Is dance a method of vanity?

@OmSigDAVID,

I guess you haven't considered the dance forms that pre-date writing and telephones, David.

I've been studying middle-Eastern and Eastern European dance for a few years now. Some of the traditions involve almost mime-like portions of the dance - it's quite fascinating. It is similar to the tradition of the western European troubadours and northern European minnesanger. Music and dance that tells stories - passes it down through time.

There are many forms of dance that are community-affirmations.

In relation to the original poster's comments, these communication and community functions are not related to body shape or fitness level.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Quote:

I guess you haven't considered the dance forms
that pre-date writing and telephones, David.

Yeah, I forgot those dancing forms.

Quote:

I've been studying middle-Eastern and Eastern European dance
for a few years now.

I remember that. When I was about 13 I did volunteer campaign work
for a Republican woman who was running for the NYS Assembly from Manhattan,
Greenwich Village. After we closed the campaign office each day,
the others wanted to go to a nearby bar where thay had
belly dancing girls every night. Thay were Middle Eastern.

Quote:

Some of the traditions involve almost mime-like portions of the dance -
it's quite fascinating. It is similar to the tradition of the western
European troubadours and northern European minnesanger.
Music and dance that tells stories - passes it down through time.

Is that done together with storytelling ?
In other words that the dancing motion illustrate [??] storytelling ?

I kinda like storytelling. I have been fairly decent at it;
my audience liked it. I have never studied it.

Quote:

There are many forms of dance that are community-affirmations.

Does that mean making friends with your neighbors ?

David

1 Reply

@MontereyJack,

Quote:

you might even meet a sweet little OmSigDavidette--
dancing is very good for that.

That actually happened, kinda, in the summer of 1988.
I attended a resort in Upstate NY, for a weekend; my first visit.
I met another fellow named Steve, whose first time it also was.
A couple moved in next door to me; nice looking chick with an old man
with a mouth full of grotesquely twisted teeth.

That night, there was a dance.
For lack of anything better to do, I hung around n listened to the music.
The chick from next door approached me and asked me to dance.
I did not accept, not knowing how to do it, having no talent
and no interest in dancing, in addition to not wanting any trouble with
the guy she came with. She asked me several times.
Then she asked Steve, who accepted, and ended up rolling in the
(figurative) hay with her all night, as he told me the next day.

Yeah; my dead friend, Neil, also recommended dancing for getting chicks.

David

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My 16-month-old daughter starts dancing every time she hears music. Can't be much vanity there!

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@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

In other words that the dancing motion illustrate [??] storytelling ?

that would be a way of describing it

Quote:

Does that mean making friends with your neighbors ?

I guess it could, but what I was thinking of was the way in which some forms of dance encourage participation by members of the community. These are joyous, inclusive dances that do not require particularly strong technique - just a general sense of musicality and rhythm.

1 Reply

@TheRexorcist,

Hey there

Welcome to A2K.

mmmmmmmmmm... sorry... I don't get this "vanity" idea!

I'm the worst dancer out... I rarely dance in public... but I LOVE to dance. I can dance in the kitchen, in my house, in my car, in my garden.... no-one is there... no-one sees... but it makes me feel good. In fact, I am more comfortable listening to music, feeling that music and dancing around at home, than I ever would be going into a club. I don't actually see what vanity has to do with it. Dancing doesn't have to be about appearing good to others, it's a way of expressing how you feel inside.... you don't even have to have music.

At our school, we get the children up dancing in the morning as a form of "shake awake" exercise... these are little kids... the smiles on their faces when they are doing this is amazing... and you can't help yourself but to join in with their enthusiasm. There is no vanity there.

What would your "bias" be?

Maybe I am biased as I consider dancing a wondeful gift, even with limited mobility at times.... I just am not sure why you consider dance "vain".

I reckon it brings laughter to many lives too.

1 Reply

@Izzie,

Quote:

no-one is there... no-one sees... , it's a way of expressing how you feel inside

Is that like send ing a message to NO ONE ?

Is it possible to express an idea
if no one is there to whom it is expressed ?

David

2 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

David, can you feel joy when there is no one there to witness your joy?

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Errrrrrrrrmmmm...... not trying to send a message to anyone when I'm on my own!!!

dancing isn't an idea.... for me, if I feel good, sometimes, if a song comes on I like, or I'm singing in my head... I will dance.

It's not a "thought out" act... or for anyone else's benefit... it's something you just do.

Do you ever think of something, that just makes you smile? You don't even realise that you are smiling - it's not a conscious response like smiling when responding to something someone has said or done..... you just have a though, a memory.... and smile.

Well, for me, I hear music, I like to dance. It just.... happens. Badly, at that. But that doesn't matter - because no-one really sees. If they did, they would probably just laugh.

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

I guess it could, but what I was thinking of was the way in which
some forms of dance encourage participation by members of the community.

Have u noticed gender-based differences of attitude toward dancing ?
It seems strange.
Over the years n decades, its happened to me several times:
while sitting near an area where dancing is occurring,
minding my own business, not bothering anyone,
to have a woman or girl (small ones, who u 'd think incapable of doing this)
dig her heals into the carpet and pull me up out of my seat
for dancing purposes, over my protestations of consumate ignorance qua dancing.

So far as I have ever known, no guy has ever been so impassioned
in a desire to dance.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

I've had to have dental work done twice as a result of a man who was keener to dance than I was.

Once, since the fella didn't know how to dance and swung me into a pillar. Another fell pulled me onto the dance floor and into an inanimate object he hadn't noticed between me and the dance floor.

Actually I've suffered more than my fair share of dance-related injuries. It's amazing that I continue with it.

1 Reply

I may drink and I may chew but I don't dance the Hoochie-coo.

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

David, can you feel joy when there is no one there to witness your joy?

Yes; u can feel.

Can u express something if no one is there to accept it ?

(Is that a little like a tree falling in the forest . . . ? )

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@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Quote:

David, can you feel joy when there is no one there to witness your joy?

Yes; u can feel.

Can u express something if no one is there to accept it ?

(Is that a little like a tree falling in the forest . . . ? )

I can express ****, urine and sweat with noone there to accept it, how about you dave?

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

O, my GOODNESS !

What can I say ?

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@dyslexia,

Expression is not the same as excretion.

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@OmSigDAVID,

I think you're starting to catch on to how some people feel about dance, David.

Self-expression, the silent tree in the forest?

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Expression is not the same as excretion.

so you say.

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

Self-expression, the silent tree in the forest?

Well, some have asked whether a tree falling in the forest
makes a sound, if no one is there to hear it.

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

yeah

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Is dance a method of vanity?

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