D is for Dance

And another one in the bank,  I mean Hi. Only on day four of the blog challenge but things are going strong. Check out A to Z blog challenge to see what the other fun bloggers are coming up with on this adventure through the alphabet.

Today my topic is: Dance  And to start things off, I will admit that I'm not much of a dancer. I had a tiny stint in ballet as a little kid but hated it. We had square dancing in high school once a year but I avoided it whenever possible, even picking homework above skipping class to go learn to square dance. I did win a dance-off at a coffee shop Halloween party but that was one weird night (top guys in their dance off chose to dance with a broom and a vacuum). Other than that, I've done zumba for a couple months but that was over 4 years ago. Still, let's talk about dance anyways.


Fitness

Dance can be a fun way to get fit. Whether it's barre, zumba or any other type of dance, it does burn calories to shake it (move) to music. There are many classes and different studios available that focus on dance as a craft and dance as a method for fitness. And it's certainly not a new concept for fitness. The music can change a little though some remain even after the many years have gone by. I still remember having vhs tapes of Richard Simmons grooving in the 80's, for example. Ah fun times.

There are so many options available. Some include: belly dancing, zumba, ballet, jazzercise, hip hop abs/dance, dance dance revolution, so you think you can dance, other dance games for gaming systems and others. This is one of the great parts about dance because like music in general, not everyone has the same taste or abilities.

For fun, check out this video of a 1980's style aerobic dance competition with Shake It Off by Taylor Swift added: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlJI-GqB-6Y

Fiction

While not everyone or character can be a dancer, there are times when dance itself can be useful for  either character or world development. Dance has many reasons, whether it's fun, fitness, religion, culture, spiritual, and more. What dances people do, whether there is a religious connection or if they come upon a different culture, quite a bit can be shown by involving a little dance into a story.

Consider a couple of questions:
Would it be weird or frowned upon for two boys to dance together, or is it strange, unacceptable for a boy and girl to share a dance?
Does one show worship through movement?
What happens at a festival or holiday?
Can a character earn a living through dance?

Just some options that are out there. I'm sure you can come up with better ways to use dance in stories on your own. I don't have many dancers at this time but I have plenty of fantasy worlds to develop. It may be something I explore in the future. While I don't yet have a dancer main character, I do have a cloud walker and she likens the walk to dance. We'll have to see what I create in the future.


Plus, I may be making dance goals for myself in the future. I like zumba but also have some personal songs that I'd like to learn the dances from, including one or two musical ones. Will post more on that in the future and might even share one of them some day.


Do you dance? Do any of your characters dance or is it an aspect of the world's culture?