"The Body School Approach To Starting Partner Dancing."

[QPO]

yes show me so I can see what it is you want me to do. then do it with me so I can feel it..

[cornutt]

I would also take exception to Cornutt's post. Oh, I understand well what he means. However, I was trained, and have always taught, in this manner. The difference is that I was also told, from the very beginning, that dance is the movement in-between the steps, and when I would inquire about "the steps", I was told that I was doing them w/o knowing it. Irene, my dance mother, said something very interesting to me once. I said to her, "Thank you for teaching me to dance". She replied, "I never taught you anything. I only helped you to realize the dance within the movements".

See, to me this still reads as "dancing is instinctive, and if you don't have the instinct, you aren't capable of dancing."  Which is exactly what I was told back in my club dancing days.  I came to my first ballroom lesson convinced that it was impossible for me to learn to dance, because that's what I had always been told.  What my instructor did for me was strip away the metaphysical BS and show me that dancing is simply a set of motions that obey the laws of physics.  Once that was explained to me, I found that I could in fact dance.

[TangoDancer]

I would also take exception to Cornutt's post. Oh, I understand well what he means. However, I was trained, and have always taught, in this manner. The difference is that I was also told, from the very beginning, that dance is the movement in-between the steps, and when I would inquire about "the steps", I was told that I was doing them w/o knowing it. Irene, my dance mother, said something very interesting to me once. I said to her, "Thank you for teaching me to dance". She replied, "I never taught you anything. I only helped you to realize the dance within the movements".

See, to me this still reads as "dancing is instinctive, and if you don't have the instinct, you aren't capable of dancing."  Which is exactly what I was told back in my club dancing days.  I came to my first ballroom lesson convinced that it was impossible for me to learn to dance, because that's what I had always been told.  What my instructor did for me was strip away the metaphysical BS and show me that dancing is simply a set of motions that obey the laws of physics.  Once that was explained to me, I found that I could in fact dance.

Funny, isn't it, each person's understaning of things? It seems to me, now, that we are saying the same thing. My coach did not say that dance is instinctive; she said that dance is natural movement (the same as you stated as being a set of motions that obey the natural laws). I get a different understanding of your post above and the original one.

[pruthe]

See, to me this still reads as "dancing is instinctive, and if you don't have the instinct, you aren't capable of dancing."  Which is exactly what I was told back in my club dancing days.  I came to my first ballroom lesson convinced that it was impossible for me to learn to dance, because that's what I had always been told.  What my instructor did for me was strip away the metaphysical BS and show me that dancing is simply a set of motions that obey the laws of physics.  Once that was explained to me, I found that I could in fact dance.

I think anyone can learn to dance. Maybe some people are more natural dancers (i.e. pick it up quicker and do it better) than others, but anyone can learn to dance. For me, I learn best when concepts/ideas are described in as simple and concise ways as possible. I'm usually confused when I read about dance concepts/ideas that are described in ways that, to me, are ambiguous or unclear. I like your description of dance as a set of motions that obey the laws of physics. What we're trying to do as students is to learn the rules and technique that should be used in completing those motions. Ideally, the rules and technique would be defined (for both dance partners) to provide the best and most beautiful ways of completing the motions. It can take years to learn this, but we as students are doing the best we can in the time we have to do it.