How many of you perform a foreign type of dance?

cer798: How many of you perform a foreign type of dance?
Out of curiosity, how many dancers here study (or have studied) a dance form that they have no cultural connection to? I’m a girl whose entire family is from Western Europe, and I’ve been taking Bhahratanatyam (a type of classical Indian dance) for almost 2 years now. I find it fascinating and love it, even though I’m not Indian. What about the rest of you? How did you get interested in your type of dance? What were your experiences when you expressed an interest in learning the dance?

Answers and Views:

Answer by igi
I can belly dance

Answer by alice w
i can bell dance

Answer by snowflake1234
I dance Latin which you can consider “foreign” to a person of European origin. However, I dance ballroom version of it, which was developed in England, which makes it a lot less foreign.

It is very typical that all sorts of people learn ballroom, so I didn’t have any unsual experiences when I expressed interest in it.

Answer by swt_cotton_candy
well i can dance indian songs like the movies even do i am not indian and i did not take class and i just like to do it i do it for past-time

Answer by lucywashington122
buck dancing it comes from my people when they were slaves
black men and women

Answer by Roddick27
Well, I dance Salsa and Latin, if that counts, and I do Greek dancing and Greek Belly dancing. Hey I could go as far to say ballet is foreign, since it is from France. I dance ballet too.

Answer by Jehan J
Well I’m from the Caribbean and find that when I do actually learn of another dance form, its best taught from someone who is actually from there and explains not only the technical form of the dance but its meaning.

Oh God, don’t you just love dancing!

Answer by Al B
I cna dance african, chinese, and asian!!

Answer by Danza
I dance flamenco but I’m not Spanish.

Funnily enough, more than half the flamenco teachers in my city are not Spanish. All the schools have dance troupes, and it’s noticeable that the schools run by native Spanish teachers get a lot more work than the ones run by non-Spaniards. So if I wanted to go professional, I would strike some prejudice in the flamenco community.

Answer by Dally B
I’ve done so many types of dancing form all over the world. I am from Eastern Europe but I live in the States now. So, here I learned American square dance and line dance and Appalachian clogging. I’m also on an international folk dance team at my university and I’ve taken Irish dance and Spanish dance (hota, sevillana and flamenco). I’ve also learned Ukrainian. Bulgarian, Russian, Armenian, German, Italian, English, Hungarian, Mexican, Japanese, Scottish, Greek, Israeli, Indian (Bhangra and a tiny bit of Bhahratanatyam) and Macedonian dances and I’ve also performed some of these. So, it’s not that I learned the technique but I also learned the styling of each country and the traditions and customs behind the dance.
Why I’m doing it? Because I absolutely love it. It’s fun, hard, rewarding and social. I have tons of friends because of folk dance. I started approximately a year ago after going to tryouts for my university’s ensemble and not making it to a team. Since then I haven’t stopped dancing. I learned a lot and I enjoy it more every day even when it’s hard. I dance a few hours every day and I love it. It keeps me in shape and helps me to feel optimistic and that I have a great life. It even helps me with my school work because it motivates me to do my homework so I can have time to practice the dances. 🙂 I’m so glad that you enjoy folk dances too. Have fun!

Answer by i <3 johhny depp and dance!
well i did do a history day project on cultural dances of native americans once and that was very interesting. i didn’t actually do them myself but i learned a lot about them and i think its fascinating 2 learn about dance, especially types u have no clue about or didn’t even kow existed! :o)

Answer by Sligo
Hello fellow dancer. I Irish Step dance, and teach it, too. I got started when I was 5 and saw Riverdance. The first steps I learned were from watching that in slow-motion!!! Ever since then I’ve been hooked. I don’t like to dance, I HAVE to dance! It makes me feel light and powerful at the same time– I am most happy when I’m dancing. 🙂