Feel the Music and Dance

Last night was interesting. I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve got two sides – the practice side and the performance side. In practice mode, when I’m trying to master some little step or technique, I get all self-conscious and hyper focused on things that didn’t go right. It is just hard for me to be comfortable and free when doing something the feels awkward and wrong.

There are days when it is easier than others but it can certainly slow down the learning process.

But if I’m dancing at a party or an event, a lot of those nagging little doubts go away. I wouldn’t say I become totally free because I haven’t gotten there yet. Certainly a little looser and not as concerned about things like how ridiculous my arm looks while attempting to do some styling.

Anyway, we were attempting to apply a concept to the West Coast Swing. Well she was teaching and I was attempting. And a lot of times what happens is that I get way to hung up on thinking about what I’m trying to do and that’s when a lot of other things just go out the window. Like the pattern I’m supposed to do.

Then, I got hit with an interesting question – what kind of music do I think of when I think of West Coast Swing. Now, I don’t have a top ten playlist in my head for every dance. I just know that when I hear certain songs, a dance pops into my head. But I don’t really remember them for too long.

And we have the language barrier. That is the barrier between my thoughts and my words. I can’t really describe the particular things I’m looking for – I just know them when I hear them. Plus there is the whole “do I really want to share this part of me” vibe going on.

But I managed to spit out one song I could think of and we danced to that. And I was kind of able to get lost in the song and the steps just came freely and I was even able to focus on what she was trying to teach me. Weird.

Too bad there were so many other lessons going on and we couldn’t take the music for the entire time. Maybe things would go better.