The Dance Primer

Tired of sitting at home at nights wondering what to do? You’d like to meet new people, but the bar scene just isn’t your thing. Internet dating? NOT going to happen. You’d like to meet new people on a more, shall we way, innocent level. Social partner dancing may be just the thing for you. But what to do, and where to start? You don’t know anyone you could drag along to be your partner for entire dance series of classes. Well, let me give you some starter tips. What you need to know is what kind of dance you’d like to try, and where to do it. Let’s start with choosing a dance style.

There are probably more partner dance styles than you think. Competitive ballroom with the fancy dresses and tall shoes is not the only thing out there. Here’s a quick, although by no means comprehensive, list for you to consider:

• Carolina Shag - This is a swing dance found in North and South Carolina and is the official state dance of both Carolinas. This smooth style is done to beach music.
• Contra Dancing - Think of barn dances or country folk-dances. Contra dances consist of simple moves and energetic music.
• Country Western - Both partner and line dances are done to country music. You may see WCS, Waltz, Two-Step and more at a country dance.
• Salsa - Latin style dancing to Latin style music. You may also see Meringue, Cumbia, and many other dance styles as well at a Salsa venue.
• Social Ballroom - Waltz, Fox-Trot, Mambo and the like don’t have to be as serious as what you see on “Dancing With The Stars.” Knowing which basic foot patterns match which music styles will be enough to get you dancing.
• Square Dancing - Moves are called out to bluegrass/country music, and danced in squares of four couples; 8 dancers.
• Tango/Argentine Tango - This dance is very sexy, up close, and personal.
• Traditional/East Coast/Lindy Hop Swing/Jitterbug - Traditional swing goes by many names, but is usually done to big band music from around the 1940’s. It is very free-form and often high energy. Other swing style dances you may see at Lindy event may be Charleston, Blues, Balboa or even Shag.
• West Coast Swing - Dance to contemporary or blues music with a smooth styling. At a WCS event you may also see Night Club Two-Step and the Hustle being danced.

Hopefully this list will help you get started. Browsing YouTube videos can help you see what dances may be like before you take the next step and go try out a live dance venue. Or, keep your eyes here for more video clips.

*Photo from Eirik Newth on Flickr used under Creative Commons Attribution license.