Maybe I am just jaded and don’t appreciate the cultural aspect, but nothing bores me faster than watching any form of folk dancing.
I don’t care about the “colorful costumes” or that running commentary that claims the arm movements symbolize the calling of the gods and the swaying of the hips calls to the ocean to bring peace and tranquility or whatever nonsense this is all supposed to represent.
For me, watching folk dancing is about as exciting as watching a bunch of meth heads tweaking on a dance floor.
But then again, people seem to like going to these shows - there was that phase of the oddball Irish whateveryoucallit dance with their arms glued to their sides, and at every Hawaiian luau there are the hula dancers or Polynesian fire dancers, and all over the world there are folk dancing festivals and somehow they find an audience to pay to watch this.
Just wondering who likes watching these folk dancers, and more importantly why?
What am I, the jaded OP, missing?
Way too broad a brush, there. Some kinds of folk dancing, I like. Some kinds, I don’t. Some kinds, I don’t care about the dancing one way or the other, but will go to a show because I like the style of music that goes with it. There are as many different kinds of folk dancing as there are kinds of folk.
No strong opinions here, but I think a lot of people agree with you, because in Canada I used to hear the term “ethnic dancing festival” used as a derisive cliche when debating government spending on immigrant communities. (as in, “Contrary to popular belief, the money is actually helping families and not just being spent on ethnic dancing festivals…”)
Actually, that’s a good question for the OP. Do you enjoy watching any form of dancing at all? Because if so, the dancing you like watching is probably closely related to some form of folk dancing or another.
I wonder if dance, as an art in itself, could survive without music?
Image a ballet troupe, with tiny receivers and earbuds for their music and rhythmic cues, but the audience hears nothing but the sounds of the dancers feet and the grunts and gasps as they dance and toss each other across the stage. I think this has been done as an experiment, but it doesn’t seem to have caught on.
Deaf people dance, so I’d say the answer is “yes”; the signed poetry recitals I’ve seen looked a lot like dancing, too. Then again, the rythm of the feet on the floor is an integral part of the music, in some dances (taps, zapateado…)
I like strong legs on a guy. The folk dances I like best are warrior dances with lots of jumping around.
Really, you’ve never seen any dancing that just made you say “WOW!” (as in either “That’s great dancing!” or “What the fuck was THAT?”) to yourself? Have you seen…
It depends. In Texas, there are folkloric groups who do Mexican dances–generally in colorful costumes & backed by mariachi bands. Often student groups but they have lots of spirit. The Arneson River Theater on San Antonio’s Riverwalk has a really excellent show every summer, featuring folkloric dancing, flamenco & other good stuff–with adult performers. Those Irish step dancers usually use canned music–which I tend to find monotonous.
Houston’s International Festival, coming up, features lots of local & regional dance groups; I need to check out the Indian (as in India) group This year, Brazil is the honored country–so we’ll have samba dancers. Who have been known to turn macho men into rabid fans.
As a kid, we did square dancing in school. Lots of fun. The only group dancing I do regularly is the Hokey Pokey & the Chicken Dance–every time Brave Combo comes to town…
Yes, but that’s being amazed, rather than being entertained by dancing. I’m okay with seeing the dancing in a Stage Musical, because there’s entertainment value in the singing and storytelling alongside it. But just seeing people dance doesn’t interest me at all, especially in a situation like Dancing With The Stars or pretentious modern dance.
The more unusual the costumes or dance moves (e.g. doing backflips in a grass skirt with a bottle of tequila on your head), the more interesting I find it.