Folk Dancing

[Artanis]

Already? OK - I'll what I can find ...

[Elemmírë]

Grrr! My dormroom feels like the freaking Helcaraxë! Sorry... *putting on coat*

Originally Posted by Artanis

That's great! Then we can do some BulerÃ*as together.

Unfortunately, all I know of flamenco at the moment is the little bit that my dance teacher was able to teach me... And some flamenco styled paso doble steps... Those are neat...

Originally Posted by Artanis

Did you make a dress yourself? That's awesome. Is it a cabaret costume or a tob?

Did I make it myself? Hehheh... it was supposed to be a project for me to do over winter break, but alas, my habit of sleeping till noon got the better of me. My mom made the whole thing without telling me. Though, I did attempt to make a coin belt. And the hip scarf I made myself, at least.

It's definitely cabaret. I couldn't find anything truly authentic in a material shop, but it works well enough at the moment. I have harem pants right now... Going to have to wait to make a skirt until I have enough money to buy all that material I hear there's a belly dance store several towns over from where I go to college, but everything is so expensive here...

Originally Posted by Artanis

Latin ballroom looks like great fun too, but I cannot manage those high heels!

After about 8 years it gets easier. Mine are 2 inches... I'm going up to 2 1/2 next time I buy shoes. Those sizes aren't too high at all, considering. Ballroom is a lot of fun... And a lot of exercise too...

Other "athletes" have nothing on us dancers.

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by Elemmire

Unfortunately, all I know of flamenco at the moment is the little bit that my dance teacher was able to teach me... And some flamenco styled paso doble steps... Those are neat...

Ah Paso doble, that's my favourite latin ballroom. The matador and his cape! Not so very different from Flamenco, I should think.

I wish there would be more flamenco performances here. A few years ago a Spanish professional flamenco ensemble visited Oslo with their version of Carmen. It was heaven!

Originally Posted by Elemmire

After about 8 years it gets easier.

After 8 years I will be too old for ballroom.

[Elemmírë]

Ah! Carmen!

*singing... l'amour est enfant de Bohème, il n'a jamais jamais connu de loi! Si tu ne m'aimes pas je t'aime si je t'aime prends guard Ã* toi! la la la la, I'm not writing out the same words and half butchering several words of French again...*

I guessed that the paso would be your favourite. It can get very Flamenco... last time I had a dance lesson before I came back to college, I finally did some paso doble and spent the rest of the time learning Flamenco instead! Not that I know much, obviously.

My favourite is probably bolero. That's the really, really slow one. Very expressive with a lot of extentions and everything... And, okay, spinning is my biggest strength... I guess it's all I practiced in high school...

Oslo! I thought you were from Norway (I guess it was the Norwegian in the language thread... ) but wasn't completely sure. What with your location and all... I guess I really have no right to complain about the coldness here!

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by Elemmire

Oslo! I thought you were from Norway (I guess it was the Norwegian in the language thread... ) but wasn't completely sure. What with your location and all... I guess I really have no right to complain about the coldness here!

Can you guess why there are so few flamenco and belly dancers here ... it's too cold!

I'll let you complain about the coldness, so that I may complain about the heat during summer.

[Elemmírë]

Originally Posted by Artanis

Can you guess why there are so few flamenco and belly dancers here ... it's too cold!

I'll let you complain about the coldness, so that I may complain about the heat during summer.

Does that mean that I'll have to stop complaining about the heat? I don't think I can... I hate that even more.

I just got back from my belly dancing group... the first dance I've ever done with a veil before... (We're getting ready for a performance next month). Only problem is now I'm going to really have to stretch out, or I doubt I'll even be able to move tomorrow...

[Rosie Gamgee]

Does anybody Contra-dance? It's a form of line dancing, but the steps are very close to square-dancing. I've heard that contra-dances are held everywhere in the U.S., so there must be someone else here who contra-dances. (?)

I also used to dance Irish folk- the word is pronounced 'KAY-lee'- unfortunately I never learned how to spell it. It's fun, but very rigid, I think. No room to get really rowdy.

[Elemmírë]

I've heard of it, but I haven't ever done it and don't know much about it. One of my friends knows a bit about it, possibly does it... Embladyne perhaps? I can't remember...

[Rosie Gamgee]

What, contra-dancing? You should try it. It's awesome! Although, I must warn you- I hated it. At first I couldn't stand it because you have to dance with everyone in the room. But I started going again a year or two ago, and now I just love it!

[sun-star]

Originally Posted by Rosie Gamgee

I also used to dance Irish folk- the word is pronounced 'KAY-lee'- unfortunately I never learned how to spell it. It's fun, but very rigid, I think. No room to get really rowdy.

Wow, I never thought of a ceilidh as rigid. It's supposed to be quite relaxed and informal, I think.

[Rosie Gamgee]

If you went to the contra-dance I go to, you would quickly see why I call Irish dancing rigid. Not that it isn't fun, it's just really..... perfect. You MUST know all the steps so that when they say "Dance The Walls of Limerick" or "Dance the Rakes of Mallow" they don't even have to call it. I'm kind of flighty, shall we say, and I don't do well remembering steps. So...

[jellyfishannah]

I'm so glad I found this thread!

I started taking English country dancing a few weeks ago and I am hooked!! I like the English a lot but my favorite is Contra. The faster the better!!!

I also went ceilidh (sp?) dancing last week. It was a lot of fun but I was new to the steps and very clumsy. We did Rakes of Mallow and The Walls of Limerick!

Flamenco sounds like fun and I'd like to learn Greek. (My godmother is greek)

Sometime soon I am going to start taking Swing dancing classes but I guess that's not really folk.