THINQon : Why is dancing only a public activity? Always a public performance?

The Living Room General Why is dancing only a public activity? Always a public performance?

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Arthur Mont

Why is dancing only a public activity? Always a public performance?

Latest Post: April 14, 2011 at 4:50 PM

72 followers

Basketball players often dance before games to pump up the team, people go out to clubs to dance, to Salsa, Tango, etc. People record their dancing on youtube as a performance. Yet people rarely dance at home. Rarely simply dance. It definitely does happen, everyone does it every so often, but it's rare. Moreover, rarely have I seen other people dance at home, even if they sometimes dance when they're alone.

Singing - people constantly sing when they're alone and in very small crowds. Playing an instrument - definitely. What is different about dancing? What about dancing makes us need a crowd around us?
What makes dancing a public activity?

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Mia Vialti

April 7, 2011 at 1:33 AM

67 followers

Hello Arthur,
I suppose dancing is a way of calling attention to certain currents of energy in the room. You're moving your body to manifest these powerful invisible currents moving through you -- or perhaps you're moving your body as a way of drumming up that energy in others. Dancing, like yawning, is contagious. People watching start tapping their feet, swaying their hips. It's one of the few direct ways our bodies speak to each other, point to a current of energy in the room that other bodies notice and move into -- whether it's a strain of music or the drumbeat of a war dance.

From this perspective, you can see how dancing is most often public. It's an act of witnessing, a public speech.

That said, at certain rare moments there's just too much loveliness in the world and it bursts out of you as a little dance of joy even when no one's watching --

ted berryman tagged this post as Very enjoyable.

Edward Smith tagged this post as Very enjoyable.

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Alice Armstrong, Unique like you.

April 8, 2011 at 3:36 AM

3 followers

Oh yes, dancing is a joy and though I rarely participate in public dancing now I often, very often, love to dance alone for the joy of the movement and synchronicity in my body. Making up moves to music is consuming and different types of music ask me to dance in a different way; highland bagpipes and soft guitars, rock and blues, all elicit different moods of dance. One feels so wonderful after this form of dance there is nothing like it and one can be free of others expectations if one dances in private.
Public dancing is different because one is aware of the 'other' judging ones' performance. I much prefer private dancing as the 'messages' I produce may not be meant for others or may be misinterpreted and acted on by others.

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Julie Sabatier

April 14, 2011 at 4:50 PM

27 followers

People dance in order to communicate, seduce each other, and when they feel happy. Most of the time these happen when there is at least one more person in the room (communication&seduction). As for happiness, isn't it also about enjoying it with others? My first thought when I'm happy would be to call a friend and share, not really to start dancing alone. Like Arthur, I also see dancing as a public activity, not necessarily a performance, but an activity whose base is communication with others.