OK, one of my current problems is that I don't yet have clear, separate mental categories for different dances. My other problem is that I am having a hard time picking a few dances to focus on. As you might expect, these problems interact a bit, resulting in confusion. Maybe if I blog about this, I'll start figuring them out. Here's hoping...
One of the things I'm liking most about learning to dance is that it's making me approach music from a new perspective... What dance is this?? How would I move to this??
Here are the dances that I've tried and remember, and the music they need:
Waltz - one of my favorites dances to watch/learn, and the distinctive 3/4 time signature makes it one of the few I recognize immediately, and always have. Of course, it turns out that the really fast, impressive, fluid, beautiful Waltz that I most want to do is the Viennese Waltz , which is not something you try without a bunch of instruction and practice. It's like a chainsaw - don't pick it up until you know what you're doing - somebody will probably get hurt. OK, that may be a bit of hyperbole, but honestly, you'll just end up in the way, blocking the grace and flow of the real dancers. Trust me, I know. So I'm learning the "Slow Waltz" also known as "Waltz for normal people". But Viennese Waltz is coming, just as soon as I'm a Dance God (tm). In the mean time, Slow Waltz and Country Waltz are recognizable, and something I'm interested in, both because they seem beautiful, fun, and reasonably social. Waltz tunes that surprised me a bit: "Take it to the limit" - The Eagles, "Kiss from a Rose" - Seal, and "Natural Woman" - Aretha Franklin (though once I noticed they are Waltzes, it was obvious...) The All time Classic Waltz: "The Blue Danube" - Strauss (Actually, a Viennese Waltz, it turns out...)
Two Step - So far, this is two similar dances (in my head, at least). Progressive two-step, which I learned at Dance Class (a little!), and some other two-step (Texas two step?? Not even a two step?? - dunno...) that I picked up one evening in about 3 minutes of totally unprepared combat dancing / faking it at my local Saloon and Dance Hall (hey, she was REALLY cute, and I warned her that I didn't know what I was doing... ). Socially, this has a ton of potential - I'm clearly going to meet a LOT of different people two-stepping, and experience indicates that one can probably learn it well enough and quickly enough that you can just show up on the dance floor, in public, totally unprepared, and just "monkey see" your way through it. Not that instruction and practice wouldn't help, but... Maybe that argues for spending time on it in dance class or maybe it's about just hitting the dance hall regularly, but it clearly needs to be in the mix, one way or the other. It seems like every country song ever written is a two step (unless it's a country waltz. Or Texas Swing. Or...). Anyway, Two Steps I've heard: "Guitars, Cadillacs" - Dwight Yoakam, "Past The Point Of Rescue" - Hal Ketchum, "Every Time You Say Goodbye" - Allison Krauss, "Amarillo by Morning" - George Strait, "Life is a Highway" - Tom Cochrane/Rascal Flatts/Chris LeDoux, "A Better Man" - Clint Black, "All My Ex's Live In Texas" - George Strait
Foxtrot - OK, I've danced this one a bit, and I think of it as an bent progressive two-step or an abbreviated Tango, (which tells you how much I'm focused on my feet right now. And Confused...) My other mental image is a Knight on a chessboard (feet, again...) Fortunately, the music styles are distinctive enough that I rarely try to Tango to a Foxtrot, but I have been known to Progressive Two-step when I should have been Foxtrotting (which almost works OK, though the feel is all wrong, or would be, if my either my foxtrot or my two step had any style - I really need to foxtrot to foxtrot music). Speaking of which, there's a lot of foxtrot music out there. "Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond, "It had to be you" - Harry Connick Jr, "New York, New York" - Sinatra (lots of Sinatra, it seems to me) "Moondance" - Van Morrison. If it Swings, it's probably a foxtrot. This is a dance I didn't think I was interested in until I started to realize how much fun, swinging foxtrot music I've heard through the years, and there's lots of social/meeting people potential here. This is not helping me narrow down my choices....
Jitterbug and Swing - We're deep in the Mental Gray Area, here. Jitterbug, East cost and West coast Swing are a jumble for me - as dances and musically. Maybe there's not a great deal of difference, or maybe I've just got a lot to learn. Lots of Fun music in this general area, though. 50's rock, doo wop, beach boys, Elvis (Presley, not Costello...) Such as: "Crocodile Rock" - Elton John, "Footloose" - Kenny Loggins, "Hey Ya" - OutKast, "In the Mood" - Glenn Miller Orchestra, "Old Time Rock and Roll" - Bob Seger, "Lido Shuffle" - Boz Scaggs, "Rock around the Clock" - Bill Haley and the Comets, "Heat Wave" - Linda Ronstadt, "Good Lovin'" - the Young Rascals, "What I Like About You" - The Romantics, and "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison.
OK, better head South before my ignorance embarrasses me severely... And explore my ignorance in a whole new culture! In Part 2, Latin...
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