I took an entirely different route to you and have some perspectives. I started dancing to electronic music styles because I enjoyed electronic music, and more importantly because it is solo/freestyle focused. I started with Shuffling, and eventually moved into House dance, which I have now done for a year.
House dance is very heavily solo/freestyle focused, structured with cyphers that have each dancer go in the center of the circle, say their piece, and trade out for another dancer to mixed DJ music of similar styles. Kick/snare with more jazzy melodies. Very heavily footwork focused, based on listening to the music and changing your dance intensity/moves accordingly.
It is incredibly fun and I love the cyphers, but I am going to switch it up for many of the reasons you described. It was nice to get my dance start without ruining my partner’s flow, and I can follow choreography and learn moves faster than ever, but the dance studio isn’t really conducive to dating, because everyone there is gay/ not interested in a straight presenting normal looking tech white guy.
As solo dancers, the focus becomes battles/getting really good as the ceiling increases, fundamentally changing the reason one would dance. You just can’t catch up to these 6-year hip hop dancers/breakers that started as kids. On the other hand, the cypher rocks and it really freed up my movement, especially at shows and DJ sets I love. People notice, and I can just enter myself and move the way I want. It took maybe 6 months to reach it but it feels good.
On the new year, I’m going to try out some west coast swing and see how the community is in my city is. I think I can pick up the footwork way quicker because of my practice, and my freestyle experience might let me bring something new to the table. Guess we’ll see next year.
Have you noticed any changes to how you carry yourself/move your body outside of dance contexts as a result of getting better at dance? Any other side benefits or things you've noticed?
I think it's changed my posture for the better; after going hard for a couple days I can feel soreness in parts of my upper back that don't otherwise get much use
Beyond that, lizard brain finds the frequent physical contact with pretty girls very satisfying.
Enjoy this substack.
I took an entirely different route to you and have some perspectives. I started dancing to electronic music styles because I enjoyed electronic music, and more importantly because it is solo/freestyle focused. I started with Shuffling, and eventually moved into House dance, which I have now done for a year.
House dance is very heavily solo/freestyle focused, structured with cyphers that have each dancer go in the center of the circle, say their piece, and trade out for another dancer to mixed DJ music of similar styles. Kick/snare with more jazzy melodies. Very heavily footwork focused, based on listening to the music and changing your dance intensity/moves accordingly.
It is incredibly fun and I love the cyphers, but I am going to switch it up for many of the reasons you described. It was nice to get my dance start without ruining my partner’s flow, and I can follow choreography and learn moves faster than ever, but the dance studio isn’t really conducive to dating, because everyone there is gay/ not interested in a straight presenting normal looking tech white guy.
As solo dancers, the focus becomes battles/getting really good as the ceiling increases, fundamentally changing the reason one would dance. You just can’t catch up to these 6-year hip hop dancers/breakers that started as kids. On the other hand, the cypher rocks and it really freed up my movement, especially at shows and DJ sets I love. People notice, and I can just enter myself and move the way I want. It took maybe 6 months to reach it but it feels good.
On the new year, I’m going to try out some west coast swing and see how the community is in my city is. I think I can pick up the footwork way quicker because of my practice, and my freestyle experience might let me bring something new to the table. Guess we’ll see next year.
Hell yeah! More evidence to confirm my view that West Coast Swing is the Objectively Correct form of dance (well, except for contact improv, lol)
Why is it so fun to read informed notes on subcultures one is not a part of??
Have you noticed any changes to how you carry yourself/move your body outside of dance contexts as a result of getting better at dance? Any other side benefits or things you've noticed?
I think it's changed my posture for the better; after going hard for a couple days I can feel soreness in parts of my upper back that don't otherwise get much use
Beyond that, lizard brain finds the frequent physical contact with pretty girls very satisfying.