Forum MVP GoingBackTo Where.... Posted June 29, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 this thread might not make it to long, but it is a interest of mine and I think others. though I should be working instead, I am really curious about how you all either aqaired or developed how you dance, and even why you dance like that. perhaps a stupid question, and should be in a page of randomness, but it is something many of us fight for,and is a Integral part of the shows we attend. any contribution would be greatly appreciated, as it's a deeply spirtual thing for me. a meditation with out the calm of surroundings. the ability to focus and see the world through musical expression, and personal feeling. it is also academic. I can easily see one day a documentary of GD dance, and why it is what it is!! if you have a moment, and care to write about yourself, than please do so!! I would, and hopefully others would really enjoying knowing a little about what motivates you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
How Do You Do? Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Dance like no one is watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP GoingBackTo Where.... Posted June 29, 2017 Author Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 I dance like everyone is watching; however, I realize people get embarrassed by their own self expression. Humility is a positive characteristic in our culture, but could you imagine Jerry being humble with his guitar, and only played when no one was watching. I was hoping for a better start, but I humbly thank you for the response How do you do!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Mango Posted June 29, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 It started slowly for me, with lots of self consciousness. Little by little I developed, borrowing from others and tweaking to make it work for my body. At some point I discovered spinning... That made everything a whole lot more intense. It feels good.... Like, in some way connected to a bigger, universal process. Like a torus. Somehow spinning seems to unlock some hidden potential in the music. As for how I developed moves....I don't know. Everyone's body is unique and so is their self expression. Even if you are trying to copy someone else you inevitably will make it your own. My dancing feels.... Graceful. Does it look that way? Probably not. But if I focused on what I looked like I would probably experience a lot less depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP chuckvegas Posted June 29, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 It started for me at a show in '73 at William and Mary. I was a freshman in college and this was the second time I saw the GD. Under the circumstances moving to the music seemed like the thing to do. I wasn't embarrassed by my utter lack of natural talent and anything resembling poetry in motion because I realized no one was watching. The rest of the audience had other things on their minds and so did I. The set list that night was good but the next night they played Eyes. That sealed the deal. Over the years my affinity for the music has not lessened and my ability to flail has not improved. That seems, to me at least, to indicate that my harmonic balance with the universal flow of the music of the spheres from the heavens above to my spirit down below has remained constant. Like most folks, I have tried learning from others and adapted moves to fit my own efforts. It has been a decades-long evolutionary process of on the job training. Any progress ebbs and flows. For me it is a "use it or lose it" proposition and now that I don't get out it is pretty much lost. What I lack in graceful steps I have attempted to make up for in enthusiastic movement. It slips away but I try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taper Ron Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Dancing is something I wish I could do. I don't know if phobia is the right word, terror is more like it. I can "slow dance" but that's it. I was always a shy kid and in the seventh grade I was 5'6" and 190 lbs with a bad complexion and a little more than self conscious. One night at a school dance (sock hop) I was on the dance floor with twins that were very large and had very bad complexion and were as popular as I was, People (including teachers) were stood and laughed and pointed at us. I haven't danced since. I'm about to cry now thinking about it. Actually, I have danced (sort of) twice since then: The first was at a Marine Corps Ball (I was in the Navy) my (ex) wife loved to dance and basically drug me onto the Dance Floor. Where she danced around me while I stood there. The second I was very VERY drunk she got me up and I sort of moved my arms around shuffled my feet. It's immaterial (inconsequential?) now, the only thing I could do now is the Texas ONE step Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Rude Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 People point and laugh at many of us here. But those pointers are missing the joy of complete release and may not know it but are envious of our freedom to express ourselves. The majority of my friends I've made on tour can't help themselves either when they hear this music. We are dance slaves to the music and really have no choice but to dance with full abandon. I also love to see newer people to the scene now dancing with full abandon or people at a show who were previously afraid to let go, eventually letting go completely. There's not much better in life that being in a mass of sweaty people while GD is playing over a PA system. I commented at one point that we may be having the most fun on planet earth right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Tea Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I once got pointed at and got the...."Look! He's one of the Solid Gold Dancers." SMH... I think you were with me Rude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP chuckvegas Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 The original spinners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Island Bro Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 Rude thinks I am a free flow dancer but little does he know I spend most of the long winter nights working on all my specific dance moves for each song. It's just so liberating for me to come to a show and know exactly how to move my body... there's nothing like having it all planned out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Dead duck Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I used to be a stander, maybe a sway or a bop, but pretty much just hung out, jammed and watched the crazies. (You guys). It all changed for me at a place named Gerstles in Louisville. I was there to see Born Cross Eyed and it was a good time, good show. I watched this older gentleman just throwing down the whole first set. I Smiled. I Maybe even laughed a time or two. Fast forward to outside at setbreak said gentleman came up to me and asked if i enjoyed the set. I said hell yeah and mentioned i didnt even know anything like this went on locally. He said "I can tell you really feel the music, but i can also tell you are holding back the urge to move." It was weird. Here i thought he would be embarrassed that i watched him dance, and he flipped it on me. I was ashamed of my lack of movement. I still dont throw my weight around too much as there would likely be casualties, but from then on i have not cared what i looked like or who was taking my picture or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP DesertDead Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 Great thread, amigo. Hope it does get some play. I have no real idea as it was long ago and in a galaxy far, far away. I do know that Lucy and Bob were in on it. Oh, and somewhere along the way I have added a wicked swim move, which I can implement as backstroke, breaststroke, or of course a crawl. I believe this aligns me with a ninja rating if I'm not mistaken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Tea Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I have your standard flail that relies very heavily on knees. It's a little hyper and not much to look at but i manage to stay on the beat. When things get really movin and start racing towards synchronicity, out comes the rearranging furniture dancing. It may look funny but I am 100% dialed in at that point. My body literially tries to act like a conductors baton and it usually crescendos in a spinning leap for the sky. I may not get as far off the ground as I used to, but those moments are ones that literally charge my batteries with an energy that is almost impossible to replicate. When that happens to everyone around you all at the same time - it's fucking magic - just pure magic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Michael Doc Watson Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 The music just makes me move...nothing thought about..no planned moves...just pure joy of the sound and rhythms. Sometimes it has to be more restricted because I'm in the packed crowd near the rail but I prefer the wide open spaces in the back where the dace can flow. There are times where I have to force my body to stop and be still because the physical energy is drained and my heart needs to catch up...but then the music raises and my feet and legs take over again. Second set in Springfield there was a totally accidental dance move that I wish I could repeat. A very well endowed beautiful lady had taken upon me and we were dancing together...in an unconscious spin my arm threw out and somehow caught the ribbons on her back that was holding her blouse and in a flash untied the cloth support. We both laughed and smiled and continued to dance. Peace and Love, Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP PoetryGirl Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I have always loved dancing. As an adolescent, I would dance down the hall of our ranch home to dinner and back again to do homework or hang in my room. For my birthday one year, a gaggle of friends and I piled into the back of the 1970 Chevrolet station wagon sitting crosslegged in the back and packed into the 2nd row to see Grease, We danced all night in the living room to the soundtrack. It was bittersweet for my mother. She was mortified to send all my friends home with such dirty socks but her Karastan rug was clean! Every Saturday night I pleaded to watch "Solid Gold" over "HeeHaw" and struggled to stay up for "Dance Fever". I can drop it like Beyonce and pop it like Kid Play. I know the "Thriller" dance. So don't condemn me because i can't deny these moves might come out in addition of my clogging jig, ballet sweeping moves or spinning and flailing. A crazy moonwalk during the opening of MNS is always a possibility. The ability to dance at shows was my first love. The music was secondary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP 2muchfun Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 Just B4 I hopped on the bus there was this thing called disco. I noticed there were people that did not dance and could not dance and they were not the same. At some point as is my general philosophy I can't live my life worrying about what other people think so I went from didnt dance to couldn't dance...at first not because the music moved moved me...far from it...disco sucks...but just attempting to dance increased both the quality and quantity of females in my life....if you catch my drift. With GD the motivation changed...the music moved me but wether my competency improved is for others to judge. I must say I have met tons of cool chicks to lol, besides dancing helps keep my girlish figure. Now The music plays and I just have to dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Tom Banjo Posted June 30, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I often say those that can't dance learn to play music. Those that can already getting the girls. No need to play. Wallflowers don't get laid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducats Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 Jakob ain't getting no putang? I'm a riot. My problem with the dancing thing is I can't make it through even one rocker - and I don't even go at it that hard. I think the last time I broke a sweat was playing hoops 20 years ago. It's not that i'm in that bad of shape but it's all walking/hiking. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to break a sweat ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Mango Posted July 2, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 Sweating is good for you. People don't sweat enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducats Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 3 hours ago, Mango said: Sweating is good for you. People don't sweat enough. pretty sure a heart attack would come before the sweat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP GoingBackTo Where.... Posted July 2, 2017 Author Forum MVP Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 if we ever met ducats..I would encourage you to dance with me and I promise to sweat enough for both of us. no heart attack....your short worded replies are to favorable by more than me!! you actually make me feel not like a smart ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP PoetryGirl Posted July 13, 2017 Forum MVP Report Share Posted July 13, 2017 In some tribes, the shaman would ask the sufferer of sadness or other malaise, "when did you stop dancing?" . I like what Phil says in Searching for the Sound, " To make music for dancers like these is the rarest honor- to be coresponsible for what really is the dance of the cosmos. If, as some savants of consciousness suggest, we are actually agreeing to create, from moment to moment, everything we perceive as real, the n it stands to reason that we are responsible for keeping it going in some harmonious manner. .... energy liberated by this combination of music and ecstatic dancing 💃🏻 Is somehow making the world better, or at least holding the line against the depredations of entropy and ignorance." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian NJ Posted July 24, 2017 Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 The Dancer Once there came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha a dancer with her musicians. And she was admitted to the court, and she danced before the prince to the music the lute and the flute and the zither. She danced the dance of flames, and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space. And then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind. After this she stood before the throne of the prince and bowed her body before him. And the prince bade her to come nearer, and he said unto her, "Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? And how is it that you command all the elements in your rhythms and your rhymes?" And the dancer bowed again before the prince, and she answered, "Mighty and gracious Majesty, I know not the answer to your questionings. Only this I know: The philosopher's soul dwells in his head, the poet's soul is in the heart; the singer's soul lingers about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body." Kahlil Gibran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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