Dancing - for the big folk

I went to a Halloween house party and there was a live DJ in the attic. I was up there most of the night(as that's where the keg was) but after a while I started dancing and I literally did not(and almost could not) stop for about three hours.

I know I looked like an asshole, I was completely trashed, there was so much sweat pouring from me and I was wearing steel-toe boots. And to be honest my eyes were closed ~80% of the time cause I didn't want to see people's reactions to my drunken gyrations which would have made me self conscious and I was positive I would have stopped(low self esteem and all that)

So how can I find out how to dance? My size causes limitations on what I can do, and any time I google the words "dance" and any synonym for the word "fat" I get millions of videos of people laughing at fat people dancing and that's not helping me want to do this.

I don't want to be classically trained in ballet or anything. Just UNSE UNSE UNSE UNSE UNSE UNSE UNSE Dance music.

You can do anything to that kind of music. Just feel the beat like you were doin

You should be able to pull of some funk styles. They can be just as fast and snappy, or slow and smooth as the music will allow, so if you are looking into taking the time to learn some basics, these would be good for you. Incidentally, these are all the styles that I'm learning, as well, so if you need any pointers, let me know. As far as learning the basics, there are tutorials all over youtube.

Try to learn yourself a bit of:

Popping


Waving


Tutting


(And this one might be a little harder for a guy of size, because it's so animated, but: )
Locking

My opinion in this area is always: Dance, like if nobody's watching.
It's just too great of an experience to let it be ruined by some douche
bags staring - or maybe some/most/all of it might even be in your
head and people don't actually care? And if they do, fuck'em.

Anyway, I often close my eyes when dancing to get more of a feel
for the music, to me, it's like meditation and trance. Wonderful.

I do know what you mean though. I personally feel uncomfortable
in regular clubs, I'm more into the 'underground partys', where people
are generally more tolerant. If I don't feel comfortable, I don't dance.
(Even though I don't have a weight problem, so it's different I guess)

And about the google results,.. how spitefull. That's horrible. :shock:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grasshoppa

You can do anything to that kind of music. Just feel the beat like you were doin

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I agree with this, it's not so much about learning moves.. but feeling it.
Especially if you have electronic umz, umz, umz thing going on.

This video will give you a good idea of just 'moving to the beat', without using any set moves or choreography. Even if you don't choose to learn any specific moves from a style, it's good to familiarize yourself with a style or two, just so you get an understanding of how they use the beat to time their own movements.

Popping is a good example of this, because the dance, itself, is as open-ended as knowing how to 'pop' your joints and use quick muscle contractions to make your movements.

Even though the beginning of the video is choreographed, it is when they get to the freestyle that Mr. Wiggles tells them "now that's how you learn to dance", because, as was stated, is more about just moving your body to the beat, in your own movements, instead of set choreography.

(Skip to 2:45, unless you want to watch them practice their routine a few times)

Thanks for the vids and pointers.
Now if only I didn't live in an apartment above an 80 year old lady, I could practice!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bearsy

Thanks for the vids and pointers.
Now if only I didn't live in an apartment above an 80 year old lady, I could practice!

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Use those knees and ankles, man! They are good shock absorbers. Might take a little honing, but how much noise you make depends on how you disperse your weight. No need to stomp around in your movements - unless your floors are like, seriously paper thin, in which case I guess you don't have a choice.

But here is a vid of me messing around in the garage. I'm a fairly big guy, and I usually have some of the lightest feet on the dance floor. It's a little hard to tell in the vid, but it's very rare that I stomp, because usually when I step, I either step with the balls of my feet first, or dip slightly with my knees. That way, even when my steps look heavy, there is actually very little shock on them at all. It's all about how you learn to soften your steps. You can still work on a lot of movement, without channeling too much power through your feet.