Ballroom Dance Observation

I approached the doors of the Great Hall and my heart was practically beating out of my chest. All I could hear was “left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.” Everyone seemed to know what they were doing, except me. I decided to sit and watch, but deep down inside I was trying to build up the courage to join in and accept the fact that I have two left feet. I felt like all eyes were on me because I was the only person in the entire room sitting, but I did not care. Nothing was more terrifying than dancing in a public setting. It was not until one of the actual dancers from the Ballroom Dance Club approached me and said, “Do you want to learn?” I found the courage to say, “Yes.” So, she pulled me into a corner of the Great Hall and we began …show more content…
Once I felt somewhat confident in my ability to do the box step, I transitioned into the giant circle surfacing the room. Everyone stood in a circle, females on the inside, males on the outside. This is when I noticed that gender plays a specific role in ballroom dance. The instructors teaching the social dance class made sure that the females always danced with the males and this was ensured by having the females rotate in the inner circle while the males stood in their position on the outer circle. That way, every female always danced with a new male. The males always lead and the females always followed. During the class, the instructors always stressed that female dancers are not to “back-lead.” In other words, females are not allowed to take the lead because that is the job of the male. If a female began to lead, a slight tension between the partners would be created because only one person can lead in order to create synchronized movement. The set rules of the male and female roles in ballroom dance allowed them to give meaning to the performances. This was because the partners were able to complement each other and create a beautiful arrangement of dance. These performances take up the entire dance floor because the dancers are constantly gliding their feet across the stage. From this, I gathered how important it is to constantly follow your …show more content…
For my second social dance class I attended a breakdancing workshop hosted by the “UBreak” dance group on campus. This entire experience was two hours, but it felt more like a million because of how much physical effort is needed in this type of dance. The class was taught by other University of Minnesota students who I assumed have been dancing for a few years. Without hesitation, the class started right away and at an incredibly fast pace. We started off with the President of the group teaching us the sixstep, which was considered “basic footwork.” The President had everyone get on their hands and feet, with their bottoms not touching the floor. He showed us the move and expected us to follow at his fast pace, but it was challenging for me. This discouraged me because a majority of the others in the room had previous breakdancing experience and were able to follow along quickly. However, I knew I had to continue in order to surpass the awkwardness and pressure in the room. As I hooked my right leg around my left leg and placed my right knee to the shin of my left leg, I felt myself running out of breath. At a fast motion, I then had to move my left leg straight back while lifting my left arm and then sliding my right leg underneath my body in the middle of my right arm and left leg. All within seconds of eachother, I felt myself losing balance as I put my left hand back on