What is dancing for you ?

An impression of a constipated zombie about to follow through.

Dancing is a product of the mind and nothing else, there is no such thing as dancing.

You could try and define dancing, by incorporating the word rythm in to your definition, but then you have to contend with people who are bad at dancing, and even though they are not rythmical, we still say they are dancing.

Dancing is people moving.

As for my self, I’m more of a foot and hand tapping kind of guy. I don’t dance, at least not when I’m in a sane state of mind. If you ever see me dancing it’s probably a good time to vacate the area, the cops are surely on their way, and the fire is only going to spread.

Embarrassing.

Some times dancing is just the best way for some excellent energies to let themselves out!
I did take a ballroom dancing course in college (fractional unit). But most of my moves are rock and roll freestyle.

I love dancing. I learned how to do it, how to enjoy it and how to disregard whatever anyone else may think of my dancing through the liberal use of MDMA. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

Dancing the carousel with my wife is the most fun you can do upright.

Dance to me is coordinate movement, usually done with music. I tend to like dance that has a rather controlled torsoe, and more movement with lower part of the body. Latin, ballet, etc. On a dancefloor, that is not a performance, moving too much side to side, or legs apart, never looks very good, especially on women.

There are just so many types of dance. I took ballet as a young child, and still at times take it as an adult. I think it is just beautiful. The muscle control, strength, and how graceful the dancers are is just amazing. I used to get asked if I was a dancer all the time when I was little. Someone would notice my posture, or how I pointed my toe as I swung my leg over to get onto a pony on vacation, even having a long neck. The total awareness of where your body is when you dance helps you with so many things. I take zumba class now as exercise, and even in there people come up to me and comment on my position. I have muscle trouble, and can barely get through a class, I modify constantly, but they still notice. Honestly 95% of that class can do the steps, have more energy than me, they all can dance, they just don’t stand up straight.

Less formal I have been going out to danceclubs since I was 16. I love the high energy night club seen. Never was a drink in a bar sitting down, I want to be up, on the dance floor, all night.

I pretty much hate hip hop. It is fine for a performance, but in terms of dancing with a partner one on one it totally sucks, can be vulgar, and is not sexy.

A slow dance for me,is a very good thing :)

I love ballroom dancing to be honest. Learned in college and gonna get to strut my stuff at a wedding this weekend! There is something sexy and intimate about kicking out a sassy Tango and even a slow graceful Waltz. Can’t wait! :)

I started out doing ballet when I was four, did a combination of ballet and jazz at various schools for about 12 years. In the end, the competition, expenses and schoolwork made me stop taking classes.

Last year, I was in a local production of Copacabana that got me dancing again. A few months later, I got a gig doing promotional work that was based around a dance flashmob, so I suppose that makes me a professional dancer, haha.

For me, dance is at once escapism and great self-awareness. I love the freedom of movement and the discipline it takes to achieve that freedom. I don’t need an audience, just clothes I can move in, enough space to do a grand jete, and the music in my head.

for me, dancing is ignorance towards shame. freedom and direction together. direction with an iron fist.. pump.

Fun.
I’ve got all sorts of great moves.
I am pretty tall, and I was always a little unsure about the esthetics of a tall man doing moves, but then I saw this and that was all she wrote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ3y5hTHuP4

Dancing is how I express my soul! It like to dance like a tree in the wind, or ninja-break dancing, or do the whirling dervish (do it in public for bonus points!).

@wundayatta inspired edit: I believe that dance is anything with grace, beauty, and a certain level of intention. (e.g. light reflecting off water, bird flight formations, even blowing leaves)

Most movement is dance, but most people seem to think of dance as a kind of intentional movement that is designed to express an idea, as opposed to movement for a utilitarian sake. An additional component is that dance has a primary purpose of expressing relationships between people. It is the body language of seduction.

However, dance also serves a spiritual purpose. There is sacred dance which is more formal, and is prescribed and repetitive. There is also dance that is designed to get people out of their heads and into their bodies, which is where most spiritual experiences occur.

For me, dance is the last. It is how I experience the numinous. It connects me to a place that gives me the wherewithal to do the impossible. It’s really quite amazing to find yourself doing things you can not do.

Most recently, I found myself, at the age of 54, make a series of leaps high into the air. It felt like my legs were springs, and I became aware of myself as I was doing it, and I watched myself do it from a far enough distance that I didn’t wreck my concentration.

A lot of people commented on that after the dance. It’s an amazing thing to witness yourself doing the impossible. I had a series of people following me at that point, and they were all supposed to do the same thing, but I doubt if they were in the same space I was. It would have been nice to be able to transfer this energy to others so we all could jump like that.

Through dancing I have had a number of extraordinary experiences. Well, three, I think. But still, they are experiences I will never forget. Sound is generally an integral part of dance, and I have also had experiences of a similar nature though making music.

Dancing for me is all types of fast dancing… although I want to take up ballroom dancing soon too.
It’s how I “let it all out” in a fun, healthy and enjoyable way. To me, it’s not how I express myself, just something I need to do to be happy.

The way to express your feelings through some sort of specialized or un-specialized set of moves. I like Old World classical dance and those sassy club dances.

I love to move to music. In my younger days, I danced in musicals. I took lessons in ballet, jazz and tap when I was in my 60’s. I loved it. It didn’t matter to me that I had little talent, but I finally stopped after 10 years because I was holding the class back and losing my sense of balance.
In my next life I will start dancing at 9 or 10. Only tap dance lessons were available in the town we lived in and my mom wouldn’t let me take tap. She didn’t want me doing cutesy Shirley Temple stuff and that’s all that was available.

Fun. Gives me butterflies. Makes me feel alive.

Dance is when my body becomes the instrument. I feel truly at one with everything around me when I dance. I am all and I am nothing. Dance is passion ..an expression of life.

Dance is also when I just wanna goof off and have fun. :)
I’ve never had lessons in dancing. I am quite talented at it though.

For me dancing is a way to relieve that sluggish feeling I sometimes get when I’m home all
day. It also helps me rid all of schools stress and have pride in something that’s fun to do.