Dancing

[Edorf]

I'll get straight to it: What is the point of performing dance acts? I just dont get why some people doing awkward movements on a stage should entertain me. Music I get because it brings forth a message and stimulates your auditory sense, and movies stimulates your visual senses.

Music and Movies have a meaning, dancing is just awkward movements.

Discussion value: What good is dance performances? and why is it considered an art? am I being ignorant towards dancing?

Spoiler: small backstory

I'm going to this school "art" school (it isnt exactly an art school, but they've gathered 4 major esthetic student directions in one school with pretty much superior equipment, something which is very rare for a public school (atleast in Norway). Today, there were some dancers performing as a pause act when we were listening to some stuff about the poor people in Africa/South America and how we should become sponsors for these children. Now, I really tried to see if their dancing in any way represented anything which I could connect to what was being spoken about (or connect to anything at all).

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Dancing can convey powerful emotions, complementing the music nicely. It can be passionate, angry, vengeful, gentle... A number of things. Body language can speak louder than words sometimes.

It isn't for everyone but I love a good dance routine. Cirque du Solei rocks

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I, myself, love dancing. It's intense, fast, and fun to watch. My favorite form is breakdance. Should dancing be a form of art? Yes, yes it should. You can take any art form and break it down so it doesn't make sense. How is music art? It's just a bunch of synchronized noises that don't make sense. And yet, we enjoy it. Dancing is enjoyable in the same way as looking at a painting is. And doing it yourself is even more fun if you do it well.

 

[SlingingRobin]

Well... If you mean grinding, which is only slightly considered dancing when done right, it's more fun to participate than to watch.

 

[BonsaiK]

Music and Movies have a meaning, dancing is just awkward movements.

It's not awkward if you don't suck at it.

Any sort of movement to music (or implied music) is dancing. It's a way to enjoy music, some music just makes you want to get up and move your body in whatever way. Dancing may not have melody but it does have rhythm just as music does. Taking it further, dance can also be used to express emotions or ideas, or even tell a story. Watch till the end of each example:


Does Rose McGowan look awkward? I think not. Hell, even the following people with missing limbs don't look awkward:


Dancing can have a lot of meaning, you just probably got lumped with a really shitty example. Don't judge all dancing by one bad performance. That would be like me saying that all metal is garbage after only hearing one Metallica song off "St. Anger".

 

[Mafoobula]

To me, "dancing" like you're thinking of is mostly about showing off physical prowess. Coordination, stamina, not to mention the mental discipline I'd imagine is needed to keep every single movement and sequence straight. Let's not forget how ballerinas work harder to do what they do than most real "athletes."

 

[Spinozaad]

It also depends on how open you are to symbolism and subtext in artforms.

Personally, I can agree that all forms of art can represent something (an idea, emotion, etc.) to a certain extent, I won't go as far as to say that all forms of art do them equally well. For example, while I can believe that dancing can convey emotions, I do call bullshit when a routine is presented as a 'critique' of anything.

But, your mileage may vary.

Dancing, when done by a woman who knows what she's doing, is god damned sexy.

-Edit-

As an addendum, what I'm trying to say is that dancing has as much, or as little, meaning as literature, music and film; probably something, but more often a bullshit interpretation from the observer.