Science can make you a better dancer - or at least improve your chances of not looking stupid to the opposite sex, say a group of evolutionary psychologists who used 3D motion-capture technology to create uniform avatar figures and identified the key movement areas of the male dancer’s body that influence female perceptions of whether their dance skills are “good” or “bad”.
Apparently it all comes down to neck, trunk, left shoulder and wrist, the variability of movement size of the neck, trunk and left wrist, and the speed of movement of the right knee.
Apparently it all comes down to neck, trunk, left shoulder and wrist, the variability of movement size of the neck, trunk and left wrist, and the speed of movement of the right knee.
Every time I go out and end up at a club or a barrish type club I freeze up like holy hell. Friday night I was at a barrish type club, more or less recently arrived, and an argentine girl asked me to dance. I didn't know what to say after being blind-sided like that and I said, "no, I'm waiting to buy a drink." Not even I'm waiting to get my drink. I was still waiting to pay for one.
So, I just can't do it, I thought I would take this as a chance to look back through my history of dance, maybe uncover where I've gone wrong.
Montreal sophomore year:
This was a break out setting for me in terms of my dancing career. The last night at the Winston Churchill Pub that dance floor was set on fire and I had a phenomenal time. Things of note at this event: I was hammered and I almost drowned in the bar when the pipes broke. True story. Also note the dual robots in the foreground.
One of the quintessential fairly awkward situations that I get myself into at these clubs manifested itself when I went with my friends to a miercoles po' which is a big student dance on Wednesday nights in Santiago.
As much as I tried to fuel this experience with alcohol to break out of my shell, it still stands out in my head as kind of awkward. I'd say overall poor extension of extremities on my part and when did I start developing this limp wrist? Not a mark of a good dancer.
The next significant moment that I can think of would have to be in Santiago where Joe, Beth, and I went to a discoteque on a Tuesday and got downnnn. Even though we were the only three people there and we didn't buy a single drink, Beth was able to use her blonde hair and charm, mostly her blonde hair, to convince one of the security guards to open up the dance hall and put on the disco lights and music.
I can't go into detail because as Joe so elegantly put it on facebook, "What happens in Aliens Discotheque, stays in Aliens Discotheque. Unless they put the security footage on Youtube." But basically Joe and I were stripping and Beth was picking up our dirty socks to keep. This can be where our affinity for stripping can first be cited.
The shotgun wedding was an important dancing experience. Again, a more structured setting with some structured moves.
I also had a rope so my partner(s) could not get away.
(some seem to enjoy being lassoed more than others)
Obviously, I would be remiss (this is one of those expressions I'm not really sure how to use but I like it and it sounds good) if I didn't mention strip mod. The fall show was our coming out party. Any time someone gives us/me coordinated moves to do I like it.
This swim through the crowd move, courtesy of QB/QT Jon Costa, is my bread and butter and I need to get back to this. However, it works best only when I have a target to swim through the crowd to. I think this move nails all the key dancing areas: neck, trunk, left wrist, and right knee.
Notice the full body extension of this thrust. It's like a shockwave was sent from my toes all the way up through my whole body.
From there the next big dancing moment and this was a multi-day alcohol fueled dancing extravaganza would be Cancun, which was a lotta lotta fun. Claire Sweeney is quite the spark plug on the dance floor and was one of a handful that helped me break out of my shell.
I also found time to slow down my rockstar lifestyle as a pirate.
Finally, strip mod spring where I got in touch with my more autistic dancing side. (When I was little I used to not know the difference between autistic and artistic. Maybe from growing up in Boston? Doubtful. I think I am just a dumbass.).
What we talkin' bout here? We talkin' about practice.
Lastly, before we reach present time we have dance of the decades. Something obviously went wrong here.
What? Two guys can't get lost in each other's gaze on the dancefloor despite being surrounded by hundreds of beautiful girls?
In closing, these are a few of the conclusions I feel can be drawn:
- Overall, I seem overwhelmingly genuinely happy and smiling when bailando.
- I need to get shitfaced to dance. This proves a difficult task down here because I don't buy drinks at the bar.
- I need a friend, who is a girl, to help me to get started dancing. I just can't go to a place and start boogieing on my own.
- There is a pattern of undressing myself. I think it's because it takes the focus off the dancing and onto the taking off.
That's all I can think of for now. I definitely pysch myself out about this whole thing. Actual thought that I have when I start to dance with a Latin American is that I have no business being in the same room as them as far as dancing goes. However, like the classic line that is said during every sports game where you are up against a really good team or what you thought would be a really good team and it turns out you can in fact play with them and everyone in the locker room/on the bench start to say, "boys, they're not that good." (However, you usually end up getting blow out and losing by 10 goals in the end anyway.).
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