You know you're tackling too many dances when you've started getting lectured by both your instructors and friends about the need to just choose a few dances and stick with them. I know they're right, but I just can't do it! I like too many dances, and get bored too quickly and easily. And, if I leave a dance alone for two long, I lose everything I worked so hard to get.
Blues/Fusion — my favourite partner dance, and the one partner dance I still actively work to improve (aside from hustle). The connection is the best, and good micro = my favourite. I can't decide whether I like blues or fusion more, but in Vancouver, we combine the two, so I don't really think too much about the distinction. Fusion is awesome because it lets me bring together elements from every dance style.
Beautiful blues/fusion — my favourite partner dances!
West Coast Swing — the partner dance that offers me the most freedom to do whatever the hell I want, and insert the most style and personality into my dancing. I've had some truly spectacular dances here, where I've really gotten to connect with and move to the music while still staying with my partner. This is my favourite partner dance to watch, because of the enormous amount of room for musicality and creativity on the part of both partners.
You can do so many things with West Coast Swing!
Salsa(/Bachata) — my most competent partner dance, and the only dance for which I have had progressive lessons and lessons at intermediate and advanced levels, which makes them the only dances where I actually know what I am doing and reasonably understand signals and techniques. I love salsa spins and bachata dips! 🙂 A good rueda is also super fun!
The most difficult dance to do, and mot difficult scene to break into.
Swing — I like the energy and excitement, the crazy lifts, tricks, and solo movement. If I knew how to do more, I would probably like it a lot more, but I only know the basics and follow what I can. I would love to learn more of the advanced moves.
The most energetic partner dance, for sure! With the triple step, swing dancing can replace a workout!
Ballroom is an excuse to dress to the nines, and has the most gorgeous lines.
Hustle — This has been really good for teaching me better dance connection, and it's great how connected it is to street dancing. I haven't gotten enough chances to social dance it to really get it into my body, but it's fun.
So much history in street dance, but I can't find any street dance-related photos to put up.
Zouk/Kizomba — Zouk was at one point my favourite dance, and I really want to get those hypnotic kizomba hips!
Zouk wins the prize for the craziest head styling. Kizomba takes the cake for the most hypnotic hips. I used to love the connection of zouk, until I discovered the even better connection of blues.
Waacking — my favourite dance to watch, and the dance that feels the best and most comfortable to do. I love how much character and energy is involved!
So much character, fun, and excitement in waacking!
Popping — the dance I find the coolest to watch, especially animation, waving, gliding. ticking, and strobing. This is the street dance style that frustrates me the most, so I spend the most time drilling and training to try and get it. I'm still offbeat.
(Nuvo) Burlesque — my favourite dance to do, because it feels fantastic, and I love it. There actually is technique involved, and the choreo is always effing awesome.
Nuvo burleque — my favourite!
Belly Dancing — the first dance I ever started taking progressive lessons for, though I was never serious enough to get any good at it. This was the dance that introduced me to isolations, though I was super-lazy about practicing them. I learned shoulder shimmies from this! I love all the hip movement, and the choo-choos!
Belly dancing = my first dance.
Hip Hop — the first solo dance I ever got serious about practicing and drilling. Consequently, the down groove feels more natural to me. Hip hop was what got me started with free styling. It will always hold a special place in my heart because of this.
Down and angry is how I do hip hop.
Soul Grooves — the grooves that feel the best to my body. A soul groove was one of the first and only grooves I've ever done properly, with the right look, and was the first one I was able to correct on my own, by practicing with my reflection on the Canada Line.
Soul grooves feel sooo good!
Funk — I am still not at all funky, but I would like to be. The grooves are fun and happy. I used to try to use them in my free styling when I first started, but don't really use them anymore since they don't feel like a natural part of my dancing.
That would be cool, to be funky.
Locking — I only just recently started taking locking seriously, and am now struggling to correct a lot of the technique I used to do completely wrong back when I was just taking classes for fun and not practicing. Lockers always look the happiest, and the speed is crazy. It's getting more fun now that I am getting used to it and can start to follow faster choreography.
Everyone confuses locking with popping, and I don't know why, because they are so different!
Top Rock/Breaking(Groundwork) — also essential to my free styling, because the majority of the cyphering I have done has been through toprock/breaking. Learned a lot of important concepts and really like the footwork. I still don't have the right look or feel though, unfortunately. I also like the groundwork, but don't have the time to really build up my strength for it.
So much to explore in toprock alone!
Dance Hall — More cool ways to move my body. A lot of them remind me of belly dancing, but with a different feel. I really want to get jukin and ticking.
House — I still don't get house, but the up feeling feels good, and the dance looks so happy. I'll keep trying and hope that it will one day click for me.
Couldn't find a good photo of house dancing, unfortunately. It looks a lot cooler and happier than this!
All of these dances offer different things, and I can't pass up opportunities to do them. As a result, I am mediocre to bad at many of the dance styles, but I still haven't made any decisions to commit to any.