fun verses good dancing

[gsh]

I was at Glen Echo last night, fumbling my way through some tango steps, when I decided to dance with vvalkyri, whom I can usually dance better than average with. I did some crosses, then some oucho's (probably not spelling those correctly), then started some grapevines. I'd dome grapevines before in the context of folk dancing when I was in college (grumble, that's been 20 years now), so I could do the grapevines pretty easily. Vval and I started going in circles faster, and I suddenly realized that I had no idea of where we were in relation to the beat of the dance going on. So no matter that I was having fun doing what I was doing, what I was doing was BAD DANCING.

Comments

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

There is a running joke in Scottish Country dance wherein the instructors always tell the student, when the description of the dance starts getting complicated, "Don't worry, the music will tell you what to do."

One of the guys has a shirt that says "The music didn't know what to do either."

[arashinomoui.livejournal.com]

I need that shirt.

If I hear, "Don't worry the music will tell you what to do" one more time...

[elkor.livejournal.com]

If I hear, "Don't worry the music will tell you what to do" one more time...

yeah, that's not terribly helpful advice unless you already have a grasp of:
* The basic moves
* How to transition from one to the other.

[gsh]

ROFL.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

So no matter that I was having fun doing what I was doing, what I was doing was BAD DANCING.

Horseshit.

If you are having fun, that is Good Dancing.

If you are not having fun, that is Bad Dancing.

[gsh]

If your partner can't follow, that's bad dancing.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

If your partner can't follow, that's bad dancing.

Well, then they aren't having fun, so yes, that's Bad Dancing.

However, that isn't what you were saying. You just said you were dancing faster than the music.

[gsh]

*sigh* I hate having to be overly pedantic in my own journal.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

Nothing to do with being overly pedantic in your journal. Just that you need to say what you mean.

[gsh]

I did. Then I had someone think they knew better than me.

Zing!

[elkor.livejournal.com]

One for you.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Hm. It wasn't that I wasn't having fun. It was that at the speed we were going I wasn't actually doing quadras (or whatever the name is -- a grapevine in a square around the other person) but instead probably more of a pivot type move. Which was enjoyable, but not accomplishing the objective of practicing the move just taught.

I got to stare in gsh's eyes whilst spinning around him. That definitely counts for something.

Oh, also it's "Ochos" - 8 in Spanish is Ocho. :)

[gsh]

Thanks for the compliment.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

More hm.

Gsh, while you might have been doing grapevines, I couldn't move through them /around you/ properly at that speed. Which could well have been a problem with my technique rather than the speed you were moving.

[gsh]

*nod* I find I have a tendency to try to move too fast while doing the dances. I need to learn to signal *before* the move more. There are tmes when we get it *right*, and times we're close, but not there, and there are times it seems we're WTF. When I hit WTF stage I like to stop for a count of four or 8 beats, and then start again.

You are fun to practice tango with. :)

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

aye. i need to know where i'm going before i commit my weight. That's why with swing, for example, one leads the move just before/as the girl is picking up her foot for her next step.