helloman

This is a topic on another forum.
There are some amusing comments and personal experiences,
so I transfer some over here for a fun reading.

Actually, I took my first dance class in college for the following reasons:

a.) I had no athletic ability and it looked like an easy way to satisfy the physical education part of the general studies requirements for my degree.

b.) I heard that it was a great way to meet girls, because they always outnumbered guys in the classes (giving guys their pick of partners).

c.) As a music education major, I'd heard that dance can help one become a better musical conductor.

Later, I never used what I learned outside of class, because my girlfriend (and now wife) was too embarrassed to try any dance steps with me.

Fast forward a couple decades. Wife and I go to the Gere/Lopez movie, "Shall we Dance." I remember the fun I had in the college classes, but don't say anything to the DW about it.

A couple months later, the DW and I both get hooked on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." Nearly simultaneously we suggest investigating ballroom lessons as an anniversary gift to each other.

That was last June. We've been going to one private lesson, two group lessons and a practice dance nearly every week since!

Which brings me to the biggest reason (other than the sheer fun of it) that I'm dancing now... it's something fun that my wife and I can do together as opposed to other hobbies in which we don't share an interest.

I agree with your point about prejudice. My roomate ridiculed me for years for doing ballroom dancing despite the fact that he was infatuated with several of the friends I met through dance.

I started dance to meet girls. Since I'm married now, the motivation doesn't really apply, but it was nonetheless part of my motivation for years.

Music. I can't sing well. I can't play any instruments with a notable amount of skill, but I can dance. It's a great feeling have some form of musical expression.

Skill ramp. While we do get ridiculed for ballroom dance, we don't get ridiculed by our own teammates for ballroom dance. Oh sure, no one actually says "you suck" when I play basketball, but they're thinking it. It's even worse since I actually do physical conditioning. I walk onto any game and there's this expectation that I'll do well 'cuz I look in shape. Their jaws drop when they realize I can barely do whatever sport they just asked me to try.

  started dancing just so I can socialize (I was very very very shy). Then I got invited to a competition and I saw how fun it was. We had a marvelous show from Jean Marc and his wife and Alain Doucet and Anik, so I said to myself I want to do that. When I started taking more lessons, both private and group, I just fell in love with the sport and I always want to know more, and perfect the technique. Now I'm in the studio pretty much everyday

Well, I've always done things that involves physical dexterity, balance, muscle, a sharp eye, etc., very, very well - they all came natural to me.

Then I started dancing and discovered that I was not as skilled as I thought I would be in it . . . I actually had to work at it. I still suck, but who cares?

Eventually I discovered that women were attracted to men who dance and to the myths that were attached to men that danced . . .

Ok . . . the truth??? My wife told me I had to learn to dance!

my husband started dancing b/c we wanted to stop looking so pathetic at weddings and on cruises and at office party dances...plus he hates to exercise and doesn't really think this counts which is fine with me (whatever gets him sweating)...AND...he likes it when we have to stop and have a horizontal expression...there I go again...yes ladies do like men who dance and all of the myths about men who dance

It started with me giving my wife some lessons as a Christmas present in '02. Truth be told, I had no concept of what ballroom dancing was; it was just something my parents used to do a long time ago. (They had a ton of bossa nova records at one point back in the '60s...) I picked a studio at random from the phone book. By sheer luck, I picked the best place in town. We got connected up with a great instructor the first week, and 3-1/2 years later we're still with her.

I enjoy the interaction of social dancing and the pretty ladies. I also enjoy the challenge of comps and exhibitions. It's so different from anything I've ever done before. My work is mentally very challenging, but the body is along for the ride most of the time. Dancing allows me to exercise that other aspect of bodily motion and control that I don't get at work or in most of my other activities. And it's a heck of a lot more fun than the gym.

I dance because my heart tells me to...

My heart tells me that I need to hold girls in my arms...

So I listen to my heart...

It does NOT matter who it is, I always get a goofy, stupid grin if a guy comes up, puts his hand out, and says "would you care to dance". For three whole seconds, I'm totally cool, LOL. It even goes to MY head, and I'm awfully unpersonable, LOL!

To give me an excuse to wear skin tight shirts and really tight pants... not to mention the occasional rhinestones..

Lot's of reasons, nice people to socialize with, open bar on Friday nights, good exercise, I enjoyed it immensely.

But when I was 16 I saw "Saturday Night Fever". Since then I wanted to learn to partner dance, it just took a long time to get around to it. And before anyone laughs, Bob Powers said the same thing, he was just a lot quicker in getting around to it.

Actually, it was a truly miserable Xmas party that got me started thinking that I had to change something. Throughout college people kept trying to teach me how to dance (this was '69 to '76 freestyle) but I could never follow the beat nor could I understand their "just do what the music tells you", because "it's not telling me anything!" They were well-meaning, but being "naturals" they had no idea whatsoever of how to teach a "non-natural". So for nearly three decades I was branded totally incapable of ever learning to dance (and frequently reminded of it by my wife, who had given up on me along with the rest, so I had no choice but to follow suit).

Then came that Xmas party five years ago where everybody was on the floor dancing all evening while I was left to sit there all alone at our table and just watch. After that, I knew I had to change something because I never wanted to go through anything like that again. So when they started offering salsa lessons after work and my wife mentioned to a friend that she had "always wanted to learn salsa", I seized the opportunity and the rest is history. My ability to lead was praised from the very first day (having practiced Aikido in college is what did that trick) after a few years of determined effort I could not only hear and follow the beat and rhythm, but people started calling me a natural and marvelling at my footwork (don't ask me to describe that footwork, because I'm just doing what the music tells me -- did I just say that?).

  1. Because I like holding girls in my arms

2. Because if I don't dance, my future wife will dance with other guys

3. Because it is romantic