New Year New Me! A Fun Way to Be More Active

By: Vinh Nguyen, professional dancer

Thursday, December 27, 2018 7:55pm

Welcome!

Hey there! A new year is upon us and I figured this would be a good time to offer an activity you could try out if your resolution is to become more active in 2019. Rather than doing what a majority of teens do: sitting at home playing video games, checking Twitter and Instagram for memes, or scrolling through Blogger like you are right now, dancing is a great way to have fun and socialize. It’s also not as strenuous as other physical activities! Start the new year right by giving this activity a try that will help you stay fit and who knows, maybe you’ll end up making it a hobby, or in my case, a career!

Top Reasons Dancing Should Be Your Resolution

1. Music lover? Dancing is a great way to express how much you’re into a song!
   1. 90% of US residents alone listen to music
   2. Have you listened to music and moved to the rhythm? That’s dancing!
2. It has several health benefits!

   

   1. Improved condition of heart and lungs.
   2. Increases blood supply to brain.
   3. Increased endurance and motor fitness.
   4. Better coordination, flexibility, and agility.
   5. Improves memory.
3. Increasing your social skills!
   1. Interacting with other dancers in a class or even at a party can help you better communicate with people.
4. Greater self confidence and self esteem!
   1. The more you dance, the more you find out about your strengths and weaknesses, which’ll help you build character.
   2. Dancing helps relieve stress especially when you’re in the moment as you dance.

What Got Me Into Dancing?

 

I didn’t grow up liking dance. Like every other young child in this era, I was obsessed with anything that was on a screen: thick televisions, cubed computers, flip phones, movies… you name it! Gluing myself to things such as video games and Disney films kept me from being active, so I stayed at home most of the time.

Fast forward to high school, I was a slim Asian boy who didn’t do any extracurricular activities and didn’t really talk to many people until one day I figured I would get my arts credits out of the way for my GE’s. My thoughts went a little something like this:

I’m definitely not going to sing.

Drawing’s too boring.

Drama class means reading scripts. I hate reading.

I have no time to learn a musical instrument to join orchestra.

FUCK, I guess dance is the only option left.

Yup, I thought dancing would be embarrassing and that only girls do it. 

So I made my best friend, Keone, take the class with me because no way was I gonna be the only guy in there haha.

At first, I was nervous and shy. I had no dance experience and I thought everyone else would be amazing dancers. Boy was I glad that I was wrong!

There were a few other guys taking the class and many of the students didn’t know how to dance so it helped me feel more comfortable. Within a few weeks, I started feeling more confident in my abilities, I had greater stamina, and I started making new friends with other people in the class. We all cheered each other on as we performed and let me tell you, in all my years of learning and teaching, every class I’ve been to has had the same type of positive and uplifting atmosphere as my high school dance class.

What does that mean? You won’t get laughed at for making a mistake, you’ll be cheered on! Just have fun!

There’s my background story! Some of you reading might be/have been in the same situation that I was in and hey, it turned out great for me! It could for you too! Feel free to leave any thoughts/questions you have down below.

Friday, December 28, 2018 7:30pm

What’s Holding You Back?

Reading a comment from yesterday’s post, I want to touch on some anxieties people may have for not wanting to dance.

Growing up in this technological world, we all loved watching cartoons and animations. I’m confident that like me, your first exposure to some sort of dance was through these figures on a TV or movie screen.

Like Disney!

Their depictions of fairy tales shaped our minds with bright and positive energy. From the happy endings, to the songs, and guess what… dances! Watching the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, Belle and Beast are seen performing a ballroom dance to the classical song “Tale as Old as Time.” No offense to the creators, but even though we get a magical and gentle feeling watching this scene, it doesn’t really make us want to try dancing right?

Because hey, as kids, especially if you’re a guy, cooties were a thing and dancing with a partner would have infected you if you had no cootie shots.

Okay okay haha, so what if it wasn’t about the cooties? You can look at this scene from Aladdin, where three guys are briefly shown grooving to the song in a very silly way. Sure, you can feel the fun and excitement of this part of the film, but why would you want to try out a dance like that? As a child who had no initial interest in dancing, something so boring and embarrassing wouldn’t have been worth your time.

As you grew older, these views stuck and the idea of dancing was shaped behind Disney’s fairy tales where a pair would dance with each other or some extras would make fools of themselves. Luckily, what they show is merely the tip of the iceberg for this marvelous activity we all know as dance!

Saturday, Dec 29, 2018

Disney Dances vs Modern World Dances

As promised in the comment section, in this post I’m going to provide you with different styles of dance you can try out! I’m also going to compare them with Disney dances you or someone you want to start dancing may be familiar with.

• Hip-Hop

This type of dance has a wider range of moves that you can explore and hip-hop dances are primarily performed to hip-hop music, such as rap or R&B, that many millennials are accustomed to. Some popular moves that you’ve probably seen include:

1. Hit them folks
2. Shoot
3. Nae Nae
4. Yiking

Compared to Disney dances, hip-hop dancing is more closely suited to the type of music many teens at this age listen to, rather than Disney songs that appeal more to younger audiences. I’m not saying teens stopped listening to Disney songs, because I still listen to songs like “Tale as Old as Time” and “Let it Go.” However, for teens, artists like YG and Drake are what play in their earphones most of the time. Here’s a video of hip-hop dancing!

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• Break dancing

Break dancing is a specific form of hip-hop dance. If you have high energy and enjoyed some of Disney’s more energetic dances, such as “Be Our Guest,” in Beauty and the Beast, break dancing is definitely something you should check out! Compared to this Disney film where the cursed servants fly around and do flips, break dancing allows an individual to express him/herself through their own combination of flips, stylistic footwork and explosive freezes that will stun an audience, just like the servants stunned Belle in their performance. Here’s two examples of some professional break dancers, or bboys! 

The moves in the second video are called “power moves,” which are the WOW factors of break dancing. These moves included:

1. Air Flares
2. Flares
3. Windmills
4. Halos

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• Contemporary

Maybe you like the classical and soft music that Disney displays in their films, but aren’t necessarily interested in the partner dancing. Contemporary dancing is a type of dance that involves classical music, but also incorporates technique with controlled arms, legwork, and floor work. A lot of contemporary moves are fluid whereas hip-hop moves are more hard-hitting and sharp. So if Disney’s classical music style is the type of music you like to listen to, trying out contemporary dance would be a good fit for you! Here’s an example! 

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• Ballet

Ballet is one of the components that are blended in with contemporary dance. This type of dance is more technical with footwork and requires much more training than contemporary dance. Like contemporary, ballet can be appealing for those who like the classical music genre of Disney’s fairy tale films. Ballet is a very graceful dance style that is similar to the elegant aspect of Disney’s ballroom scenes. Here’s an example!

Ballet technique names: (Fun Fact: Many ballet and Beauty and the Beast terms are French!)

1. Arabesque
2. Pirouette
3. Plie

 

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• My type of dance

I don’t really have a specific name for my dance style, but it’s a combination of my years of dancing experience. In my dances, I typically include sharp, powerful, quick moves. I’d say my style differs from many of the fluid ballroom dances Disney shows in its films. Here’s an example!

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Recap so Far!

I’m going to take a break to spend time with my friends and family, but remember as you consider choosing dance as a New Year’s resolution:

• It’s fun!
• It has many health and social benefits!
• There are numerous styles of dancing. I only mentioned a few. At least one is bound to be your style!

Until my next post, Happy New Year everyone!