Got two left feet? A guide to dance

0:00You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

0:08Hey everybody, it's Marielle. When was the last time you danced? For me, it was to the hold music on a customer service call the other day. It was this kind of upbeat classical song. I was getting after it in my kitchen. And while I am no trained dancer, some of my favorite memories involve moving my body to music. I remember my dad putting this song on when I was a kid. and my brother and I would lose control, just fling our bodies around the living room. Not a care in the world. I also remember in college, in our freshman dorm, my friends and I would dance on our beds, hairbrush in hand, of course, belting out Backstreet Boys songs.

0:52Dancing can be freeing. It can help you bond. It's a wonderful way of connecting and bringing community and family and people together to share space and move together. It's healing. It's cathartic. That's Kevin Malone. He's a modern dance teacher and choreographer in Washington, D.C. And you know I'm going to hit you with some research now. Studies have found that dancing regularly can help you feel less anxious and stressed. And a 2024 sports medicine study even suggested that dance might be better than other forms of physical activity at improving emotional well-being, depression symptoms, and some aspects of memory.

1:34So what's stopping you, huh? No, I get it. As great as it is, dancing can also feel awkward. You may feel vulnerable and exposed, especially if you've never learned how to do it or if anyone's ever made fun of your moves. So on this episode of Life Kit, how to dance. Connie Jin is a reporter on NPR's graphics team who grew up dancing, but stopped for many years. On today's episode of Life Kit, they are going to share mindsets and tips that can help. Whether you're someone who's danced before and wants to learn more, or you're the person who hides in the bathroom the minute the dance floor opens up at a wedding.

2:14Many people come to dance with their own hang-ups. As a returning dancer, I often thought, you won't be as good as you used to be. But let's get this out of the way as our first takeaway. If you can move, you can dance. I hear that a lot of times. You know, I used to, but I'm too old. You're never too old. It's too late. It's never too late. We have so much to bring to the art form and so much to contribute. That's Kevin Malone again. He teaches adult classes at the Washington School of Ballet and Dance Loft on 14th and DC. And he was a principal dancer with Philodanko and Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

2:56One of the first times I took his class, he asked us all to get in a circle and share any thoughts we had at the end of the experience. I had been feeling a little out of my depth, but I shared that I recently injured my ankle and it felt good to move without pain. And just like that, I remembered what I was there for. We, as humans, have the most incredible tool to experiment with, to express ourselves with. And I love when people of all ages decide that they want to jump in. I think people who have a dancer's heart, it remains the same. Alicia Graff-Mack is the Dean and Director of Dance at the Juilliard School.

3:39She was a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. No matter if you're a professional, pre-professional student or an adult, the want to move is a very human instinct. Like Alicia said, sometimes it just feels good to move. There's different levels of movement and performance if you want it. You can groove in your room by yourself. You can make a habit of taking classes. Social dancing spaces in particular are a great way to learn to dance and meet others. You can upload dance covers on TikTok or find a local dance group or studio to perform with.

4:22And you don't have to have a certain level of movement ability to dance either. Axis Dance Company was one of the first dance groups with disabled dancers. One of its founders, who is in a motorized wheelchair, has talked about how the company doesn't look at disability as an obstacle or limitation, but has this great potential. So why dance anyways? For one, it's an important part of socializing sometimes. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite parts of any party is boogieing on the dance floor with others. But I've also had the experience of trying to dance and being so in my head that I'm definitely not feeling those moments of connection.

5:03When I'm trying a new style of dance, it's mostly a constant refrain of, Do I look okay? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? And this is so hard. If you allow yourself to just feel what you're feeling, to focus on your own body, to settle into your body, to be present, not thinking about what happens next, not thinking about whether this looks good or doesn't look good, but just being in your body and in the process, that will invite space for people to join you. That's Jacelyn Biondo. She's an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson University. She's also a board-certified dance therapist and licensed professional counselor with more than a decade of experience.

5:48Jacelyn has her takeaway, too. Get out of your head and into your body. To start, Jacelyn recommends letting go of expectations and simply aiming to have a good time or to try something new instead of wanting to master perfection. So what if you're not a great dancer? Are you feeling better when you're doing it? Does your mood shift? Are you making connections? Do you feel a sense of belonging? Then, while you're dancing, make a conscious effort to stay present. Every time your thoughts go astray and you think, do I look all right? Am I doing it right? Just let those thoughts be. Breathe through it.

6:26Focus on the sensations in your body. It's something that takes practice. You might not get it the first time, and you won't be perfect at it always. But if you keep at it, it'll get better. When we do things over and over and over, our bodies develop what we call muscle memory. Like your muscles remember it, and your brain doesn't need to think about it. And so when you practice being present in your body, your body will start to remember what that presence feels like. When we dance, there's often a mirror, especially in a dance class, which we'll talk more about later. The mirror can be a helpful tool to see what you look like, but it can also be disheartening to see how you compare to others in class, especially when you're starting out.

7:10Most of the time, when Alicia teaches class, at some point she has her students turn away from the mirror. Because I want the dancers to be able to understand themselves without judging themselves in the mirror. And I think especially for beginners or for adults who are like, I don't look this way or my legs don't go to my head or my, then, you know, we get out of, it's an odd thing to be in a practice and watch yourself be in a practice. A way for you to practice that in class, if your teacher isn't asking for it, can be looking in the direction of where your body's going instead of looking in the mirror to see if the motion looks right or closing your eyes briefly to feel how your body's moving in space.

7:54I find that when I do that, it elicits a stronger emotional connection. I start having more fun and my dancing gets better. I think it's important to understand who you are from the inside out and not lean on the mirror to tell you what's good, what's bad, what position is right, what position is wrong. If you're going to the studio, enjoy the movement for yourself, you know, and don't lean on what you think you're seeing in the mirror. Sometimes these fearful thoughts can come from preconceived notions that we hold about types of movement, that you're supposed to move your body a certain way based on your gender, size, race, ethnicity, or age.

8:40I know I've thought not-so-nice things when looking at myself in the mirror before. I think that we have absorbed societal norms in a way that inhibits the way we move our body. Or if we think, if I move my hips too much, then that means I'm too sexual. It doesn't. The two have nothing to do with one another. If it feels safe for you, then it's okay. When I watch other dancers, even if we're doing the same movements, no one does them exactly the same. And that goes back to the idea that there's not a right way to move. Maybe they're modifying the moves based on how their body's feeling that day.

9:20Maybe they're focusing on a specific moment in the music that calls to them emotionally. I remember once my teacher started playing a song from the Twilight soundtrack one day in class. And I really held some of the poses in that combination just because I was feeling that teenage angst. That leads us to our takeaway three. Find the beat and let it lead you. Dancers, we hear music a little different. We count music differently than musicians, right? You know, you're going to be in an eight, but to learn how to count that phrase because that's how you're going to learn steps. That's Alicia again.

9:55What does she mean by that? Let's try and exercise. Here's some music.

10:04Now, let's find the beat of it. I think it's a little bit like this.

10:14Now, let's add numbers to those beats. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Alright, now you're counting like a dancer Why count to 8? Where and how the practice originated is a bit unclear But a lot of popular music is in 4-4 time signature Meaning that it's split into measures of 4 beats Many dancers will group two measures together into a total of eight counts to form phrases that they choreograph or dance to. While not every style of dance uses eight counts, and not every piece of music is in 4-4 time, it's an extremely common practice, so it's a useful starting point. At a baseline, by listening more carefully to music in this way, you're improving your musicality, which basically means being attuned to the music.

11:12How many of us have been in a group of people that's clapping offbeat to a song? That would be an example of not-so-great musicality. Musicality is important when dancing, because most of the time when we dance, we move to music that moves us. So the next time you're listening to music, try mapping out the beat and counts like we just did. Certain styles of dance are also helpful for improving your rhythm. Social dancing usually leans on some sort of rhythm. So even if that's participating in the electric slide or the Cupid Shuffle at your family reunion or, you know, going to a party and really like clapping on the two and the four, that's really important.

11:59Beyond mapping out music, musicality can also mean how you respond to music creatively and interpret it. You can practice this by listening to different types of music and seeing how your body responds. If it's, you know, slow and lyrical and beautiful, how would you move? If it's percussive or if it's atonal, how would that change the way you move? And in that way, you're already becoming an interpreter and a choreographer, even if the person is not prepared to title themselves. For Jaiselyn, tapping into that creativity is an important benefit of dance. I think some of the most important things that I've seen arise both as a dancer and as a dance therapist is this idea of creative expression and having a space and an allowance to be creative and to express yourself through creativity and through your body.

12:55And I don't think it's understood enough to know the profound benefits that can come from somebody simply being able to express themselves. Maybe you just want to feel more confident in your rhythm. Or you want to pursue learning a specific style of dance. Or you're unsure what you're interested in and simply want to try something new. Whatever your goal is, taking a dance class can help. Speaking of class, that's our takeaway four. Find a class and teacher that speaks to you. Look around for classes in your community. Those can be at local dance studios, community centers, or universities, among others.

13:38Fitness classes with more of a dance element like Zumba can also be a great starting point. If you're not sure what you like, give something a shot and see how it feels. Alicia had some specific suggestions. Give it one class or two classes and see if it works for you. If you know that you want to be in a very rigorous physical practice, then maybe a cardio dance class or a hip-hop class or a salsa class or something like that might be more ideal than taking a ballet class. Because to me, ballet is so cerebral. Once you get to class, see how you're enjoying the different parts of it, from the movement to the music to how the teacher instructs the class.

14:21You know, if it feels good to the soul, if the movement makes you feel a certain way, if that class makes you feel a certain way, by all means, that's the class that you want to show up in. That's Kevin again. Once you find a class that you enjoy, his advice is to cultivate a relationship with your teacher or mentor. Kevin encourages people to start building relationships in class by simply asking questions. You know, hey, I want to talk to you. Can I ask you questions? That's why I said ask those questions. You know, after class, I give my number. I make myself available. That could mean asking your teacher during class to elaborate on something you're confused about or introducing yourself to them after class and asking for advice.

15:10Class is a good starting point. Once you've tried some different avenues, you can practice in whatever way makes sense with your life. you could maintain a regular schedule of dance classes every week or if you want to take things more seriously you can find a teacher for private lessons you could motivate yourself by trying to learn dance covers to your favorite songs from youtube or by finding a social aspect like going to social dancing events or joining dance groups set a schedule for yourself format a routine be consistent with that routine work honestly. I don't believe you have to grind.

15:52You don't have to grind. Live life. Bring those experiences into your training. Focus on how you feel. Listen to mind, body, and soul. What about if you can't find a class near you? Are there something else preventing you from class? These days, there's a wealth of online resources available to anyone with an internet connection. And nothing's stopping you from putting on some music in your room and grooving. But the experts that I talked to agreed that there's something special about dancing with others, both in terms of learning and connection. And that's our takeaway five. Dance connects you to others and yourself.

16:36For Alicia, the energy in the room changes how you move. I think there's nothing as satisfying as going into a class, dancing so hard that like the mirror starts to fog up. Everybody's sweating. Everybody's kind of giving that energy. It feels to me like a ritual. She also takes inspiration from how others dance. So I'm nearly six feet tall, and sometimes when I would go to class, I would look for the really tall dancers and see how they move and see how they approach the movement, and then I would kind of try that on a little. And then I would look at other dancers whose body might be completely different than mine or who may be a completely different age or generation and see like, oh, what little pieces of ideas can I incorporate in my movement?

17:35And when we mirror movements that others do, something that Jaiselyn calls kinesthetic empathy happens. There's something about like we can be empathic people. We can say, oh, I understand what that might feel like for you. But when you join somebody in your body, there's something, the unspokenness of it is so loud to me, if that makes sense. We can lie with our words. It's much more difficult to lie with our bodies. Our bodies show up. As we mirror movements, according to Jaiselyn, our prefrontal cortex starts to fire and the mirror neurons kick in, the space of empathy in our brains. There's an energetic connection.

18:16There's perhaps like a movement connection. There's an empathic connection. There's all these things. And I feel like we're, we are truly seen in that moment. And I think that's what we all want, right? To some degree, humans want to be seen and they want to be heard. So let's recap. Takeaway one, if you can move, you can dance. Takeaway two, get out of your head and into your body. Takeaway 3. Find the beat and let it lead you. Takeaway 4. Find a class and teacher that speaks to you. Takeaway 5. Dance connects you to others and yourself. That was NPR reporter Connie Jin. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes.

19:06We have one on how to sing and another on caffeine. You can find those at npr.org slash life kit. And if you love LifeKit and want even more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash lifekitnewsletter. And if you love LifeKit and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash lifekitnewsletter. Also, we love hearing from you. So if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, email us at lifekit at npr.org. This episode of LifeKit was produced by Claire Marie Schneider. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan and our digital editor is Malika Garib. Megan Cain is our supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer.

19:44Our production team also includes Andy Tegel, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Gilly Moon. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.