Random musings from Swing Out Iowa

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   Most of the content here represents random thoughts from Conan about dance and anything else he can think of.  Feel free to E-mail with your own opinion on the matter, although if you flame me too badly, I'll post a verbal lashing at you to demonstrate your ignorance.  :)  If it seems appropriate, I'll post your comments here.  Thanks for reading!

Martial Arts and Social Dance

I've come to the conclusion that martial artists make great dancers.  An odd point of view, and one which I formed while learning from my first Swing dance instructor, Steve Grody.  Steve has been a long time stalwart of Jeet Kun Do, and it's not clear to me whether he considers Swing dance or martial arts a larger force in his life.  In either case, he's good at both.  :)

Perhaps the dance gender gap is a good place to start.  One fundamental fact of American life is that, as a group, women take to dance more naturally than men.  I'm not certain that this is the case in other places, especially where dance and movement is more integrated into the culture, but it is certainly true in the parts of America where I have lived.

My opinion is that girls grow up taking body movement arts, and guys do not.  Typical "girl" and "guy" activities include:

The typical "girl" activities focus on body movement and the movement for the movement's sake.  As a group, there is a specific way to move, which is rigorously taught and often judged for a desired look or feel. 

Contrast this with the typical "guy" activities.  The typical sports certainly require body movement, but the movement is done for practicality rather then for the movement's sake.  In these sports, the purpose is to score points rather than express feeling.

The exception to this may be found in martial arts.  Martial arts are certainly a male dominated activity, but martial arts diverge from most typical male activities in a number of ways.  With regards to preparation for social dance (since this is clearly the ultimate goal of every person *smirk*) the most important difference is the body movement. 

Now, most good martial artists will proclaim that movements in martial arts are done for practical reasons.  If a movement is not feasible in a fight or during sparring, it is often pruned from the regimen or simply not used.  I agree with this synopsis for most martial arts.  However, a typical martial arts workout consists of a wealth of different movements, and there are enough such that the martial artists gets accustomed to not only moving their body in different ways, but also how to break a technique into pieces such that they can duplicate the instructor's movement.

The ability to learn a movement easily from an instructor gives martial artists a unique edge when learning dance.  This is reinforced by forms, which are widely seen in martial arts.  Forms, or "Kata," or "Poom se," or whatever you would like to call it, are a sequence of memorized movements which a martial artists performs in a preset manner.  These are often seen in a competitive setting, and judged by experts in much the same manner gymnasts are judged.  There is a definite right and wrong way to do it, and a prescribed sequence of movements to follow.

Another often forgotten aspect of martial arts which transfers to dance is found in the fighting aspect of the art.  Many martial artists train with a partner for sparring, grappling, or just to get a feel for where an opponent will be during a fight.  In this high pressure sort of situation, martial artists quickly learn how to manipulate the other person in terms of weight, position, and bearing.  In dance, the guy in the red sparring gear is replaced by a smiling girl, but the principles are the same.  The guy must still know where his partner's weight is, and manipulate her position (hopefully more willing this time).

I'm getting tired.  More on this later!

-Conan