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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET |
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Dancing to live music is quite different than dancing to recorded music. Many people prefer to dance to recorded music. Their brains have assimilated the steps and the music to where they know exactly what step to take to each note and also also they know exactly where the dance will end.
Live music is quite different. First of all you never know when the dance will end. Some of our Bulgarian musicians can play the same dance, weaving song into song, for more than half an hour. Usually, the melodies are totally new, and while you can tell from the beat the type of dance, that doesn't necessarily mean that the beat will continue forever. At the whim of the musicians, you better shift gears and accelerate from the slow lane into the fast one. Additionally the beat might change very slightly and you better be ready to adapt to the subtle changes.
Good bands are capable of observing the dancers, usually the leader, and adapting not only the songs, but the beat as well, to the mood they sense. At times they will challenge the leader by accelerating or changing the dance.
And if you go to some ethnic picnics, the leader, or the person who starts to dance first in line, can make his own step, as long as he follows the musical beat. Those are not necessarily the steps that were taught by a teacher to that particular tune. Follow the leader and don't insist on doing the steps you have learned. It can be quite embarrassing as you are dropped from the line and end up as the leader of your own group, which will eventually dwindle to just you, as the dancers join the original leader.
While all of these things drive some people totally crazy, I love the freedom live music brings to folk dance. It is important to do the dances as close to the way they were taught, but when live music plays, it is time to throw some of the stiffness out the window and loosen up. Loosen up, open your heart to the music and the beat, and I guarantee you that your body and your feet will take over and you will dance like you never dance before. Enjoy!
Printed in Folk Dance Scene, "DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET (12), March 2006.