14 tweets · April 2022 · 70 likes · 0 retweets · read on Twitter
whoa @Aella_Girl put words to a thing I've been feeling aware of for years and haven't quite been able to name: there are 2 totally different kinds of dancing I feel like I could have literally written this blog post. Every word matches my experience. knowingless.com/2018/09/07/dan…
when I hear trance music, I'm like: there's nothing there! it's all the same! gotta admit, I've been pretty judgmental of this, treating it as just bad rather than good-in-its-own-way. I once got into the trance, randomly (sober!) idk why it happened! it was decent.
Maybe 2 things here tho? I feel like most trance dancers *are* submitting to the music, & they're not doing anything interesting because the music isn't (tho it may feel good) This is different from eg breakdancing, where the beats are minimalist & the dancers do moves on top
I feel sorta vindicated by this tweet (someone who used to like Type 1 dancing talking about how they don't find it compelling anymore) which seems to prove my point about Type 1 being lesser. which is not to say you shouldn't enjoy it if you do
regarding flow states, Csikszentmihalyi makes the case that flow is when difficulty & skill are well-matched so I am confused about how people are getting into flow states doing the same thing over and over. dramatically narrowed awareness? 🤔🤔🤔 plz explain
Type 2 music is my JAM. It feels conversational and interesting. I like it best when it's right on the edge of my ability to notice patterns & anticipate what's coming next, although complex music I know well has the different puzzle of expressing every little detail.
Here's an example of a song from my Dancy playlist. it's hard for me *not* to dance, when a song like this comes on. I've just gotta move! But I also dance to anything complex, including Bebop once, which got me a stern scolding from the guy playing it. youtube.com/watch?v=O5ds72…
But also it doesn't have to be crazy & wild. I have had beautiful & ecstatic dances to minimalist songs like this, where I'm pouring every ounce of my attention into manifesting each syllable into the right tiny movements. youtube.com/watch?v=safO91…
Yeah, this is interesting. One obvious factor is that the trance stuff makes more sense on certain drugs, and I'm usually dancing sober. Ecstatic Dance, which I love (eg 5 Rhythms) is also conventionally sober.
I'd also be curious to experience a context that helps people learn how to enjoy doing Type 1 dancing to Type 1 music! (sober) Mostly I've just been annoyed that scenes aren't playing something I want to dance to, and nobody has offered an on-ramp into the trance state! 👯
I've been dancing expressively & interpretively since I was a wee tot, so idk what it's like to not know how—or feel comfortable, which is half of it. But I do feel like I could show people! Start small: pick one body part & one musical element to express, & try it out 🦵
I think it's important to respect that people enjoy what they enjoy and ALSO to respect that people don't enjoy what they don't enjoy And someone might be able to *learn* how to enjoy something else, but that doesn't happen automatically—it does need an on-ramp.
For the record, ecstatic dance to me feels like somewhere beautifully in between these two types, in a sense. It can be incredibly expressive, and also incredibly trancy. However, the music always develops. It's not the same beat for hours, but a wave that builds & crashes.
Oh and have a video of me doing very Type 2 dancing to a very Type 2 song that I've barely heard before. I think of this as "listening with my whole body". youtube.com/watch?v=ol-b4j…