Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dancing

How do TV dance pros get their partners ready each week?

philosophygeek — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:37:59 -0800

What do pro dancers do to get their celebrity amateurs so good, so quickly? In shows like Dancing with the Stars, the pro dancers manage to get their amateurs to perform at a pretty respectable level, given that many of them have no previous dance experience and they're learning a new style each week. The same is true, to a lesser extent, for So You Think You Can Dance: although the choreographers are working with talented dancers, the dancers are often learning a brand new style, and yet they perform it incredibly well in just a week.

How do the pros in these situations manage to bring up their dancers to such a high level so quickly? Obviously, part of it is spending 6+ hours a day on the routine, but even so, those are grueling days, and I don't know how the pros keep their ams mentally sharp over that long of a practice session. So how do they do it?

OH GOD IM THAT GUY ON THE DANCEFLOOR

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:09:12 -0800

I'd like to learn to dance well, or at least inconspicuously. I'm white, slightly goofy, male and mid-20's. Help. So there are some weddings coming up where I'll probably need to grace the dance floor for at least a few songs. Outside of that - I'd like to not live in fear of a dance party breaking out at every party I'm attending.

I'm goofy, white, awkward - the type people don't expect to see on the dancefloor. The only times I've actually danced with my friends, I've been so completely trashed that I get way too into it, and weird everyone out. This has made things worse for me..

Are there any tips, or youtube videos you can point me to, which will give me something to mimic? I feel like I'm capable of being a passable dancer, and probably wouldnt' feel such a heap of shame everytime dancing was mentioned, if I just practiced a bit on my own and built up some confidence.

Again, help.

thanks

I'd like to learn to dance

2oh1 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:49:36 -0800

I'm a single guy living in downtown Portland. I'd like to learn to dance. Swing? Ballroom? What should I learn and where can I learn it? I'm a bit of a romantic sap, and so, the idea of taking a date out for an evening of dancing seems like something I'd really enjoy. But first, I should learn to dance, right? I have no skills whatsoever. Seriously. NONE. But I'm a can-do sort of guy who wants to learn, so point me in the right direction :)

I have no idea what I should learn. Swing? Ballroom? Something else? I'm looking for a fun and relatively easy starting point for a guy with two left feet.

I don't have a car, so options that are downtown or accessible by mass transit are what I'm hoping for, especially if the mass transit is the streetcar or MAX.

Any and all advice is welcome! Thanks!

I want to start dancing...

lemonade — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:35:24 -0800

I want to start dancing---just for me, for stress relief and mood enhancement and flexibility. Recommend some DVDs to teach me routines and give me ideas for my own? I found these two dancing-yoga videos on you-tube, and I love that idea -- while I could eventually (laboriously) copy their routines...are there DVDs out there that teach routines like this? I have been doing yoga for a long time, so I'm sure this is within my capability.

And how about your favorite DVDs for dance routines in general--belly dancing, latin, hip-hop?

I found this thread and plan to try the videos, but please give me more -- I'm not necessarily looking for good cardio here, just some fun.

No sleep til Brooklyn (or aftewards)

Evangeline — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:38:03 -0800

Brooklyn on a Wednesday night. What to do? I have a friend flying in from Atlanta tomorrow night to stay with me for a few days, and she wants to start the debauchery immediately. She won't arrive at my place until about 9:00 pm, and we've decided it would be best to go out in Brooklyn (where I live) rather than get her unpacked, gussied up, and head to Manhattan.

Problem is, she's used to a different kind of fun than I am. She's recently divorced, and she's sowing her wild oats. I don't think she's looking for someplace sort of low key and pubby, so where do I take her? I don't usually go out on Wednesday nights, and even when I do, I don't go to singles bars or dance clubs. Is there any place in Brooklyn that would actually be hoppin' on a Wednesday night? She keeps talking about what a "wild" time she wants to have, and I'm at a loss.

Gotta dance!

mgrichmond — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:02:18 -0800

Where can a 300+ pound, 39 year-old geek go dancing in Seattle without feeling *too* self-conscious? This past weekend, I participated in an "80s Prom" charity event here in Seattle. Everybody was dressed in their finest Wedding Singer drag, and having a great time dancing to the songs we remembered from high school.

I realized that night that even though I'm 39 years old, over 300 pounds, and as uncool as they come, I still love to go dancing. Despite my Wookiee-like appearance and complete lack of grace, as long as I stay hydrated I can go for hours. Not to mention that I could use the cardio benefits.

I'd like to go dancing more often, but I have no interest in being the creepy guy hanging out with the twentysomething beautiful people. Anyone know of some places in Seattle where people go to get their groove on, rather than to be seen?

What is a good place to learn how to dance in New York City?

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:58:00 -0800

What is a good place to learn how to dance in New York City? (Anon because I'm a weirdo and find this question very embarassing). I recently decided that I really like dancing, and mostly I don't do it more because I don't know how to do it well. Also, I think it would be fun to get better at it. I'm a guy. In my 20s. I'm single. I don't know what kind of dancing I want to learn how to do. All kinds? I'm not trying to meet girls or anything, but I also don't have anyone I can bring to a class or lessons. How does this work? I want to learn any kind of dancing people actually do in social situations, not like some crazy art dancing or tap dancing. So yeah, pretty broad, but I've only a vague ideal what I'm looking for: Social Dancing. Instruction. Solo students accomodated. In New York City. Thank you for your help.

What is this, Footloose?

Methylviolet — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:48:29 -0800

Where can teenagers go dancing in greater Los Angeles? My 16 and 17 year old kids want to dance. They'd prefer ska or bhangra or alternative-y dance music, but mostly they just want a dance club that will let them in.

Ideas?

Where can my Turkish cousin and I go dancing in Chicago?

Seeba — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:02:44 -0800

Where can I take my 17 year old cousin for Chicago nightlife? My 17 year old cousin Kemal-Mark is coming to visit me in Chicago, and we have a nicely filled schedule of stuff to do during the day, but now I'm trying to figure out where to take him at night.

He's not interested in booze (and I know that wouldn't be possible anyway), but he does really like danceclubs/discos-- the two of us enjoy going to clubs/etc when we meet at family gatherings in Istanbul or Hamburg, so I'm trying to find someplace around Chicago (northern side, preferably) to go dancing.

I know that a lot of places check identification for entry to insure that a person is of drinking age-- is there a procedure where he can affirm to the doorman/whoever that he's only interested in dancing?

Where can we go? Other nightlife suggestions?

Blanket Fort Party

Juliet Banana — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:13:21 -0800

In approximately two weeks, I will be holding a Blanket Fort Goodbye Party on almost the entire top floor of an apartment building. Given the excellent ideas I got from this previous party thread, I thought I'd ask what you crazy kids: what would you want to see at a blanket fort party? "Blanket fort" means the same thing as "couch fort;" there's a local band named Couch Forts I'm trying to not get us confused with. We're looking to enclose as much of an area as possible with blankets, high enough for tallies to be able to stand up straight in. We're also having three DJs play in a backroom, a straightforward "here's a song, now here's another song" DJ to get things started and then two wildly popular and talented local superstars to play the height of the party.

We have the top floor of the our apartment building to work with. It was apparently a hotel back in the 1920s so imagine that we have the size of 3 large hotel rooms, connected by hallways. Two of the apartments are completely empty. I am completely unconcerned about moderate damage to walls or leaving it particularly spotless. I'm not very concerned about keeping the blankets flawless, either. The ceilings are too high to reach, and we're going to have to try to build a ceiling out of blankets.

Our apartment building has a long history (apparently going back to the 1980s) of being an underground music venue that has raves and hardcore punk and noise and experimental electronic shows in the basement. This is the first major party that's going to be held in the upper floors. A lot of people can be expected to show up; not quite as many as a hardcore show (typically 80-100 people throughout the night) but more than our previous house parties (we usually get around 20-something people to show up).

How do we hang up this many blankets and sheets? My current shopping list includes a hammer, nails, lots of rope to string between nails and keep the "ceiling" suspended, clothespins to attach fabric to rope, safety pins to attach fabric to fabric, thumbtacks to attach fabric to walls.

Where do we get them? Thrift store sheets still run $2-$3. I was wondering if it'd be cheaper to buy yards and yards of fabric from a fabric store. We're also going to borrow as many extra sheets and tapestries and etc as we can.

What different areas should we have? One apartment is devoted to the DJs and dancing; how should we set up the stage? There will probably be a projector playing on a white sheet. I'm also thinking of devoting a small bedroom to being brightly lit with a nice sheet in the background to take people's Polaroids (it's our goodbye party, I'm going to miss everyone) and having the living room as some sort of lounge area. What should we have in the lounge area? Candles to toast smores over (fire hazard? people are definitely going to be smoking, anyway), lots of pillows, what else?

Any amazing examples of huge blanket forts on the internet?

What would you want to see at a party like this?

Yes, you can come, if you live within driving distance of Columbus Ohio and I didn't weird you out at the 10th meetup.

Organising a stag do near London

ninebelow — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:28:50 -0800

Organising a stag do near London I am organising a stag do for about twenty people. All we want to is get drunk, play our music loud and not disturb/interact with other people. This is surprisingly hard to do in London.

The original plan was to set up mini-rave (we have a sound system) but the potential hastle of set up, weather and police was considered too much.

To get the isolation we would have to travel out into the sticks and we are keen not to do this as almost all of us live in London and just want a one nighter. Location-wise it would ideally be near London or possibly on the M1 corridor.

Obviously we could hire a bar or a room in one in London but we will want to be naughty. Any suggestions at all because I am not doing very well.

Where to cut a rug in London?

stuck on an island — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:13:46 -0800

I love dancing, but loathe the typical club scene. Where can I go to have a great night out in London? In my previous life in Canada, I used to love going out dancing, up to 3x/week at one point. I'm now struggling to find similar fun in London. In my old age (30), I tend to avoid the heaving queues, aggression and meat-market atmosphere of big clubs. I prefer dancing to music made by humans (indie, rock, funk, Motown) rather than dance music with a heavy beat. I like clubs where people don't take themselves too seriously, but find the British love of flailing self-consciously to "cheese" (ironic Girls Aloud, etc.) uninspiring. I have had a reasonably good time at Madame JoJo's. Barn dances and ceilidhs are also fun in moderation.

Where can I go to be with other people who love dancing like idiots to good music? It doesn't matter if it's a mazurka club for gay pensioners, I just want to let my hair down once in a while.

My face and head sweat too much; make it stop?

Jacen Solo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:41:24 -0800

I sweat a lot when dancing, mostly from my face/head. More than other people, to the point where it's often remarked upon. How can I fix this? So yes, every time there's a dance party, my face and head end up sweating like crazy. Like, while dancing, beads of sweat drip off my nose and chin every few minutes, which can't be attractive. And when I take a break to go get a drink or whatever, people often remark on my sweat (my face might also be somewhat red; not sure?), asking whether someone spilled their drink on me or something. This is, in a word, suboptimal.

Any ideas? Most of the threads on AskMeFi and tips elsewhere on the internet seem geared toward body-sweat, which I don't have much of a problem with (I mean, it happens, but not excessively, and deodorant/body spray takes care of the smell). Experimentally, I think moisturizer might have a small anti-sweating effect, but I'm not sure.

Other relevant info... I'm a guy; I'm wearing long pants/t-shirt; the dancing is "club-style dancing," none of that fancy/slower ballroom stuff; I use Duac and Retin-A as topical acne medications, but usually I don't apply these after my pre-party shower; I'm on Zoloft (a previous AskMeFi answer indicated this might matter); I'm vegan and eat a lot of fruit, a decent amount of it citrus (another this-might-matter-according-to-previous-AskMeFi factor); I use hairgel; my haircut ranges from very short immediately afterward to about 3 cm at the longest before I get it cut again.

What is the most difficult social dance?

philosophygeek — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:37:28 -0800

What kind of social dancing is the most difficult to learn? I'm wondering about which lead-follow partner dances are the most difficult, and what makes them so tough. I'd curious about the difficulty for both learning the basics of a dance (so that one could lead or follow socially), as well as learning a dance at a high level suitable for top-tier competition.

Drills to develop body flight?

philosophygeek — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:47:11 -0800

How do dancers achieve body flight? I'm amazed at how many pros in dances like Carolina shag and west coast swing look like air hockey pucks gliding across the floor, and I'd like to learn this skill. I have worked with local pros in private lessons, but nothing has clicked yet, and so I'm asking the hive mind for drills and breakdowns to develop this degree of body flight. Theoretical explanations of how body flight and glide are created are welcome, but my primary interest is practical: I want to learn how to do this!

Where to party in like a Southern girl?

thejanna — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:12:31 -0800

Where to go for a girls night out in Charleston, SC? We're going out tomorrow night for a girls night/bachelorette in Charleston, South Carolina. We're all from out of town and don't know where to go, especially since it's a Wednesday night so some of the happening places might be closed or dead. I'm not looking for anything too wild - just fun places to hang out and have drinks or dance. Any South Carolina Mefites have any suggestions?

Guys outdoing the girls - Single Ladies Dance Remix

anonaccount — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:36:03 -0800

I saw a video of a bunch of stylish black dudes dancing to "Single Ladies", and doing a damn good job of it. Help me find it again! I'm not sure where I saw it, but google is failing me today.

It was basically a bunch of stylish black guys (in hats?) doing a perfect recreation of Single Ladies, and possibly dancing better that Beyonce herself. I think it was in a dance studio, or on a similar grey/white background to the original - not filmed in someone's front room.

Where the hell has this video gone?!

Wii Dance With Our Hands

Greg Nog — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:23:10 -0800

I'd like a good hands-only dancing game for the Wii. I've really been enjoying Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party's dance mini-game, but there's only seven songs. And lots of the other dance games for Wii seem to involve a DDR-style dance pad (which, while fun for me, will be way less fun for my downstairs neighbors). We Cheer seems to be along the lines of what I'm looking for, but in an ideal world, I could get this kind of game without a bunch of prepubescent large-headed midriff-baring girls manically screaming rainbows at me.

What dance style should I use for "We're going to be friends"?

Deathalicious — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:48:31 -0800

When I get married, I want to dance with my wife-to-be to "We're going to be friends" by the White Stripes. The thing is, it is not really a conventional song suited for dancing. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a dancing style that would go to this song. This is "our" song and we both really love it. If push comes to shove I suppose we could just do the standard slow-dance sway, but I feel like this song has a playful nature that just asks for a little more moving around. Me and my fiancee are both playful in nature too (hence this being our song) and would like the whole dance to have a light, energetic, and sweet feel to it.

We have around 4-5 months until the wedding, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility to learn a new dancing style, at least well enough to look presentable on the dance floor.

Neither of us has training in ballroom dancing. We both have a pretty good sense of rhythm but I have clumsy feet so anything that has the possibility of crushing toesies should be avoided.

Name this weird dance

crazylegs — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:47:10 -0800

What's the name of this kind of dancing? There's a certain kind of dancing, I guess it's considered break dancing but I'm not sure. I'm looking for videos of it online but don't know what to call it. It's hard to explain; basically the dancer moves parts of his/her body while isolating other parts so it looks like the parts are kind of melting into each other. I don't know how else to explain it. Anybody familiar with this? Anybody know what it's called?

Swing in Bogota

nnevvinn — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:02:11 -0800

Swing dancing in Bogota, Colombia? I'm in Bogota with extended family for a little over a week. I got here the 15th and I leave the 26th, and last night I met a very cool young lady my age (20). I'd love to take her swing dancing, but Google has been no help to me and my friends and family here have never even heard of swing.

I know enough spanish to get by, though I sometimes sound like a complete idiot. I know how to get to any address in Bogota, and I'm not afraid to go south but I'd prefer not to.

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues!

fracas — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:58:45 -0800

Where do the cool queer kids go in Chicago when they want to really dance? I want to go club dancing in Chicago at a fun venue with great music and an energetic crowd who are there to dance. Not to drink, not to stumble around looking for a hookup in the bathroom, not to text furiously all night, but to dance until everyone's sweaty and laughing and flirting with everything in sight. Super-big bonus points for a mixed GLBTQ crowd, but it's not 100% necessary. Good solid DJs are a must. And for what it's worth, I'm definitely open to all-ages clubs.

I've been to Formerly Known As at Michelle's Big Chicks on N Sheridan (linkage) a few times, and while the crowd is great the music has been so-so lately and it seems that everyone is doing that shuffle around in place thing but no one's really dancing.

So AskMe folks, where do I go to bust some mad moves with a group of like-minded folks?

How can I keep my dancing skills fresh over an extended absence?

philosophygeek — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:28:09 -0800

I have been learning to swing dance for almost a year now, and I have enjoyed it very much. However, I will soon be traveling for an extended period of time (over six months), and will not be able to continue with my classes or lessons during that time. What can I do to keep my skills from atrophying while I am away? Additional, possibly relevant information: I dance West Coast swing, usually as a leader. When I do compete, it is still at the novice level, but I am not a raw beginner. I won't have a partner with me with whom I can practice, and I have not been able to find other clubs in the places where I will be traveling.

Scrub-a-dub-dub, the boys came out of the tub

curagea — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:40:51 -0800

OldCommercialFilter: Taiwanese soap commercial - help me find a video on the tubes! When I was five and vacationing in Taiwan in the early 90's, I saw a soap commercial where a group of boys and grown men, all naked (thankfully, with their backs to the camera), scrub their butts with their towels and dance while singing:

"Loo lala loo lala loolaloolalay
Loola loo la loo la loolaloolalay
Loo lala loo lala loolaloolalay
Loola loo la loo la LAAAYYY!"

(Yeah, imagine my five-year-old expression when I saw this)

I kind of found the lyrics to the song unintentionally, but what I really want is the commercial itself. Unfortunately, I forgot what soap brand it was. So, Taiwanese MeFites, help me identify the soap and find a video (if possible) so I can flip my brother out. Yeah, he remembers the commercial too.

Looking for a no-cover place to dance in NYC.

®@ — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:26:05 -0800

Looking for a good place to dance (with no cover) in NYC. My friend is coming down for the weekend and wants to go dancing in the city. Most clubs I've run across charge a cover, and I have no desire to blow $10-$20 on a random club that may or may not suck.

Anyone know good places with cover-free dancing in Manhattan?