Re: I need to learn to dance!

Date: 10 Jul 2003 02:07:32 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.arts.dance
Size: 2,966 bytes

"modulok" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message news:<xO6Pa.38396$email-address-deleted>...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm a 25 year-old male and I want to learn to dance to hip-hop and rock
> mainly in clubs.
>
> I never used to dance before because I didn't think I could, but not too
> long ago while at a small club the wife of a friend who was sick of me not
> dancing finally embarrassed me into getting out on the dance floor. I LOVED
> IT!! I never had so much fun, and when we were done a couple of people told
> me I was pretty good. Now I MUST learn to dance because I'm addicted!
>
> I'm trying to watch people and pick it up that way, but I would like to
> save time and learn from someone else if possible. I've tried to look
> around for dance instruction but it seems that most schools are either
> teaching little girls ballet, or teaching hip-hop dancing a'la MTV music
> videos, coreographed group stuff that wouldn't be appropriate for simple
> dancing at a nightclub with a girl.
>
> I'm interested in hip-hop and rock, but I'd also like to learn salsa
> dancing, maybe swing, even breakdancing. Mainly I just want to be able to
> go to a club and have a good time. That one time that I did dance I was
> mainly trying to do phreaking (I'm sure it looked more like the "White-Boy"
> hah!).
>
> Anyway, I know once I'm confident at dancing I will be a dance-a-holic,
> so I ask all the wise dancing sages in here to guide me toward the light:
>
> 1. Where should I go for the type of dancing I want to learn?
>
> 2. As for the dancing schools that have ads offering a wide variety of
> dances (ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, swing), is their hip-hop the
> coreographed group stuff for competitions, or is it something I could use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> So-and-So
>
> P.S. I live in Southern California, about 1 hour from Los Angeles.
all I can say is that if you wanna learn something like Salsa or Swing
you'll probably wanna be very careful as far as 'dance studios' go. I
once worked at a dance studio where the owner refused to let me teach
Salsa. He said 'we are a ballroom dance studio, we teach Mambo, not
Salsa!' they also didn't do WCS much before I started working there
and they *still* dont know any Hustle or Lindy. Needless to say I'm no
longer at that joint. So be very careful... from my personal
experience, people who claim to be teachers and/or work at a dance
studio and dont go out social dancing at least once a week are fakes.
If they can only dance at their studio then there's something wrong.
Make sure you find an instructor who is good out in the public *and*
that you actually see them dance many dances well. I've also known
self-proclaimed instructors who are only good at one dance so when you
want to learn another they can only teach you the 3 or 4 patterns they
know in that other dance. I hope you find a good instructor!
L Perez (professional coach/choreographer since 1993)