# Dancing to classical music



## ZJovicic (Feb 26, 2017)

Have you ever danced to classical music?
I don't mean some special type of classical music made for dancing such as Strauss waltzes or something like that... No...
I mean dancing to just plain old regular classical music.
I haven't done it... well... until today!

Here's how I decided to give it a try:
First thing, I realized that I typically listen to classical music while doing some other activity at the same time... typically browsing the Internet.
So I don't give music my full attention. Which would count as half-assed listening.
I wanted to avoid this and to give some pieces my full attention.

So first thing I did was to turn off my monitor and just listen while sitting and doing nothing and focus on music.
This typically works nice, but when the piece is long my thoughts can start wandering and I can also become sleepy... Not good!

So I wondered what would be the best to stay focused on the piece throughout the whole duration? And I realized, well, if I give myself a task to move continuously to the sound of music, I'd be forced to actively listen all the time, so that I can keep moving. Also I realized it would be better to do it while standing, to avoid sleepiness.

And I did just that.
My first piece for this new activity that I tried was *Symphony no. 41 by Mozart*.

So I found the piece on Youtube, put it on my old fashioned stereo (which is connected to computer), turned off my monitor, and stood up.
When the music started playing and started moving. It was completely free form moving... typically with a lot of arm and hand movements (a bit like simulated conducting), also a bit of body swaying, some movement in my knees as well, a bit walking a few steps in some direction, etc... The type of movement wasn't important... what was important is that I move only to the music and keep totally focused on the music.

As the piece is quite long... some 35 minutes, I improvised a lot of different types of movements...
But the most important things are:


I maintained full focus on the piece whole time
I progressively got more and more into it... I really entered some state like flow, totally engrossed in the activity
As you know this piece is quite dynamic, so at some points I was also quite dynamic in my movements...
By the end of the piece I became all sweaty, just like after exercise...

As silly as it sounds, I intend to keep going with this activity, as I deem this experiment successful. I can imagine it having the following benefits:


Higher quality and deeper, more focused appreciation of music
Obvious mood improvement (flow state, etc...)
Cardio exercise
Probably it's good for your brain too... you exercise your attention span (which is reduced due to all distractions these days), enter the flow state, and probably you develop some new neuronal connections as you exercise both your auditory center, and your movements
Probably you'll also develop smoother, more natural and less rigid movements (increasing kinesthetic intelligence)

Don't be discouraged to try it. Just because something might sound silly doesn't mean that it's stupid. Be a non conformist, embrace your eccentric ways.

Anyway, if some of you already tried this or something similar, I'd be glad to hear your stories.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

You bring up an interesting issue for me. I may be old but I go to a weight training class three times a week and pump iron for 60 minutes. The music is invariably rock/hip hop and the like. I loath the music and they play it so loudly. One of the trainers once told the class that if anyone wants to put together a playlist for the workout. Just make sure there are the 9 workout and one stretch and relax track. Each track between 4 and 5 minutes. Hot dang! I put a disk together. A Sousa march, some good music from Tchaikovsky ballets, Glazunov, Dvorak --- it was (I thought) great. A nice change. Tempos were correct for the workouts, timing was fine....needless to say it was rejected by the trainer - she wasn't going to use Lawrence Welk elevator music for a workout! I was crushed, not surprised. I thought it hit all your points: 

Higher quality and deeper, more focused appreciation of music
Obvious mood improvement (flow state, etc...)
Cardio exercise
Probably it's good for your brain too... you exercise your attention span (which is reduced due to all distractions these days), enter the flow state, and probably you develop some new neuronal connections as you exercise both your auditory center, and your movements
Probably you'll also develop smoother, more natural and less rigid movements (increasing kinesthetic intelligence)


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Leonard Bernstein has shown that you CAN dance to classical music.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Oh I dance to Classical music all the time. Especially whimsical moments.

The charming slow dance
The crazed dance of spirits


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

If you're not dancing to the fourth movements of Beethoven 5 or 7, then you have no soul.


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

Dancing to Rameau...😺😸😹😻


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I danced only on the Strauss waltzes. Never even though on dancing on one of Mozart pieces.


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## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

super interesting. perhaps instead of dancing place the score in front of you and imagine yourself conducting it, that would helps to focus on the music, I think


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

Don't dance the Ciacona ,it's a lewd dance that's why Spain banned it when the conquistador's brought it back from Mexico LOL.
Then the sexually loose French revived it under the new name of Chaconne in the later 17th century.

So stay away from that Chaconne LOL


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I've never been much of a dancer (I've been told), though I've danced in musical plays and even done choreography. But when music plays, my mind dances, and that's good enough for me.

In my role as a sound designer I have compiled music for shows which featured dancing. I recall one particular show, filled with music, which featured a pair of "classical" dances, "jazz" dances, and "pop/rock" dances. The classical pieces I chose were Pachelbel's _Canon_ (and this was back in the day when the piece was not as ubiquitous as it is today) and a selection from _Swan Lake_. The jazz selections were from music of Chuck Mangione ("Give It All You Got") and Buddy Rich ("Birdland"), and the pop from Van Halen ("Jump") and someone else....

In another play with a dance scene I utilized a Gymnopédie by Eric Satie. Though the word itself means "naked dance" our performers were clothed.

Generally, one can fit a dance to any piece of music, whether classical or non-classical in genre. The pieces above mentioned may not all have been thought of as dance numbers when composed, but they work well with the proper choreography.

I'll reveal one further personal incident involving myself and "the dance". In an undergraduate acting class we were assigned to select a piece of music and choreograph a "story telling" dance to it. We were allowed free rein for selection. I chose to do my dance, a microcosmic birth-to-death enactment, to Penderecki's (fairly new at the time) avant-garde piece _De Natura Sonoris_. Needless to say it was a work no one else in the class had ever heard of, let alone "heard", and it made quite a splash. Perhaps more splash than my dance enactment that accompanied the music. Which was all right by me. (Did I mention that I've never been much of a dancer?) What I recall most vividly from the exercise is that I had more trouble learning the music, its particular structure and flow, than I did creating or performing the "dance." Which puts an exclamation on the point I made above: that one can fit a dance to any piece of music!


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## SoloYH (8 mo ago)

I used to dance to the finale of Liszt's "Remniscience of Norma"

Norma


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SoloYH said:


> I used to dance to the finale of Liszt's "Remniscience of Norma"
> 
> Norma


As an professional ballet dancer I presume?


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## SoloYH (8 mo ago)

Rogerx said:


> As an professional ballet dancer I presume?


lol more like on the sidewalk waiting for the bus


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Haydn Op.55 No.1/i


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