First, to the MODS, please don't move this topic. I realize it isn't necessarily Movies/TV but we needed another thread to discuss dance in general along with the SYTYCD threads. I'm sure we would all appreciate having that thread near the show topics so that we can dash in here to get off of THOSE topics. Pretty Please??????? :wub:

Ok, let's start a thread to discuss dance and music as it relates to dance. I'll start by giving my personal background in this area. I'd love to hear YOURS and then discussion on various dance topics, including what we see in movies and television (so we can stay in THIS forum.....hee).

I also have the ballet background that was mentioned in another thread. I started at a young age, with the usual for my generation...ballet, modern (not called that anymore, but it included jazz, tap, and any "new stuff" that would come along, which is now so many styles they all have separate names!). I was pretty young to be caught up in the big names of dance, but I remember the show dancers well from television and movies -- Astaire, Kelly, Van Dyke, and the ladies that went with them, of course. As a family, we did not venture out much to live performances. That was because I was also learning piano, violin, cello and bass, from which I later became a member of the symphony orchestra while in high school. The highlight of my classical dance and music experience was a month-long trip to Russia in the 1970's centered around my study of Russian composers and ballet dancers. Words cannot express the marvels of that experience.

I moved into ballroom dancing at the age of 12 because my mother was a master ballroom dancer and instructor (as well as an opera singer) at that time. I was a gymnast in high school and college, as well as singer and ballroom/modern dancer (all the school musicals, plays, and some local theatre, as well as playing in the symphony... I often wonder when I had time to learn how to read and write). I never mastered opera because I had no instruction as my mother had (but my mother taught me as much as I could take...I think I really just lacked interest at that time, and I now regret that). In my early twenties, I was headed to champion dancing status when an accident stopped me cold...three ACL reconstructions and a knee replacement have followed. My own folly (smoking) put an end to singing years ago.

Because dance, music, and song were an integral part of my life, it never occurred to me that everyone else's lives were not this way. So, I guess I was horrified to grow up and discover that MOST people don't truly appreciate classical music and dance! I was introduced to the singers of what was then popular music by my mother, who was a closet soul-sistah. And, I mean "closet" literally. She was secretive about "her" music because in the world, then, it was just not cool for a white woman to love those black singers and musicians, I guess. So, as a young white female, I virtually LIVED with black music, and as a young woman, wondered why noone else in college had ever heard of these people.

I posted on another thread that ever since marriage and children, I've kind of lived in my own world of music without a lot of new stuff in vocals being explored. My own little rebellion, I guess. I have loved classical, soul, jazz, blues, and funk all of my life, but a good deal of it has been music only.

My daughter took up the gymnastics (until college graduation) and my son is a dancer and had the love for soul and funk from the time he was a toddler, seeking it out by turning the radio dial to it, regardless of what station it was on. So I guess I can't complain about what seems to me a lost heritage at times. We have no singers left in the family, though. I have a nice case filled with trophies and memorabilia from my mother's and my careers, mine being way shorter and less stellar than hers. They are especially dear to me, despite being only "things" of no value, because my mother -- my greatest teacher and mentor -- died three years ago.

My only connection to any of it, now, is an occasional media review of musical artists or vocalists, and, naturally, a continued and renewed interest and appreciation sparked by Elliott, as well as more time to explore it all again now that the children are grown. I guess I've revealed my AGE here, too, huh? :blush:

Ok, now your turn.

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For those of us untrained ones who "appreciate classical music and dance", this will be so informative. I won't post as I don't have the knowledge, but I will appreciate reading the backgrounds and comments. :glomp:

Hi CF!

We are not the elitist snobs of dance, here. I sure HOPE we are not limited to discussing only classical stuff. Please post with anything you want to say...remember, the topic says LOVERS also .

Thank you MOD for correcting my Topic title (I left off the "s" in Lovers...duh).

:D One of the most important abilities is the ability to appreciate talent and creativity. Being a well informed audience member is just as important as being a good performer. Instincts come into play, because most people with any decent level of aesthetic and/or aesthetic development (which is usually purposefully acquired) appreciates what they are seeing even if they do not know exactly why. A good example of this is listening to opera from the Met on Saturday mornings. A lot of the time, during one of the intermissions,the program fields a panel of "experts" who are quizzed by the listening audience. It is a fun way to learn about operas, composers, and singers -- to build one's personal appreciatation of opera and the professional singer.

:bunny:

I want to take a dance class...does that count?

Glad to see this thread for dance up here! :D I guess I'll give my dance background (it isn't much).

I first started taking dance classes when I was 4, but I pretended to dance when my sister was enrolled two years earlier---I'd dance in the aisles during their rehearsals. :P I am currently on a competition team (the J-Steppers!) at my dance school. I have taken nine years of ballet, eight years of tap, six years of jazz, five years of lyrical, three years of hip-hop, and three years of acro.

:)

Oh, so that "isn't much?"

And, I bet you are barely 20 now, right?

Looks like a very bright future for you, Danielle!

I've studied ballet (Neoclassical shiz! Woot) for 14 years, jazz for 9, lyrical for 9.

I've been studying the Graham Technique in contemporary.

Also have been taking classes recently for ballroom dances such as Viennese Waltz, Bachata, and Quickstep. None of which I'm good at.

And I've learned some Indian dances like Kuchipudi, Manipuri, and Oddissi.

I also hope to be going on to help teach at The Dance Company in Salt Lake City Utah.

:hello2: Dancers and dance affectionados.

I do not have much time to post today yet did want to put up some personal history:

My performance activities centered on voice and drama rather than dance. I started early on in the sixth grade singing in a gospel choir (Ha!) and we had a blast...who remembers Jester Hairston? He came out to our town and taught us for a while so for kids we were pretty darn good. From that auspicious beginning I tried out for the high school a cappella choir. Now this was not just your average high school choir because when you live in a small college town you have benefits. In our case, our high school was one of top ten in the national in many areas including choir, orchestra and drama. All three departments were chaired by east coast mavens with boocoo creds.

Anyway, I won a place in the choir singing first soprano. We travelled extensively and even recorded. I took voice lessons from a mediocre teacher for a few years who loved lyrics (musical comedy voices) and mine definitely wasn't. I found another teacher who pegged me as opera material and started me down that road. Regrettably, at that time I thought it short shrift to be a soprano because altos get to sing pop music! Now, I kick myself for not pursuing opera because I definitely have the temperament for it! Ha!

After high school I auditioned for the University's choir and obtained a slot but I did not keep at it, which I do sincerely regret.

I have written a number of songs and want to get back to that. I play piano good enough for a composer, and did play classical guitar quite well at one point but have not played in years.

My dance career is spotty because before the age of 11, we moved to 11 different cities. I just did not have the chance to take lessons. At 11 we settled down for a space and I started taking lessons at a local studio. We did basic jazz and we also did rather exotic fare: We learned flamenco and I actually got pretty good with my castenets! We also did belly dancing for some reason I cannot to this day fathom.

My junior and senior year in high school I was a member of an exhibition square dance teen group. Again, we travelled extensively to various conventions and had an absolute ball! I can so well remember dancing so much at a three day convention that I could hardly stand by the end...oh, all all those convention romances! Why were the boys in some other town always better looking than at home?

In college I took ballroom. In my twenties, while living in Seattle, in my spare time I worked for a dance studio in the office in exchange for lessons. I wanted to satsify my inner dancer! Since I worked at night, by day I took all the dance classes I could fit in: ballet, Graham, and jazz. The ballet mistress was a refugee from ABT where she had been first a company member and then the ballet mistress. The owner of the studio had danced in a Graham company...right now I am thinking "contract...release...contract...release!"

Continuing with dance, when Jim and I lived in San Diego we took up heavy duty very serious Balkan folk dancing...in San Diego at that time there were folk dancing night clubs--OPA!--because a lot of people from Med. countries migrate to that area since it looks so much like Greece, et al.

At that time I was also already doing private personal development coaching. One of my very first clients (from Seattle days) was a young woman whose dream was to join a professional ballet company. She had neither the body nor the technique for it. I am nothing, however, if not a first believer and I thought she had the determination and heart to achieve her dream. In San Diego I found a French woman who had danced with the Ballet Russe. SHe had a small school and said she would take Janet on a private student in exchange for Janet's secretarial and personal assistant services IF an audition went well.

Four years later, Janet's body was transformed! She auditioned for a company in Germany and was accepted into the company. Her dream was realized! WOW!

And so, my love of dance, voice (left out all the drama stuff which is not of interest on this thread) and nearly everything to do with live theatre persists to this day.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my mother was a Hollywood starlet in her day, and she acted in a lot of Little Theatre as I was growing up. Like EC, my mother died three years ago...my biggest fan, my best friend. Here's to you, Andy, you would have loved this thread! And, Elliott!

I think some of you guys need to get out there and try out for SYTYCD next year!

I would LOVE to vote for you all!

Calling Berkana! Calling Berkana! I was thinking exactly the same thing! :ilikeit:

Aw lol. I'm so nervous that I would screw up on stage, or that they would twist things around and show it on national television.

They would be like "Come watch on Wednesdays the girl who battemented her way to a broken leg, and left a judge with a broken nose!"

B--you are right, it takes guts to get up there and abandon yourself to the dance. That is, to forget time and place and just open up the sinuses, lift up the rib cage and DO IT.

I betcha could, I betcha. I betcha...no matter what it would be fun, don't you think?

i think it would be extremely fun.

I think I actually might try out for it. I mean even if I don't make it throughout, then at least I'll have the experience of trying out for a wider audience.

I once read something that influenced my decision regarding auditioning: "If you can stand to be humiliated, you can do anything!" I read this right before I signed up for my first 5K where I am proud to say I came inso far last, I was behind the street cleaner!

And, it was fun! No pressure when you go into it with your own goal in mind like gaining auditioning experience.

:email4u:

Hmmm....well....since only FOUR people posting have listed any dance background, and TWO of us have TOO MUCH background (meaning AGE), I think that leaves only Berky Baby and Danielle.

Then again, maybe they'll increase the age limit and give credit for effort to one-legged thumpers? :no:

I do want to add one teensy thing about myself, here, so that you can try to understand something that may already be obvious to you all about me (especially if you read/post in the Musicians thread). That accident I mentioned was one where I was seriously injured in addition to the injury that stopped my dancing career. One result of it was that I completely forgot my past for many years. Not a true amnesia, because I knew my family and who I was. But, it was months before I remembered my present, meaning what I was doing in life, what I did last week, the accident itself. And, it took, and is still taking, years for me to recall real memories of my life in the years before that day. Many events still hit me today. Thankfully, my mother took and kept a lot of photographs, so these were instrumental in bringing back personal memories.

Now, FACTS and details are something else. While I know I read certain books when I was a child, I may not remember them at all now. (Which is one reason I homeschooled my children because I got most all of that stuff back again while teaching them!) I can read, write and do math, so those things were never lost. Other facts, well, it's kind of hard to tell if I ever knew them since I don't know them now, you know? Still, there are so many things "on the tip of my tongue," as happens to many people, but I can never recall them. There are things that seem so familiar, or memories I have of music, shows, singers, etc. but I can't remember who they are. Sometimes I can remember enough detail to enable me to research and find out...then the memories flood back. Other times, I don't have enough to go on.

The worst period is that of my life between the ages of 10 and 25, which was a critical period in my musical and dance development (although I started dance at 4), as well as the time when so much of my music and dance knowledge was acquired, not to mention the time when my mother's "closet" music WAS the heritage that motivates my love for Elliott's music and voice.

Being here is so good for me because many of the posts I read by you people and on the musicians thread jog the memory! But, I thought I'd mention this solely because I often cannot contribute to discussions because I simply cannot remember, cannot put my finger on that, don't feel confident that what I think I know is really so, etc.


META: Thank you for sharing your life and experience. We are soul-sistahs!

Isn't Elliott wonderful for bringing us all together like this? :wow:

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Truly an interesting twist, EC. It puts me in mind of my grandmother who was an avid reader (like me.) She lived well into her nineties and used to say she would tell you a story about her past but she did not know if it were true or if she read it in a book!

Oh, that's rich. If I live to be in my nineties, well, you know what? It won't matter if I read it in a book or not...it will still be a great past to retell to anyone who listens!

And, one thing that is wonderful about remembering. Once I remember, I never forget it again. Very strange, I know, but instead of me forgetting things like many do as they age, I get to remember them! :ilikeit:

Jim and I decided that since you can't really remember much from 10 to 25 you get to deduct 15 years off your age. Free pass.

Ew...ew...does that mean I will LOOK 15 years younger, too? :pray:

Hmmm...one negative, though. I married a younger man because I didn't want to be left alone when I got old. Can hubby have a free pass too? :yes:

Getting excited about the show tonight!

I think he can have a free pass too.

Add, subtract, it's all good! My goal personal goal goes something like this: Anyone can be sexy at 25, my aim to is be sexy at 75!" Men do it all the time, why not us?

:thumbsup:

[SIZE=7][FONT=Arial][SIZE=1][COLOR=blue]Hello, I just registered so I could post here. I'm mostly a lurker, reading when I can. I've been keeping up with the Musicians thread and decided to check out what was being said about SYTYCD. I've been watching this season because I enjoy dancing. I'm 50 years old and started taking ballroom dance lessons 4 years ago, when I was 46. Prior to that my only experience with dancing was square dancing in grammar school and participating in the Scandinavian Festival dances in Wisconsin where I spent my summers. I also danced the polka with my father at weddings (the polka, something you never forget once you've done it no matter how little you've danced!). I was too self-conscious to dance in my teen years, got married, and my life took me to other places and activities.

After going to a Scottish Festival and watching some Irish jiggers dancing to energetic music, I decided I had to get my feet wet. Anyway, I'm going to watch SYTYCD now but will get back to share my thoughts about the wonderful world of dance, in my case that being ballroom dancing (I also dabbled in the Argentine tango for a little while).

:welcome:

Look forward to discussions (if we ever start any about dancing, that is). ;)

Thanks ElliottCat, I've appreciated reading all your input on the Musicians Thread and was excited to read everyone's opinions about SYTYCD (which I first found out about through the Musicians Thread). I also identify with you a little bit concerning writing and editing. I love to write also but learning to dance put a damper on that for me (discipline has always been a problem with me!). I work full time, as well as try to keep my old house from falling down around me and my two children (and one grandson) who still live with me. Ballroom dancing allowed me an outlet to meet and socialize with other people my age, a way to exercise and have fun at the same time (remember, discipline isn't my forte so regular exercising was always erratic). I've stuck with ballroom for 4 years and haven't tired of it yet. Previous to that, I wrote poetry and creative non-fiction. Would love to get back to it but am easily distracted...take Elliott for instance! Ever since Queens results night, I've been following Elliott's journey and making it my own so to speak. I've voted and continue to vote (Moosak) and follow as much of "the news" as I can. You know how much time that can take away from a person's life! As with so many others, I've never gotten so involved in a reality show before (AI5 was the 3rd season I had watched but never bothered to vote until Elliott).

Anyway, I've often enjoyed reading your posts & those of others. If I get caught up in the interaction, great; if not, I'll still be here lurking and catching up on news & opinions. I'm off to Atlanta this weekend, in a few hours, to catch a couple ballroom dances in the great metropolis (I learned to dance where I live, but there's simply higher quality male dancers in Atlanta and more of them! I love the challenge and greater chances for improvement that I find up there).

It just got to be too much after reading posts from other people who love Elliott's voice, and then I found a bunch of you loved dancing, and then you were mentioning how you loved editing/writing, well, it overwhelmed me and I registered to this site. I guess I had to finally connect with it all. I'll be back after the dancing to see how everyone is doing & if I have anything worthwhile to share, I will try.

Hi v4e (your new nick, by the way since I refuse to write out everyone's long names...I can handle "Meta" though),

So glad you joined us and gave your life history ;)

Be sure to tell us all the skinny about dancing in Atlanta (you're very brave...I had to drive from the Atlanta airport to a city south of there last November, then had to go back and drive THROUGH it to Birmingham -- no I did not catch Taylor's act in a local bar, there, darn -- then drive back again to the airport to fly out...I was a nervous wreck...you could say I was "dancing" in my seat as I gripped the steering wheel and "shimmy shivered" my way through the parking lot they call a highway).

Thank you for your compliments. I'm sure that ALL of us will enjoy discussions with you!

To celebrate, let's have a dance with our emoticons! (Choreography by Elliottcat)

:banana: :bounce: :banana:

:bunny: :dude: :bunny: :dude: :bunny:

:dancecoupl: :dancecoupl: :dancecoupl: :dancecoupl: :dancecoupl:

:groupwave: :groupwave:

ElliottCat, you read me to a tee. I can run my mouth with the best of them, thus my hesitancy to sign on and get started.

I lived in Georgia 12 years (75 mi south of Atlanta) and had only been to the airport and back. It wasn't until I began to crave a dance challenge that I began my weekly treks up there, braving the crazy traffic for a few hours of delightful abandonment. On some nights while driving up there, I questioned my temporary insanity, but without fail, the return trip was filled with memories I relished all the way home. I couldn't get enough and the next weekend would find me "on the road again".

I've taken private lessons in Atlanta but don't dance to compete. Would be fun to do someday if I live that long and my money tree starts producing! Until then, I dance socially, always looking for those special connections that come with an expert lead or a partner who puts his whole soul into the dance. I picked up a lot of bad habits before I started taking lessons in Atlanta; still working on weeding them out. Always, always fun to learn something new even if I should have known it already!

And should I tell you about my one "tango moment" when I entered tango heaven? Okay, I'll spare you, but I just love partner dancing and the challenge of following and connecting to each partner's style. Touching on SYTYCD a second, I think I like Heidi, and Dimitry too, because I love to see someone who's mastered latin syling and can keep it tight and on spot. What I wouldn't give......

Enough of me, what about YOU (ie. everyone else?).

P.S.: I'm hoping that ballroom dancing and Atlanta driving will keep me from getting Alzheimers!

Hi v4E! Yes Heidi and Dmitry are/were both very good at latin style dances. Especially Heidi and Travis' Paso Doble this week.

I love love love watching ballroom dances. What exactely is your favorite latin dance?

Alzheimers? Err..

Does it run in your family?

:hello2: V4E - We all are waiting with baited to hear about your "tango moment" -- do tell.

Do any of you remember watching ballroom competitions on PBS with Juliet Prowse? I love Juliet (those legs, WOW) and it is so easy to get caught up in the competition dancing.

I love the Latin most because, as my Cuban friends and Central American relatives like to tell me, I was Latin in another life!

You all know I love Heidi...my dream of seeing Heidi and Dmitry dance togther was shattered when he was voted off. I just KNOW she is going to be stuck with that IVAN person this week and we all know EXACT how good a dancer he is. :D

OH! Just had another flash! Maybe Benji and Heidi will get to dance together--JIm says it won't happene because they would flat out STEAL the show!

:cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader:

HEIDI BENJI HEIDI BENJI HEIDI BENJI HEIDI BENJI HEIDI BENJI

:cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader:

Well, I don't come back here for a few days and I miss something! :blink:

Berky Baby, what v4E is saying is that the challenges of dancing ballroom and driving in and around Atlanta will keep her from getting Alzheimers. She's joking (or at least I think she is). There is no evidence that keeping your mind and body active and challenged prevents Alzheimers (or is there?). I think you must be a young person, because all us old farts knew what she was saying...LOL. Of course, we'd all like to be your age again (but only if we know what we know at OUR age, now).

v4E: I'm with Meta....OUT with the Tango moment and make it snappy.

Meta: Juliet Prowse! YAY!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you...I had been racking my unAlzheimered brain for her name for days! Oh, she was so great! Yes, I watched the Ballroom championships in every category and all-around EVERY year. Then suddenly, Juliet was announced as having passed away (1996) and that year's show was hosted by Barbara Eden (genie) and was dedicated to her. I haven't seen it on there since then. Is it still on? I was so saddened by her death. She didn't look ill, and she was even dancing a bit after each show. I read that she died of pancreatic cancer, a very fast killer, so I guess that's why she was just suddenly gone. She was only 59 years old, dying 11 days before her 60th birthday.

I have to reveal a secret, too. Juliet always reminded me of Margie, on "My Little Margie" television show (another show I watched in black and white as a young child, but she looked to be blonde, not redheaded like Julie). Juliet did some rockin dancing in GI Blues while Elvis did his singing thing. Poor thing, her legs were too long for ballet, which was what she was trained in, and she wasn't really a good actress. But, she came along in the day of musical movies, so she will go down in history as a musical dancer. (And, I doubt anyone thinks that she was a "poor thing" for having that set of legs!) I always wondered about her unique accent...not quite British, but not Americanized English, either. Then, I found out she was born in India, but raised in South Africa...yep, that was the accent.

Thanks for bringing back that, Meta.

This is me saying I will update this post, or add one later, to detail my life-dance experience. If anyone is waiting with baited breath for it, I suggest you NOT, since it isn't as impressive as my extremely critical writing might lead you to believe!

Lord, you guys and those new cheerleading smilies, you do this to me on purpose, don't you? Gah, take this:

:2guns: :cheerleader: :whip:

Hey, Bomb -- you are the BOMB...how's it going anyway? Do you have electricity yet?

:woof: :pullhair: :cheerleader: :cloud9: Back at you!

EC - Yes, that accent of Juliet's i Afrikaner. Do you remember her in Can Can, another musical we forgot to add to the Musical thread. WHICH, of course brings up Shirley McClain--now, Shirley is kinda dotty but I love all her movies! Anyone else a fan?

Why, yes, we do! :shifty:

Where did our Ballerina emoticon go? I needed it for my choreography on the "Emoticon Dance" (which will be a new style on the SYTYCD show, soon). I also missed the dancing broccoli, too!

Waiting with UN-bated breath for your story. Now that we know what you LOOK like, it should be fun.

Okay, I shouldn't be writing now, I've got so many thoughts bombarding me and if I mention them all, I'll be here all night.

Hated to see Allison go tonight. Like I said in another thread, I like Heidi because I like ballroom but Allison is definitely a beautiful & versatile dancer. Natalie's good too, but I believe Allison's dancing is closer to "perfection". Natalie's injury is making her push harder and I also wonder if she won't overdo it and damage that knee more. I can't but believe doors will open for Allison due to this exposure.

Regarding Alzheimers and dancing, I reference an article that I read: www.atlantaballroomdance.org/study.htm. I was making a joke about Atlanta driving, although it's not really a joke... it IS a mental challenge of grand proportions.

To answer one question: of the latin dances, I used to like rumba the best with mambo a close second, but once I started dancing in Atlanta, I learned to dance the cha-cha correctly and finally got into salsa, samba, and bolero. I love latin music and don't have a preference any longer. I am in dire need of some latin styling lessons, however. My latin styling has mainly been acquired by the copy-cat method, and I've learned there's many deficiencies in that method! If I ever get my smooth styling/technique cleaned up, I hope to do the same with the latin dances.

My tango moment: sigh, where do I begin? My first experience with Argentine Tango was with my first partner with whom I started practicing after 5 months of winging it alone in ballroom group lessons. We partnered for 7 months. He loved Argentine Tango music and it grew on me too. It was "our dance". When he moved, I was devastated because no other single man danced it in my area. That motivated me to seek Argentine Tango lessons in Atlanta and that's when I learned that what I had been dancing wasn't Argentine Tango.

I took some workshops, small group lessons, and private A.T. lessons, had some great instructors, went to milongas as a newbie (horrible place to be a newbie), and have seen some great demonstrations. Two things discouraged me... I was intimidated & didn't ask men to dance with me at the milongas. As a beginner, men didn't ask me to dance much (kind of an elite group). Thus, I didn't get in enough needed practice time.

My Argentine Tango days dwindled off when I heard about the ballroom dances held in Atlanta. I tried them out and was much less intimidated by that scene. It didn't take long before I could go to a dance and be on the dance floor most of the night. I made friends and decided I couldn't concentrate on both ballroom and A.T. Both have so much to offer, but I had to choose one over the other.

HOWEVER, before I left the AT scene, I attended a special event where they had live Argentine Tango music. After the festivities, the general public was invited to dance and finally some stranger from North Carolina asked me to tango. I was nervous because so much of my dancing had been with fellow beginners. This man led me in such a way that he made me relax. He felt the music and made me feel the music. I was into his lead so much that he was able to "make me" do things I didn't know I could do. Like we just melted together. It was an awesome feeling and for once I didn't feel like I was tryinig to tango but that I was simply tangoing. After it was over, I thanked him for making me feel like I could tango, and he so nicely reassured me "but you can tango". (I love that man to this day although I've never seen him since.)

That's what I like about social dancing, the opportunity to dance with many dancers and having that special connection at unexpected (but always welcome) moments. Some men can just lead so well, and then there's some that put so much feeling into a dance, or the guy might simply take a liking to you and put that extra something into the dance. You take any one, two, or preferably all three, of these elements with a dance partner, and the connection and fun you can have with a dance... wow, I never would have thunk it in my younger danceless years.

I love it when it happens in ballroom, but the Argentine Tango is an even more intimate dance, and oh nelly, I only touched the tip of the iceberg regarding the possibilities. I mean, Argentine Tango is totally a lead/follow dance... at any point, the man can lead the woman anywhere. Sure, they teach you steps, I mean, the man has to learn all the options. But once he becomes a decent lead, he just puts you wherever he wants you. You're just listening to his body and responding to it. Oooolala, makes me want to get back into it just talking about it. It's got to be the coolest partner dancing ever, but takes a lot to master it well.

I'm done for now, sorry so long-winded. I've stirred up some nice memories so that's a good way to feel as I drift off to sleep. I'm also sorry it's taken me a few days to get back here. I've been reading other threads, and then sometimes my computer at home acts up and I just give up.

Oh yea, one last thing. I just found out today that a coworker has an extra ticket to the AI concert in Atlanta... I'll be going next Thursday! I'm not excited about the yelling & screaming (I remember now why I didn't go to many concerts in my youth), but I am excited about seeing Elliott sing in person. I was told we have "good seats" so we'll see.

Take care all, thanks for listening to my dance drivel.

Oh V4E!!!!!!! That was a GREAT post...so fun to read and I felt your excitement and love for dance.

OH NELLY ?!?!?

And, yeah, I felt the smoldering in that tango dance with that "stranger" man that you've never forgotten, either.

:blush: :eyebrows: :drool:

Great stuff, don't stop!

Thank you so much for this post, it was a great read.

Watching the AT done by experts is enough to put me in seventh heaven...I am transported.

:glomp:

Ok, so where did everyone go? Vacation? Sleeping? Hiding in a cool cave? :huh:

Just wanted to say hello to dancers in this thread.

Something about me before I start posting here.....
I've always been in the dance world, danced in a ballet company, moving on to jazz company, club work etc, to choreographer and teacher/trainer/coach of professional & advanced dancers. I have a lot of dancers in the business. Danced a couple of seasons with the Metropolitan Opera when they toured in the NorthEast, my little joke is being able to truthfully say that I sang with the MO even though I sound like a wounded cat when singing. But, it was often required that if dancers were on stage they had to sing along, good thing I can't project and hopefully the audience never heard me. Besides working as a choreographer and trainer for dancers I've also worked as movement coach for singers in the business. I love working with vocalists. That brought me into the music business (along with my husband), spending a few years in recording studios working with artists and producers, etc. My love of music is as great as my love of dance.

Even though ballet was my first love, my heart is with Jazz and after working in both ballet & Jazz for a few decades the last few years I've turned down all ballet opportunities & will only work exclusively in Jazz. I really love Jazz. I choreograph from Funk to Fosse and everything in between.

Right now getting over a knee injury.... slipped while choreographing..... I'll see how it goes from here....

Anyway..... hello to all here.