Structured Step Dances vs Free Style Couple Dancing

I can do some of the structured dances but, I have found that there aren't many places to use them. So, I just sort of made up my own version of a Latin Hustle that everyone likes. I have several dance partners and we often receive applause for our dancing. I've found some purists who frown on what I do. So, give me some opinions. Every structured dance was "made up" by someone at sometime.

Hi soldier111. Welcome. 8)

My two cents? Have fun with whatever dance you're doing. 8)

Being able to just simply go out and dance is something it's really easy for those of us working on formalized training to loose sight of.

It's easy to think of a syllabus as just a step list, but what the word really implies is a plan of studies. A syllabus of steps is a set of worked through examples for things that fit well into a sort of dance. Because of the existence of syllabus competitions we tend to think of that list as a limitation, but in reality it's just the starting point. Learning to make up things that fit into a dance is a key part of really learning that dance. It's like a foreign language - you do exercises in class, but if you want to really speak it you have to go out there and make yourself try. That's something you really can attempt at any point in the process of formally learning the language - if you wait through a few years of textbook study to try breaking the fluency barrier it may actually be harder - but when you do start talking with ease, it will be with better grammar than if you dove in after a few weeks. Syllabus-type training has its merits, but it's not the only way.

welcome to df. i have to admit that i am a rule breaker. a few years ago in college i had a dance partner who was a TA with me in a dance class. At one point during the class we were really bored doing the standard steps all the time so we would make up new ones. We would come up with some really biazarre new "basic" steps for waltz, foxtrot, salsa, everything. While our teacher wasn't always amused that we would do it in class she and the rest of the class did enjoy watching us from time to time. She like that we were experimenting with the way the body moves to differnt rythms and we weren't limitting ourselves to a single set of steps as the only way to do the salsa or waltz. of course the students were always amazed because they had never seen anything like it before.

i think experimentation is great and i love to blend dances together. i know there are some people who believe in keeping differnt styles of dance "seperate and pure" but i think its silly. Fortunately i haven't personally run into any problems like that.

keep those creative juices flowing

Man, you guys don't waste time posting replies. I'm in Odessa, Ukraine, and its only 7:45 AM here. Clubs open from 10 PM until 5 and 6 AM. American style dancing is new here. For some reason they call it "Swayze" dancing, probably due to the movie "Dirty Dancing". The local people are anxious to learn - well, at least the women. The guys here sit around and drink while women dance together. Usually about 4 to 6 girls to every guy in a club here, so I can always find a girl to dance when I don't have a partner. You single guys should try Odessa for a vacation. My partner and I have host dance parties for the Children's Hospital in Richmond, VA, my home. Our website is: www.dancerssoiree.com. Our dances always attract the best dancers in the area. We have fun, and we do some good at the same time. We are also going to be doign some work for orphanages in Ukraine and are in the process of forming a new business. The website is being constructed at: www.experienceodessa.com. I live here during the warm months, and i love it. I call the street I live on "Aphrodisiac Avenue" because hundreds of girls in mini-skirts and high heels walk past my balcony every day. Of course, its a man's paradise heer but, a lot of American girls come here for a change of scenery. Try it , you might like it. Dancing here is catching on, and my buddy has already enrolled about a dozen students for West Coast Swing lessons.

wow you guys are just getting up and here i'm getting ready to go to bed. I think what you said about the male female ratio is hysterical because here in fairbanks alaska we have the opposite problem. but it is fairbanks alaska so the saying "the odds are good but the goods are odd" is very true. on the positive side many of them make great friends and travel companions as well as dance partners. With our 8:1 ratio i never have to sit out a dance unless i'm tired

Actually, Serendipity, I go to bed at the same time you do(I think). We close the clubs here at 6 AM. So, I'm sort of like a baby with my days and nights mixed up. I sleep all day, then start partying at 10 PM. So, when its 6 AM here, it must be late PM there (I think again). I was never good at math.

soldier111 said:

I can do some of the structured dances but, I have found that there aren't many places to use them. So, I just sort of made up my own version of a Latin Hustle that everyone likes. I have several dance partners and we often receive applause for our dancing. I've found some purists who frown on what I do. So, give me some opinions. Every structured dance was "made up" by someone at sometime.

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hey soldier111, your sooooooo correct (every) structured dance was made up by someone else,very good point,dance the way u feel and fugettabout it(jersey slang) and will u adopt me? i want to be on that street u mentioned is 8)

Chris Stratton said:

Being able to just simply go out and dance is something it's really easy for those of us working on formalized training to loose sight of.

It's easy to think of a syllabus as just a step list, but what the word really implies is a plan of studies. A syllabus of steps is a set of worked through examples for things that fit well into a sort of dance. Because of the existence of syllabus competitions we tend to think of that list as a limitation, but in reality it's just the starting point. Learning to make up things that fit into a dance is a key part of really learning that dance. It's like a foreign language - you do exercises in class, but if you want to really speak it you have to go out there and make yourself try. That's something you really can attempt at any point in the process of formally learning the language - if you wait through a few years of textbook study to try breaking the fluency barrier it may actually be harder - but when you do start talking with ease, it will be with better grammar than if you dove in after a few weeks. Syllabus-type training has its merits, but it's not the only way.

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i agree with you Chris... a dance is not a bunch of figures. it is a feeeeling. each song has a certain feeling thus dictating the way you dance to it or the way you feeeel like dancing. its not how many times you step forward before stepping sideways or something like that.

there are techniques and elements to making your feeeeling more obvious to the person you are dancing with and those watching you dance but its still about a feeeeling, a style, a mood.

and the feeeling will be different for different people. some may feeeel "cha cha-ish" while others feeeel "swing-ish", etc. that's what's great about all of this. there's just sooooo much you can do (especially if you do it right )

WHOOPS! i double clicked! sorry.

Dancin DJ, I've had so many guys wanting me to adopt them. But, its fairly easy to get here to Odessa. Tonight at my favorite dance club, I was sitting at a table with one other guy and six girls. Four looked like they stepped off the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine, the other two were just plain beautiful. My date was one of the beautiful ones. Its crazy here! Very, very few of the heavier women. Most are slim, svelte, beautiful and good dancers. Even though I'm the oldest guy around, I'm dating women half my age, mostly because women my age don't go out. I almost hate to return to the US in cold weather. Wish I could smuggle some of these beauties into the US. But that would be wrong. But not extremely wrong. If you contemplate a trip to Odessa, stay away from the marriage and dating websites. When you get here, you won't have a problem meeting girls. We're going to have about 60 at our socials in July, none of whom are registered with marriage agencies. I've had the difficult job of recruiting girls for our socials. We will introduce Americans to them and if a guy finds a girl he can get serious about, good. If not, then he will still have a great time in a beautiful city.

soldier111 said:

I've found some purists who frown on what I do. So, give me some opinions.

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let them frown.. hey, its their face right? lol.. meanwhile u keep doing whatever makes u and your partner smile huh.

many may dance, but few are dancing i always thought .. but i wont be stressing over nobody's business.. its taste afterall and everybody can have it different.. so.. just 'bust a move' i guess 8)

soldier111 said:

Dancin DJ, I've had so many guys wanting me to adopt them. But, its fairly easy to get here to Odessa. Tonight at my favorite dance club, I was sitting at a table with one other guy and six girls. Four looked like they stepped off the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine, the other two were just plain beautiful. My date was one of the beautiful ones. Its crazy here! Very, very few of the heavier women. Most are slim, svelte, beautiful and good dancers. Even though I'm the oldest guy around, I'm dating women half my age, mostly because women my age don't go out. I almost hate to return to the US in cold weather. Wish I could smuggle some of these beauties into the US. But that would be wrong. But not extremely wrong. If you contemplate a trip to Odessa, stay away from the marriage and dating websites. When you get here, you won't have a problem meeting girls. We're going to have about 60 at our socials in July, none of whom are registered with marriage agencies. I've had the difficult job of recruiting girls for our socials. We will introduce Americans to them and if a guy finds a girl he can get serious about, good. If not, then he will still have a great time in a beautiful city.

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sazammmm i may have to get there some day