Strange Things

There seems to be slow changes coming in the Dance environment first in the West and now the Night Clubs. A more equalizing of the sexes. Whereas the dance club scene had been deteriorating due to several factors among them the decrease in men dancers.

"We cannot measure a person's success by how high they climb

but how high they bounce when they hit bottom."

Of course the cliques and the "goat" social structure did not help. The exactness of competition dancing came in and turned off a lot of men. In fact the cliques coined the phrase "Junk Dancer" for those men who did not dance by the new rules.

At any rate, the results were there, for anyone with access to the records, the loss of half of the "ballroom dancers" from the late 70s to the late 90s,  about two decades.

Meanwhile, in the 90s, mainly due to the Salsa scene, men have learned to dance their way in and having a ball while doing it. The overflow has been evident in Swing and Tango dancing too.

Of course, lately we are beginning to see instruction on Salsa, about the "footing" and for women's "styling." And Salsa is no longer on the forefront. Bachata coming in pretty solid now.

"I Went To Your Wedding: By Patti Page

Teaching the distinct rhythms of each dance should be primary and much more important to having fun and enjoying the movement to the music. Again, the music comes first. The dance comes after the music starts. This is human dancing from millenniums ago. There were no competitions then.

In Competition dancing, the competitors can dance a complete routine without any music at all. Why? Because the correct dance is primary and the music may be immaterial. I have seen some beautiful Latin dances without Latin music. I don't know what it was but it sure wasn't Latin.

"How High The Moon: By Les Paul and Mary Ford

I am expecting a Jewish dance one of these days danced to Arab music. Auwe. Anyway these people are the 'artistes' and we should probably respect their doings. Just understand it is not our thing.

That is what is nice in watching line dancers. Each is dancing to their own drummer and their own style. If they have the right beat the evidence is in their faces, they are enjoying the movement to the music. And that's the name of our game.