It would be hard to dance to yonosemanana and similar otherwise. Have to bastardize to distract myself by intent.
Usually I try to deny such songs.
Singing, humming or mouthing with the music while dancing?
- Thread starter Melvin
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Usually I try to deny such songs.I was going to leave it that but I will say one last thing on this.
I am not sure why you are taking my originally quoted statement to be equivalent of dancing technique. IMHO while technique is fundamental to dancing well, when I wrote "follow well, spin and sing" I was referring to everything that goes into an enjoyable dance - connection, musicality, fun, etc. Now you could claim that singing forms part of a fun and enjoyable dance, which is what you are saying. And that is where we differ.However, I don't see how I could've been putting up a "strawman," because the first quote of yours specifically addressed the idea that singing would impair the singer's dance technique itself --
My point was that even if singing caused a woman to do fewer moves well, then I still don't care. I will just cut down my set of moves and use only the ones that she can execute while singing.Seems I am a lone holdout who thinks "trying" to sing while dancing is distracting. Goes both ways whether myself or the partner. Have yet to dance with someone that can follow well, spin and sing at the same time
Fair enough Offbeat.
Personally, I've yet to dance with someone whose connection, musicality, general technique and everything that goes into an enjoyable dance was spoiled by their singing along to the music (and in terms of musicality and connection, the opposite is more usually true in fact), so I'm a bit mystified. But I don't want to overly labour the point - your experience is your experience, and your preferences are your preferences...
:uplaugh:It would be hard to dance to yonosemanana and similar otherwise. Have to bastardize to distract myself by intent.
It would be hard to dance to yonosemanana and similar otherwise. Have to bastardize to distract myself by intent.
It's funny that you mention it, usually that's the song that women usually try to sing along to because of it's "catchy" chorus. Also I notice Prince Royce's - Stand By Me, and Xtreme's - Te Extrano during Bachata's are popular sing along songs with women.
I am surprise you bring this question again, after I have already explained it in the post to which you replied above. I said the dancing will suffer. You are trying to find an implication that technique will suffer. Yes as part of dancing well, the technique may or may not suffer.
The rest not specifically addressed to you, but making a general editorial comment:
Since when is singing same as musicality in dancing.
I have already stated in previous posts in this thread what my preferences are and why. It can all be reduced to black and white.
Plus while I have been talking about "singing", most are talking about humming, mouthing chorus, singing a line or two. Yes it appears that all of it seems to get lumped into one.
Having said that, except for a freak of a talent, it is extremely difficult to sing well and dance well (most dances that I know of) at the same time. I have known a person who is an extremely good singer and is also one of world's top salsa dancer known for musicality (was a child prodigy at singing and dancing), and yet switches between live singing and lip synch when performing his choreography.
Sorry friend, I'm still genuinely confused by the point you're making.
Yes - when you say that someone's dancing will suffer when they sing along, I take from that a fairly straightforward implication that you mean that their technique will suffer (i.e. the person will have less spare concentration to maintain connection, spin well, execute moves etc).
It's not that I'm trying to find such an implication, it's more that I can't figure out how not to take such an implication from what you're saying.
It's not, of course. But singing along (/humming/whatever) can be useful in encouraging musicality in dancing, as toan-hoang suggested earlier, and as is my experience.
It can be useful, insofar as it helps the person focus on the tune and melody instruments, and not just focus on the beat and forget the rest. But it's clearly not a guarantee of musicality.
Okay yes - it would be very hard to sing really well, as if you were the performer of the song, while dancing. If that's what you're talking about, then fair enough. I'm talking about the kind of un-self conscious singing along that people do when they're enjoying a piece of music, and are lost in the moment - not the kind of performance singing someone would do for an audience and would require concentration.
Fair enough yes. I don't know of anyone who tries to sing the whole way through a salsa song while dancing, getting all the words right, hitting the right notes and staying in tune etc. If that's your experience, I can see that it would probably spoil the dance.
Sorry if you're finding this discussion a bit exasperating, Offbeat. My intention is not to annoy, just to understand.
eace:Most of the times I see someone humming / singing, I also see a lack of connection between the 2 partners. I suppose you could pull it off, but for me I like to give my full attention to the person I'm dancing, and singing the song we're dancing to is just another way of saying "I'm bored" without actually saying it.
londongirl
Son
I know you said "most of the time" so you are acknowledging there are exceptions
. The thing is in salsa there are 3 equally important things - the music, your partner and you: you need to give the 3 a share of the focus to have a great dance imho. If I gave my *full* 100% attention to only my partner the dance is not going to be as good as if there is more of a balance and I am connected to the music, connected to my partner, and connected to myself.
I agree I'm not singing at full volume as that could be distracting, and so mostly I just hum or mouth words or sing v quietly, but it doesn't in any way make it harder to connect with my partner. I know that most guys in my scene enjoy dancing with me because I do make an effort to be very connected or focused on them, but also and just as importantly, to the music.
That's not true, at least for me. If I sing/hum it's because you are leading well enough I am relaxed and can truly enjoy the music with you.
The music is what's it's all about, most of salsa is about expressing it with your body, but y'know, sometimes also singing to a great track just something that's hard to repress.
Singing or rather I usually 'sing' to different instruments, helps me focus on expressing those instruments in the dance; vocalisation can really help change the quality of physical movement.
Also often if I notice a lead is dancing to certain instruments or rhythms I will hum along to those because it helps me create a better connection to him or sync with what he is doing through the music.
TwoLeftFeet
Son
I must completely disagree, in my case humming helps me keep time, helps me pick up patterns in the music. For me it has nothing to do with boredom, in fact the more im enjoying myself the more likely i am to hum...
With one of my favourite follers we sometimes both kinda sing (badly) and sometimes (shock horror) we bastardise the words (we have a running joke where we sing banana instead of manyana)
This is a life saving advice. Should create alternative lyrics for all popular romantica hits.