hesitated contributing to the current "X-Factor" thread. Maybe I should after all, but try to keep it much more "up".

And yes, dance does help very much. There's something about the positive social contact with women who actually seem to be glad to see me that has a healing effect on me. And I'm sure that it will also help me weather through the worst that is yet to come.

And, I think, that is all I should say about that (except for the promised "X-Factor" contribution). What's the next number the band's going to play?

[SuzieQ]

I forgot--I also take a ballet class twice a week. It has really helped with my dancing--balance, flexibility, etc. :D

[Kitty]

I voted "other"

I started in the middle of college, but I haven't "danced informally as a child".