If you are looking for a program for your kids to learn about dancing this summer you should check out the local dance studios. Each of the studios have a variety of different dance classes for the kids this year including ballet, tap and much more. You have to do a little research to find one that suits your schedule and budget but giving the gift of dance to your kids is a great way to get them out of the house and learning new and fun ways to get exercise, interact with a different set of kids, learn a new skill and just to have fun!

Here you will find links to the North Florida Dance Studios that lists summer programs on them. You should always check out companies and teachers that are going to be teaching our children. There is a wide variety of programs throughout our area and different price ranges.

http://academyofdancejax.com/summerclasses11.htm

http://artofdancejax.com/Summer_Schedule.html

http://balletartscentre.com/schedules.php

http://dansationsjax.com/Enrollment.html

http://www.destinydancecenter.com/#!summer

http://fascinatinrhythm.com/schedule/schedule.htm

http://jacksonvilleballettheatre.com/summerclasses.html

http://eastcoastballet.org/www.eastcoastballet.org/Summer.html

http://holliesdancindream.net/

http://markspivak.com/

http://nancydancestudio.com/NancyDanceStudio/Summer_Camp.html

http://www.o2bkids.com/Summer-Camp.aspx

http://studio1014.net/1014_summer_dance_camp.html

http://studiokdance.biz/

http://switzerlanddanceschool.com/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=94

If you haven’t been to you-tube yet here is a great reason to give it a try. We were looking for new material for out next post and thought about this video called the Evolution of Dance by a comedian, Judson Laipply. It is a great video and if he can do these steps in front of an audience you can give it a try in your home. Some of the moves may throw out your back so make sure you warm up before you begin to wiggle around the living room floor. Dancing for fun and exercise is what this blog is about and watching this guy should inspire you to get up and move!

Everyone just loved the original that Judson Laipply released a sequel to the Evolution of Dance but it is only 4 minutes. Still it is very enjoyable and great fun to watch and follow along. Just watch it and see!

Dancing with the Stars is one of the most popular TV shows and a lot of their dances are available on you-tube as well. If you and/or your partner want to practice some dance routines then this is a great place to watch others do it for FREE!

Cheers and Keep on Dancing!

We were cruising the website for this month’s post and we came across several articles about how dancing is beneficial for older individuals as well. Dancing may be able to keep feeling young and possibly staving off early onset dementia. If the New England Journal of Medicine believes it then maybe we should get an early start and learn how to dance. This quote from the Senior Advocate News website confirms it: “Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City studied 469 people over age 75 and found that ballroom dancing was associated with a lowered risk of dementia. The mentally challenging aspects of dancing — following complex dance steps, moving in time and staying with the rhythm of music — is believed to be responsible. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Granted some of us are not up to the more intricate steps involved in most of the ballroom dances but starting today and trying something new each week is a great way to start. You don’t need a partner right away. I mean Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly danced with chairs, broomsticks, coats and whatever else that came in handy. So, GET OUT THERE AND DANCE TO THE MUSIC!

You know I have often wondered if dancing was part of our being or souls. We all like to dance in one way or another. Since caveman times we have produced music and moved our bodies to that music. We as individuals and as a group have always come up with ways to “Dance to the Music”. Whether that dancing had a purpose such as to bring on the rain or to celebrate as in thanking whatever gods were worshiped at the time for a bountiful harvest. We have even come up with dances to inspire mating. That is the main reason I believe that dancing is built into our very bodies. Mother nature requires us to propagate or ensure that the human race continues so we must have the dancing gene built into us to further that end.

Granted some of us are better at dancing than others just as some of us are better at attracting a mate than others are. So, even if you think you cannot dance you just need to believe that the ability is hard-wired into your system. All you have to do to bring it out is to TRY. Learn new steps, practice them by yourself if you are not real good yet! With all the books and videos out there about dancing you are bound to find one that you can comprehend. As we said in an earlier post dancing is great exercise and can be fun if you don’t worry about what other people think and just do it. Remember if cavemen can do it you can too!

If you haven’t had a chance to look over the learning materials offered in the bookstore you should give them a try. We have bookmarked books and videos about dancing, learning different dances and much more. We all have our reasons for wanting to learn to dance and buying some materials to have on-hand will get your started in the learning process. Click on the page above or click here: http://allaboutdancing.info/wordpress/dancing-bookstore/.

As I was cruising along the internet I thought I would find other sources of information on the web about dancing. Here are a few that I came across that I thought you might want to look at:

http://www.learntodance.com/
http://www.learning2dance.com/
http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/video_store.htm

These are a few of the interesting ones I found in the google search engine. The each offer some good information, some free stuff and some stuff that you need to buy. But as we are just getting started with this dancing blog and it is just for beginners some of the above sites are sponsored by professional dance studios. Use their information and enjoy the free stuff. And of course, we do appreciate any purchases that you would make from our bookstore.

Dancing is for everyone!

Each year we make New Year’s Resolutions and most of us want to get fit, lose a little weight, or maybe have more fun. When I do clean I like to turn up my favorite tunes and rock out. Some of my favorites I put on a CD or put it in a playlist on my computer. This way I can get some much needed exercise, my house gets cleaned and I have a good time doing it. When I say “Dancing without a Partner” is a euphemism for cleaning. My kids think I am a little nuts but hey, what teenager doesn’t think their parents are a little strange.

So make a list of your favorite tunes, put them on a cd and play them on your stereo or boombox and get to cleaning. Shaking your booty while vacuuming makes the chore do by pretty fast. Cleaning the tub can be a little bit fun with Bruce Springsteen or The Pointer Sister’s blasting out Pink Cadillac or Neutron Dance. Just remember to put a few slow ones on there to slow down your heart rate or maybe just to slugged down some water to rehydrate. Even cleaning your house you need to stay hydrated. Water doesn’t have any calories!
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Line Dancing to me is all about FUN! Your out with your friends and the music starts and you jump up to a place in the line and you begin to move to the beat and the steps of the other people in the line. It is also great exercise as you move back and forth, stomping, clapping and shaking your bootie. The formal definition of Line Dancing can be found, of course, on wiki: Although line dancing is associated with country-western music and dance, it has a similarities to folk dancing. Many folk dances are danced in unison in a single, nonlinear “line”, and often with a connection between dancers. The absence of a physical connection between dancers is, however, a distinguishing feature of country western line dance. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s including pop, swing, rock and roll, disco, latin (Salsa Suelta), and Jazz.

Popular Line Dances:
The Time Warp, Poco-Poco ,Electric Slide, Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart), Cha Cha Slide, The Hustle, Cupid Shuffle, Boot Scootin’ Boogie, Achy Breaky Heart, Alley Cat, Macarena, Chicken Dance, Cotton Eye Joe, Soulja Boy, Copperhead Road, Catfish, Charleston, Tennessee Twister, Pensacola Slide, Power Jam, Blue Boy, Cripple Creek, Jose Cuervo ’97, Booty Call, Mustang Sally, Wild Wild West, Cruisin’, Tulsa Shuffle, Cleveland Shuffle, Play Something Country, Good Time (as seen on the Alan Jackson video for the song Good Time), Hoedown Throwdown.

Some of the ones that I love to watch besides the Boot-Scoot-Boogie is Michael Jackson’s Thriller. You just have to watch the video to enjoy it as well as participate in it.
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Here is one of my favorite songs “Achy Breaky Heart” and the country line dancing troup!
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If you want to See something that really looks like fun to participate in check out Alan Jackson’s Good Time Video:

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Ballroom dancing to me is one of the most elegant of the couples dance styles.  Besides the different ballroom dance styles such as the Fox Trot, Waltz, Tango, Viennese and Quickstep.

Others dances sometimes placed under the umbrella “ballroom dance” include Nightclub Dances such as Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Nightclub Two Step, Hustle, Salsa, and Merengue. The categorization of dances as “ballroom dances” has always been fluid, with new dances or folk dances being added to/removed from to the ballroom repertoire from time to time, so no list of subcategories or dances is any more than a description of current practices. There are other dances historically accepted as ballroom dances, and are revived via the Vintage dance movement.

But to me the main thing about Ballroom Dancing is the clothes.  The formal dress and style is very beautiful and lends to the dances a very vintage air of civility.  I don’t watch “Dancing With the Stars” but I do love to watch the movie with Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez, “SHALL WE DANCE”. Just watch the video below to see the elegant costumes, moves and style of the dancers.
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This is very exotic and very fast paced. Only try this if you are adventurous and willing to take a chance. Do this dance only with someone you love.

To find out more information about the different styles of Tango wiki is a great source of overview information on any subject. Try looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_(dance)
It gives a brief history of the Tango as well as describe what each type is, where it originates from and some basic steps involved.

And to see a fine example look at the video below:
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Do you remember in Middle School in the Gym with all the girls grouped together to learn how to do social dancing?  I always believed it was because the weather was crappy outside and that was on the list of things we were to learn that semester.  Kind of like Health one semester, team sports another.  There we were all grouped out in 5 or 6 girls to a circle and were told we had to learn how to “Swing Your Partner” or the Virginia Reel.  I can’t remember exactly what all we had to do but mostly it was embarrassing.  When I think back on it, it is still embarrassing but I would hope that today’s teenagers are still getting to do them.  Square Dancing is great exercise even if the music is kind of corny and the moves are as well.  Dancing teaches us coordination and cooperation as well as a little bit about our culture.

From the About website:

“Folk dance is a form of dance developed by a group of people that reflects the traditional life of the people of a certain country or region. Folk dancing originated in the 18th century to distinguish dance forms of common people from those of the upper classes. The steps of folk dances are passed through generations, rarely being changed. Folk dancing is usually associated with social activities, although some folk dances are performed competitively.

Many children’s games are traditional folk dances, such as “The Farmer in the Dell” and “London Bridge.” Today, popular folk dances include square dancing, clogging, contra dancing, highland dancing and Irish jigs.”

So if your teenager comes home complaining about the dumb square dancing he or she had to do in GYM that day call up the school and tell them THANK YOU!  It may seem kind of silly but it is a great way to get kids to interact together in a positive way as well as learn a little something about our culture.

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