My Dancing

I talk a lot about dancing, and how I love to danced. But I never specified. Now this post is going to be all about my dance experiences, the styles of dance I know, and much more. Now you know when I was little, I started dance lessons. But what exactly did I take? Well, in the beginning, they only offered a tap/ballet class for toddlers and little kids. As I grew older, I stuck with tap, but dropped ballet, and moved on to more interesting styles (in my opinion). So along with tap, through the years of dance lessons, I have taken jazz, hip hop, acro, and some what of contemporary.

Tap was one of my major interests. Every year I made sure that I took a tap class, and then something else. But tap opened many opportunities and better prepared my for other dance styles. When I took tap, there were endless possibilities. There were so many rhythms and noises you could make with a tap shoe, and I just got the swing of it naturally. It was easy, but then again challenging. You could speed up or slow down any rhythm, make it louder or softer. It could loop, or stop after one. And you could let your emotions be expressed through the sounds you made. Stomp loud and hard if your angry, or do something really fast with many beats if your excited. But I no longer take tap anymore, but I'm still always tapping my feet away. Anyways, the ability to move my feet fast prepared me for things like jazz and hip hop, where it is a necessity to be quick on your feet.

Jazz. Its complicated, and expressive. You can tell a story with it, from its ups and its down. Its used in musical theatre, which technically could be another style of dance, but its very similar to jazz. There are many steps, leaps, and motions that complete a jazz routine. One moment you could be in the air, then the next your spinning, but wait, then your on the ground! You go all over the place. But its really fun. And you don't have to be extremely flexible to do it, but when you are, all the leaps, and splits, and kicks, look so gracious, and they flow into one another. Its really a sight to see, and one of the best experiences.

Moving on to acro, its from acrobatics. So basically, this dance style has more acrobatics than any other style. When kids do it, they put mats on the stage, but if not, sometimes there are no mats at all. Within the style there are various cartwheels, handstands, rolls, and other dance elements as well. And if a person is really good, like say they took gymnastics, they might even throw in a few handsprings and possibly a flip. But for acro, strength and flexibility are key elements. Those elements are what allow your body to move in a way that is unimaginable. And all these tricks keep an audience occupied, as well as the dancer's skill.

Hip hop. We have all seen it at least once. Weather its someone free styling in the city, or its in a dance recital in your local town, its everywhere. This style includes hard hitting moves that have to be on time, and go along with the music. Hip hop is considered a more tough dance style out of all the others. But more about the actual moves. Now these moves aren't as flow-y and as loose as the previous. If your with a partner, you have to be in sync, and hit every move at the exact moment. Even if you don't have a partner, you should still do the previous. And to go with that, the choreography consists of bunches of stepping, hand motions, and more.

Last but not least of my dancing career, is contemporary. I never actually took a class for it, but I've picked it up along the way from TV and my friends. Contemporary is a lighter jazz, and normally is used to tell a deeper story. The music is expressed through the moves perfectly, and the choreography makes it look like the dancer is floating. With series of jumps, leaps, and lifts, contemporary beats the rest in my favorite dance styles. When I see dancers do contemporary their lines are perfect, they never fail a lift, and their leaps always making them look like they are flying. Its incredible how this dance style is preformed.

Well that's all I have to say for now about my dancing. Hopefully in the future there will be more to come, and I am hoping to have specific posts one ONE type of dance. But I do have a small dance history, but its expanding every minute.

-Meredith the Dancer :)