Dancing in the service of thought

[Transpontine]

God Made Me Funky?

The effect it had on me was bringing me into the present (here & now). Not thinking about what happened earlier or what happens next, but being very aware of the present. It's a similiar state meditation achieves and the earlier house dancers considered the dancing as a spiritual act. That probably came from all the gospel in the house at the time, but the gravity it has is what you give to it.

This is what Buddhists call mindfulness I believe, kind of total awareness in the present.

I'm ambivalent about the spiritual thing in house music. When people set out to make spiritual music the result is often terrible new age slush, but there's no doubt that there is a transcendental aspect to music, perhaps especially dance music.

 

[ripley]

in the U.S. some people are such good dancers that you'd feel embarrassed ever dancing near them.

this is the problem I have in the US - at least the east coast. Many dance-oriented night scenes are competitive. People who are insecure about their dancing don't dance. This leads to less fun parties than ones where everyone is just into the music and not trying to 'keep up' with the good dancers. Or you get the annoying "circle" where the good dancers go a few at a time and everyone stands around watching. bleh.

When I lived in London I was often happy to just get energy from a roomful of people who were obviously mad about the music and having a fantastic time, made a change from NY where people seemed more concerned with how they measured up.

 

[Mr. Tea]

When I lived in London I was often happy to just get energy from a roomful of people who were obviously mad about the music and having a fantastic time, made a change from NY where people seemed more concerned with how they measured up.

Exactly. If I wanted to go out simply to watch people do brilliant dancing, I'll go a performance of Swan Lake, not a nightclub.

 

[borderpolice]

Exactly. If I wanted to go out simply to watch people do brilliant dancing, I'll go a performance of Swan Lake, not a nightclub.

Well, they are not mutually exclusive! moreover, it's a very different way of dancing, ballet avoids overtly sexual hip movements, while street daning emphasises them. On top of that, the music is better and louder in a club, hightening the experience. I find it completely entrancing to see great dancers. Dancers also tend to dress well, thus combining various artforms in one perfomance.

And they do inspire my dancing, too. I dance more fluidly in the presence of good dancers. I reckon a bunch of determined good dancers could 'reprogram' a dance floor in the sense that if they would consistently do some weird moves, then. in the course of the evening, the regular crowd would end up copying these weird moves unconsciously through the mimetic processes that steers our movements on the floor.

Finally, in a club you can go and chat with the good dancers casually.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Well, they are not mutually exclusive! moreover, it's a very different way of dancing, ballet avoids overtly sexual hip movements, while street daning emphasises them. On top of that, the music is better and louder in a club, hightening the experience.

Haha, Prokofiev vs. Vitallic: round one, FIGHT!

I'm not advocating shit dancing, by any means, and yes, I enjoy seeing people dancing well. But for me, clubbing is about a participation rather than a spectacle. Also, I'm not too sure where I stand with this grinding-your-genitals-against-each-other style of dancing. As far away as possible, probably.

 

[nomadologist]

this is the problem I have in the US - at least the east coast. Many dance-oriented night scenes are competitive. People who are insecure about their dancing don't dance. This leads to less fun parties than ones where everyone is just into the music and not trying to 'keep up' with the good dancers. Or you get the annoying "circle" where the good dancers go a few at a time and everyone stands around watching. bleh.

When I lived in London I was often happy to just get energy from a roomful of people who were obviously mad about the music and having a fantastic time, made a change from NY where people seemed more concerned with how they measured up.

if you're a DJ, i'm sure it's more fun to see people dancing, no matter how badly

 

[dominic]

i've seen great dancing both in the midwest and in new york

in the midwest, fabulous freaky/groovy white raver kids circa 2000

in new york and places like hartford, connecticut, there's what i refer to as the banji boy skip dance -- effortless skipping-like movement to a house groove --

somebody mentioned body and soul upthread, but if you went back in time to shelter, red zone, sound factory, paradise garage . . . .

best place to see something like this today is the roller rink at central park on sunday afternoons -- the disco and house survivors, now in their 40s and leading healthy lifestyles

what i really hate to see is people forming a circle to watch two or three people do competitive dance-off's -- you get this at a lot of d'n'b nights - kills any sense of spiritual commune -- even so, if you go to soulgasm on wednesdays at sin sin, you'll get to see competitions featuring the old skool house moves

but i of course have a very strong bias in favor of the kind of house music dancing i used to see when i first when out to clubs --when dancers had all kinds of style and sass, but didn't insist on making it a spectator sport

i haven't gone to a hip hop night since the early 90s, so i can't comment on today's hip hop dancing . . . .

i don't have much experience of europe outside the uk, but i've always been really impressed by uk party culture -- whether the dancing in the UK is as good as you'll find in some u.s. clubs is irrelevant b/c the PARTY is usually better

and if you've ever seen clips of wigan casino, you might think twice before doubting the dancing ability of brits

 

[nomadologist]

whether the dancing in the UK is as good as you'll find in some u.s. clubs is irrelevant b/c the PARTY is usually better

this is probably true--one of the worst things about ny is that there are no good parties here anymore.

 

[ripley]

It may not be your scene, but I think the parties that Drop The Lime and Mathhead do at Savalas are pretty entertaining

 

[nomadologist]

It may not be your scene, but I think the parties that Drop The Lime and Mathhead do at Savalas are pretty entertaining

yeah i used to go to Savalas. mostly just to see my friend Carlos "Chiclets" Jimenez, though.

Edit: remember "Kill Whitey"?

 

[mms]

i think there are lots of different types of dancing, lots of different times of the night etc
the meditative grinny dancing, thats just as above so below isn't it, when the dancefloor turns into a fishy shoal, or you start extending your pronoiac writhing tentacles isn't it?
Then there the kind of abandonment of yr body, doing things with your arms and legs, you shouldn't do, letting people invade your space, invading space, girls waggling their bums etc, gently turning the daytime life on it's head, within a demarcated space, supension of normal life on waves of sonics.
then there is showing off, which is especially hard to do and better off left to the young.
I went to new york and i thought there was some really terrible dancing, people doing showy offy dancing quite badly with no heart in it, but there were some really casual people, i think that casual quite jazzish dancing with little fills in the hands and hips is the coolest.

There is also that really funny thing about speed that's so obvious now with dubstep, the halfspeed almost tai chiish skank people did to drum and bass is basically what dubstep dancing is, but the music has been drawn down to the dancers speed.

When i was a kid everyone used to do what's since become known as the running man. that's such a wicked dance move i reckon, mised up with that criss cross leg thing that those guys are doing on the soulgasim video that dominic had and girls thought you were cool, maybe cos you danced and putting effort into dancing is a bit graceful for teenage boys even if it is street dancing.

 

[Mr. Tea]

One thing that's worth bearing in mind is that good clubs tend to be popular and popular clubs tend to be crowded, so apart from at the beginning and very end of the night there's often not enough room for particularly 'expressive' dancing, or much of a chance of it being seen other than by people right next to you, who might not appreciate the constant digs in the kidneys/tits.

 

[elgato]

a lot of the time im thinking specifically about the music. im a sort of dancing beard-stroker in that im probably doing a similar thing to the guy standing solemnly by the speaker but im moving most of the time. sometimes its good, sometimes not, its a tendency im trying to move away from really.

but sometimes i guess i think about random things as in your post. when the music and scenario is right then i may think about things with more 'meaning', or rather perhaps thinking about things through a much more emotional lens... regarding friends, quality of life, my place, the world etc. at a good club with the right atmosphere and music i often find myself with heightened emotions.

but when its best, i dont think that i think anything at all... those times where the music catches you so perfectly, I find myself just purely feeling, no dialogue or discussion in my head, lost in music indeed. i guess its basically what could be called rapture. thats when when dance music is best for me. i dont really mean meditative dubbed out bliss, which can be equally wonderful, but something much more kinetic

what ideas do people have as to why we/i get these responses? the emotion, the rapture... its an interesting one for sure

 

[viktorvaughn]

I love it when you get that natural euphoria/ecstasy flooding your brain. Like in the last 30 mins of a long set with an expert DJ who has tickled and flirted with you during an hour and a half of techy foreplay before the fucking begins.

 

[nomadologist]

When i was a kid everyone used to do what's since become known as the running man. that's such a wicked dance move i reckon, mised up with that criss cross leg thing that those guys are doing on the soulgasim video that dominic had and girls thought you were cool, maybe cos you danced and putting effort into dancing is a bit graceful for teenage boys even if it is street dancing.

i still do the running man. to be funny.

 

[mms]

i still do the running man. to be funny.

and it probably has the opposite effect it had when i was a teenage boy!