Dancin’ 101

Ok, so Dance Dance Party Party can be something you just show up for, you’re loose enough to let go and break it down without inhibitions.  You can enjoy the music and yourself and life in general. Or it can be entirely nervewracking. Many of us are not used to jumping and spinning and booty-shaking it with others around, and it takes some getting used to - some practice to pull the crazy freak that you are out of her shell. So here are a few ways to gradually let loose… hopefully they’ll help you out.

1. Step away from your friends.
While having friends around is great for mutual encouragement and affirmation, you’re not at DDPP for encouragement and affirmation. You’re there for YOU, and no one is going to lead you to the grooves that only you have inside of you,  the grooves that must break free and be laid down at last to those funky, funky beats. Now, look at your friends getting down in that corner or over by the mirror - they have some fab moves you never knew about, don’t they?

2. Breathe.
If you’re feeling all excited and maybe a little nervous to be in a new place being asked to splay your bad self out to the world (or at least a roomful of other women), it’s possibly too obvious, but breathing will slow you down, let you hear the music and feel the good energies around you from other people having a good time. Breathing offers some focus, which may help you see that there’s no one to compete with or prove anything to when you’re dancing. You’re frickin gorgeous when you’re being yourself.

3. Try a Technique!
ok, now that you’ve stepped away from those lovely pals of yours, and given breathing a try to bring yourself on home, maybe you need a technique to get you started, something that will let you see what that brain of yours has to offer. Here’s a few:

* Pretend there’s a little kid there that you’re dancing for. This makes you dance funny. You can dance and be funny and have fun? Well, yes you can.

* Act like you’re the singer, or one of the backup singers for the song. How would they dance? Hold that microphone and sing to the crowd. And why not?

* Teach yourself some steps. Move your arm over there, then look the other way. There’s one. Kick. There’s another. Build on them one by one and pretty soon you got yourself a dance of your very own.

* Can you dance like never before with a certain friend or family member around? I used to have dance-offs with my younger sister, and boy could I throw it down around her. I call this person your dancin’ muse cause they trigger something in you that makes you remember how to dance. So if you got one, imagine that muse is there in the room with you, dancing too, or watching, or whatever they do.
* Dedicate one whole song to one body part, like your arms.  or your knees.  or your toes.  See how this body part can dance.  what?  It’s another song?  What other body parts do you have?

* Is there somewhere that you dance by yourself, like in your living room? Pretend you’re there.  It works for a short while, but that may be all you need to lift yourself into the otherworldly place that you need to git on up in.

* If the song tells a story, act it out.   Take, for example, Copacabana.  Be one of the roles, or all of them.  Or make up a story to the music and dance it out.  That could be a very good time, indeed.

* Be one of the instruments playing.  Dance to that tune or beat, and  see what comes of it.   aw, yeah.

4.  Feel hidden (in several ways):
* Are you the only one on the dance floor, or does it feel like it?  It’s easier to feel all incognito and do just what you want to when it’s crowded, so imagine you’re surrounded by heaps of people.  Now take advantage of all that space, and flail about at will.
* Get a disguise.  Did you know that the first recorded human activity that we know of is dancing in costume?  It’s still done now - look at Carnival, Mardi Gras, Halloween.  When we’re in costume, we can let go of our own inhibitions because become someone else.  Wigs are great, but they get hot after a while.  Glasses work well, as do frilly square-dancing skirts, odd makeup, capes.  Go with it.

If you have techniques or suggestions on how to dance in public, let us know and comment here…