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Is ballet a social dance?

Are you dancing with your partner/friends? Have you ever danced in your home for the first time in a year? Are you still dancing as a “social dance?”

As a dancer, the question above concerns my daily dance life. I have danced most of my life. I have danced with my boyfriends, played with friends and even danced solo with the best friends in my hometown.

And yet, I have never felt like a social dancer.

For me, social dancing has a very particular look: I move from one partner to another (or maybe they’re just different body parts) and always with another dancer. I usually do it with other people, sometimes I dance with strangers. I just do not feel like a dancer, I do not feel comfortable doing it with all of my friends.

So what should I be looking for in a social dance?

What if dance classes and dancing with other people didn’t work? What if I was going to a community dance studio but I didn’t want to dance with friends or my boyfriends?

What if I needed a more special dance?

It could be ballet or a different form of dancing (although I’m pretty sure ballet is considered social dance) or any other form of dance that I feel most comfortable with.

Here’s a video I made about the differences between social dance and dancing alone. I hope you enjoy it:

My main point here is that in my dance life, I feel more comfortable dancing with a partner or with my friends. I do not feel like a social dancer, but I still love dancing with my neighbors!

So if you are dancing alone, I’d suggest to have a different kind of routine in your routine. Do some other moves with friends or strangers? Dance with someone else who can see that you’re not just moving in a straight line—but in a “fade down” into a more relaxed, more feminine dance. Do some freestyle in your routine or with your partners.

Dancing with friends has become my favorite part of dance now. Dancing with friends makes me feel more connected to my community dance community. Dancing with strangers makes me feel more free. Dancing with strangers makes me smile when everyone on stage and in the audience have smiles that mean that they’re dancing with one another. Dancing with strangers makes me feel like myself—which was always something lacking in my social dancing.

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