The biggest change dance has made in my life ...

Just wondering. I'll go first.

It's given me self-confidence on a physical level. I've never been good at organized sports or other large-motor things, and dance has given me the confidence to get up and use my body in ways I never used to feel comfortable doing.

It's also helped me tap into emotions that, because of my introspective/analytical personality, I used to bury beneath the surface.

Probably other stuff I can't think of at the moment, too.

How about you?

pygmalion said:

Just wondering. I'll go first.

It's given me self-confidence on a physical level. I've never been good at organized sports or other large-motor things, and dance has given me the confidence to get up and use my body in ways I never used to feel comfortable doing.

It's also helped me tap into emotions that, because of my introspective/analytical personality, I used to bury beneath the surface.

Probably other stuff I can't think of at the moment, too.

How about you?

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Much the same for me, it helped me to get out of my shell (I was VERY shy at one time) and gave me a wonderful form of exercise/social interaction that I love to this day, and it's a FARRRR sight prettier than going to the gym! It also helped me asa musician to become more solidified in my rhtyhm.

Salsa gave me a reason to get well again after a time of illness.

Salsa helped me to heal a damage of the brain. (Adrenaline and cortisol actually burn the fat tissue your brain is made of)

Salsa helped me to endure stress. All impressions - the steps, the patterns, the music, the partner(s), the chats did (in the beginning) put me into a state where stress hormones where owerflowing. But my wish to dance helped me over that obstacle. Even in every day life AND work.

Salsa gave me a lot of new fiends.

Salsa gave me a much better physique.

Salsa gave me chance to stand in the spotlights again. Not in a literal sense. It gave me a chance to feel that I was OK and sometimes even better than OK. And since I truly am an exhibitionist - the spotlights will suit me fine (the day I'm good enough :wink: )

Salsa let the sunshine into my life again!

/Lucretia

8) Growth 8)

i dont know

i've been dancing as far as i was/am aware.. so, i guess, to me.. its, well.. life..?

so, life has been the biggest change in my life :mrgreen:

It made me feel really alive... and changed me into a dancer, which I had never been before... . Still makes me feel alive...

chiwenl said:

• Dancing makes me drop inches/weights, which I never thought about before. I wear a 12, which is quite normal in the normal world, but fat in the dance world. I have dropped some inches, and I want to get rid of more for my competitions!

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Dance has made you more weight conscious?

Dance gave me something new to focus on, after I lost aikido that used to be a major part of my life. For some time I wondered about doing a little bit of this and a little part of that, but was unable to find a new drug that was equally addictive. Now it seems I have...

pygmalion said:

chiwenl said:

• Dancing makes me drop inches/weights, which I never thought about before. I wear a 12, which is quite normal in the normal world, but fat in the dance world. I have dropped some inches, and I want to get rid of more for my competitions!

Click to expand...

Dance has made you more weight conscious?

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most definetly, Yep!

Partner dance has made me more aware of my physical appearance in general.

Dancing has given me back some of the self-confidence that I lost years ago. I can't begin to tell you how much happier I am now. I feel much better about myself and seem to have a new lease on life. Prior to dancing my life was bleak with very little joy. Now, even though I'm an introvert, I'm slowly coming out of my shell and being more outgoing. Dancing has helped me maintain a normal (lower) weight, improve my posture, and (as I'm told at every lesson) keep my head up. HOORAY for dancing!

I have to add a "me too"! to all the comments about dancing adding confidence back into life. Dance is something that I can excel at -- and being good at something is just a fantastic experience. I think being good at dance has helped to keep me from feeling like a FAILURE when I fail at something. Does that make any sense?

It's also making me more comfortable with being sexy, which is something I was always kind of afraid of. :raisebro:

Dance has also given me an outlet for my competitive spirit, which is very strong. It's good for stuff like that to have a healthy outlet! :-D

In terms of physical fitness, I've been blessed with a relatively low-maintenance body and my reserve duty has been my main motivator to exercise. Though I don't enjoy it much and I especially do not like the running, so I don't follow as regular an exercise schedule as I should.

Last month the Navy gave me my annual physical. After my EKG was completed, the corpsman looked at it and commented that judging from my pulse rate I must run a lot. No, not really. It wasn't until I was down the hall approaching the next station that it hit me: it must be the dancing, especially the Lindy.


And it was dancing that motivated me to start pilates training, because I found that I needed to strengthen my core to keep from injuring myself in Lindy. Now I've found that I no longer wake up in the morning with a sore back and I have far fewer minor back injuries.


But the biggest change that dancing has made in my life has been social. I am extremely shy and very uncomfortable in most social situations, especially when it involves approaching strangers and most especially when those strangers are women. Dancing has helped me to develop social skills and confidence that enable me to function comfortably enough in those situations and to actually want to seek them out (eg, go out dancing).

If my wife had chosen to divorce me before I learned to dance, she would have doomed me to live out the rest of my life in miserable loneliness. I doubt that I ever would try to learn dancing, because I had already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was totally devoid of any sense of rhythm and totally incapable of ever learning.

But now dance has given me the confidence to be able to go out and meet new people, thus giving me the opportunity to meet that special somebody. And all the positive social contact dancing has provided me is helping to counter the negative self-image that I had started out with and that my wife has been augmenting; I can actually start to consider that I might be worthy of being loved after all.

Ironically, it was because of my wife that I had started learning to dance and that I was able to remain motivated to tough out those first 1.5 years that it took for me to finally be able to hear and follow the beat.

sunderi said:

It's also making me more comfortable with being sexy, which is something I was always kind of afraid of. :raisebro:

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Alright sunderi! It was your thread on being sexy that inspired me out of lurker status. I'm becoming more comfortable with being sexy as well.
So... :raisebro: ...right back at you!