Are you dancing or are you DANCIN?!

Atmosphere is key to a good dance. There have been a few places that I've danced where the atmosphere is full of raging hormones and basically dirt- gross, sleazy, infatuated dirt. As you can gather from this description, I'm not a fan of such establishments and I usually refer to them as "meat markets". As a woman I felt like I was in the auction ring as a prized piece of cattle, ready to be sold to the highest bidder. Places like these make me feel dirty and slimmy.
But, each to their own. For some, they have a place in this world.

I digress. Let me tell you about a different atmosphere that I like to call Broadway, actually it is known as Broadway- The Broadway Theatre! This past weekend I had the unique opportunity to see the infamous musical, RENT. I would place this production in my top five best musicals ever. There are many reasons why I would put it there, but for now, I will focus on dance.

RENT isn't necessarily known for it's dance numbers, but I would argue that when they happen they are fabulous. Each dance is filled with emotion, with passion, with anxiety, with thrill. One number in particular is a dance between Mark, one of the main characters, and Joanne, the new lover of Mark's ex. They do the "Tango Moreen"; a dance that on its own is nothing spectacular, but when you add the atmosphere around it, it becomes memorable. The set, the context, the characters, the reason behind it, the music, all create a rich back-drop for a basic dance. Under this analysis, I would hope you'd agree that atmosphere is key.

Mark and Joanne were dancin'.

To give you an idea.

Good music can make or break a dance in my opinion. If the song has no back bone, how are you to dance to it? A good solid beat, a pounding base line and a catchy melody all compose a danceable tune.
Last night, I went out with my fabulous dancing friends to White Haut, in down-town St. Kitts. I had passed by this "social night club" multiple times and have always been slightly intrigued. It looks classy, yet slightly snobbish, but mysterious all the same. Last night I had the chance to go with the ladies because we heard that the band LMT Connection was playing. Now if you are familiar with this local getup, you know what I'm talking about when I say, "funk is where it's at." This trio has rhythm, it has soul and it holds a tune like the best of them.
When we entered into the joint, the atmosphere was just as I expected. It was dimly lit, with white, leather, lounge-coaches lining the outer wall. The bar was crowded with trendy couples, in their mid to late twenties. A DJ was spinning and the music was basey. When the group of us, five, excitable dancers, came prancing in we got a few head turns. This didn't stop us though. We immediately caught the beat and took ownership of the dance floor. Let the dancin' begin.
LMT smoothly made their way on stage and with a deep, soulful voice, the funk began and it spoke to my bones. I began to dance and before you know it I was dancin' and I just couldn't stop. The music just got better and better, and my body just had to move more and more. It became clear that I had lost myself in the moment when at the end of each song, I felt the urge to dramatically end my dance number, as though I was on centre stage. Usually with hands in the air, I would stop with the crash of the snare and take a breathe of air, "Ahhh, this is dancin'."
LMT, you know how to make good music and thanks to you, I not only was dancing but I was dancin' !

Welcome to my newest edition to the blogosphere. I am a dancer. I was born to dance. I love to dance. Ever since I was a little kid, I had rhythm in my bones and music in my heart. Me and dancing were made for each other. But what defines a dancer; or on broader level, what defines a dance? I believe that everyone can dance, but not everyone can dance.
Throughout my dancing career (which isn't really a career at all, but more a hobby) I have experienced a plethora of dances. Starting with my church New Years Eve dance parties where the Macarena was the number one dance hit, to my grade eight school dance, where I awkwardly swayed to Aerosmith's "I don't want to miss a thing", at an early age I began to understand what was necessary for a good dance. Since those early days I have danced on the stern of a cruise boat (across Lake Ontario I might add), at a South African disco, during an African rain storm, in a dirty "meat market", and on a grand stage. My experiences are varied, however, through them all I have acquired a fine taste for dance and have developed criteria for what I would define as real dancin'. Through this blog, I hope to expose some of my criteria by sharing my good, my bad and my ugly experiences on the dance floor. With every post my question will remain: Are you dancing or are you DANCIN' ?!