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Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 5093
Topic: Dancing? Posted: August 22 2014 at 03:03
A common characteristic among my few progger friends is that none of us is fond of dancing, and if we ever try we are pretty bad at it (if we ever 'dance' to our beloved Prog songs it's frequently more airplaying than actually dancing).
Which in a sense might sound strange since we are music lovers and have a decent sense of rhythm. Being musical and being accustomed to understand complex rhythms could in principle be an advantage for one's ability to dancing.
I guess that culturally we grew up with dancing being associated to either our parents generation (big band music etc) or to disco, neither of which did fit with our vision of what good rock music should be like, and unconsciously we rejected developing a taste for dancing?
Joined: May 25 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 10970
Posted: August 22 2014 at 03:10
What's dancing? ... No, no, I'm serious: what is it really for? It has no practical use, it's not a form of artistic expression. Its aesthetic value is obscure to me, if it's there at all. The very knowledge that some people get the drive to move to music in a way that is recognized as dancing to this day mystifies me. I used to do some trad. Russian folk dancing back in school. Boy, I was a tool! Didn't know why I was doing it.
But, Gerard, like you and your progger friends, I do get the drive to react, to move to music. (The Mahavishnu Orchestra or Porcupine Tree, anybody?) I can "get down". Isn't dancing a physical reaction to music?
I can dance to everything. I don't care how I look, and I couldn't give a rat's ass about what others think of me. Maybe that's key to understanding, and indeed commencing with, dancing? I don't know, but I have on quite a few occasions been complimented on the way that I move on various dancefloors, so I guess I must be doing something right.
I'm not a huge fan of the ol' swing low Sally one-two-three one-two-three bow and turn - move your female around the box. I remember having to take a salsa course in high school though which was damn fun. I guess it's what Americans call prom night, but here in Denmark it's called Årsfest (The Annual Year Party or something to that effect...) and the party is often centred around the French dance of Lancier, but this year they were bringing in an authentic salsa band to follow the traditional proceedings. Meaning that 6 months prior to Årsfesten, we started having salsa lessons in the gym. Seeing as it wasn't mandatory to be there, it turned out I was the only guy that showed up. Neither of my friends were interested. That meant all the girls in the world for yours truly - plus the fact that I actually learned to shake dat ass....latin style.
Also I've been part of the underground electronic scene in Copenhagen for a good while now, and I gather most people there like to dance. It's not an odd thing to do, and there are just as many men doing strange moves and jitters as there are women. Anyways, this kind of dancing really speaks to me. The music becomes this hypnotic entity, and if you're able to let your inhibitions go and just move about to the beats and swirling soundscapes, then you sometimes get elevated to a place where Shamans and Indians normally only venture. You communicate with your body and the music, and even if you've never met the people surrounding you, you sense a connection there beyond what you'd ever be able to deduce from mere talking. The dancing becomes an otherworldly language, and you along with everyone around becomes this living breathing mass of flesh - all attuned into the same vibe and flow.
To some of you that may come off as Hippiedippy non-sense dressed in modern electronic sounds, but when you live and breathe it - if only for a weekend, you'll know what I'm on about.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
Joined: September 03 2011
Location: Wales
Status: Offline
Points: 700
Posted: August 22 2014 at 04:14
My wife teaches salsa. She tells me that I've got a better feel for rhythm than a lot of people. I put that down to listening to prog, and appreciating its rhythms.
My wife teaches salsa. She tells me that I've got a better feel for rhythm than a lot of people. I put that down to listening to prog, and appreciating its rhythms.
I can shake it too.
Two proggers salsaing?
There are surely stranger things out there. Scott Walker's recent oevre for instance.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
Joined: October 19 2007
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 3010
Posted: August 22 2014 at 04:26
inhibitions yes, that´s always been an issue for me. Even when I´m drunk like hell I can´t dance. I feel incredibly silly. Maybe if the Places I went actually played music worth dancing to, like "Unquestionable Presence" by Atheist, then I´d lose my inhibitions and dance like a madman
Joined: April 01 2009
Location: Atlanta
Status: Offline
Points: 26133
Posted: August 22 2014 at 06:00
I hear the beat, and jump out of my seat, but I can't compete, cause I'm a....
DANCIN' FOOOOOOOOOL
I'm a
DANCIN' FOOOOOOOOOL
No, I'm afraid I'm the classic example of a music snob with a stick up my butt, and consider dancing to be gauche and non-intellectual. I used to do it, at least as a means of parodying the "art of the dance", which was more like synchronized swimming without the water. My wife and I did such an "interpretive dance routine" at our wedding in front of everybody, so everybody remembers me that way.
My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased.
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RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team
Joined: March 16 2007
Location: Boston
Status: Offline
Points: 20204
Posted: August 22 2014 at 06:54
Dayvenkirq wrote:
What's dancing? ... No, no, I'm serious: what is it really for?
It's for picking up girls. It's a male fertility ritual.
Unless you count pogoing & headbanging then I'm not much of a dancer, though I have been know to do a little chair dancing at particularly funky concert. The last gig I danced at was probably Alamaailman Vasarat at RIO, those guys swing.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
It's not that I'm into the sausage, but I feel just as comfortable dancing around with a bunch of my guy friends. Sometimes it's even preferable if you're doing crazy moves that often will scare off the feminine creatures.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
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Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: August 22 2014 at 07:45
If jumping around shaking your hair in response to some rhythmic aural simulation (ie "the freak-out") is considered dancing, then I am aware of the phenomenon and there may be some people still living who may have witnessed me in the throws of such an activity at various gigs at sometime in the past. The modern equivalent of this would be called the head-bang, a method of musically stimulated unrestrained upper body movement that probably derives from this archaic hippy-dance.
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Dancing?
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Didn't know why I was doing it.
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