For me, musicality is one of the most important things in dance, therefore I’d like to talk more about it and not let you forget about training this aspect of dance. In this post I’d like to stress the importance of dancing to music you actually like and how it can transform your dance.
So, what happens when you enjoy the music that you’re hearing? I imagine you get a rush of energy. This energy makes your body move and wants to come out in the form of dance.
When dancing to music you like, you generally have more energy than you would when simply doing certain steps because your dance instructor told you so.
With all this energy your moves become bigger, more powerful and you look more confident. Instead of just moving your arms and legs, your dance starts from the center of the body and moves outwards. Having enough energy, you are more likely to move your whole body from feet to the fingertips.
Making bigger moves makes you use the floor for support, and this is an important dance tehcnique students need to master if they want to level up.
Moreover, if you like the song, you pay more attention to it. If it’s one of your favorite songs you may even know where the breaks and drops are – therefore your musical expression becomes better.
In addition, your facial expressions align with the dance and vibe of the song and it becomes engaging to watch.
So much of what dance instructors try to teach you comes naturally when you truly enjoy the music.
When thinking about partner dance skills, enjoying the songs is just as important. As a follower, if you love the music, you may not need the leader to lead you anything special since you’re already having fun and are grateful to be on the floor. This takes pressure off of leaders, they can see their partner smiling and they stop stressing about entertaining the follow.
This makes dancing together about sharing joy and being playful, which is so much more enjoyable than just executing moves you learned in class.
Dancing is ultimately an expression of what we feel inside, communicated through our body. If we want to excel in dance, we cannot forget the basic of the basics – enjoying the music.
Have you had similar experiences? What changes do you notice when dancing to songs you love?