Dancing

I was talking to this female friend about dancing recently. She knew that I’ve tried my hand at swing dancing, and she said, “Yeah, you get me on the dance floor and I’ll be jitterbugging through the night.”

So I asked, “By ‘jitterbug,’ do you mean east coast swing? Or do you just mean…?”

She snapped a bit and said, “You don’t have to get technical! Lighten up!” I think that was uncalled for. I just wanted to understand what she meant.

Sadly, when most people talk about dancing, they just mean getting out there to twist, shake and sway to the music. There’s nothing inherently wrong about that, but I think that people deprive themselves when they think in those terms. Another friend of mine says that she likes “real dancing”—that is, dancing in which you employ specific dance moves and styles. Anybody can shake it around, after all. Moving with deliberate musical purpose, on the other hand, takes more skill – and it is ultimately more satisfying.