The other day I was driving with my sister in the car, and quite naturally we had the radio on. "Dancing with Myself" by Billy Idol came on, and since that is one of my favorite songs, I started to dance around in my seat, jerking my shoulders to the beat. My sister started to laugh at me, and when I asked her why she was laughing, she told me that she was envious that I could just start dancing as soon as I heard a beat, because apparently she can't.
Personally, I cannot prevent my body from reacting when I hear a beat, whether I tap my foot or a finger, go full out crazy with amazing arm action, or just adapt my breathing so that it goes along with the pulse. And it doesn't even have to be music - I remember seeing a movie where there was a slow-motion part with a helicopter hovering above the ground, and the sound of the copter wings thumping made my foot start to tap.
I think the thing to be envious of is dancing without a beat physically present, where you make up your own rhythm with the dance or tap into some unheard rhythm. This is what I think of when I read about primitive dance - the dance that creates rhythm, instead of completely reacting to it. That is what I think impressive dancing is, because it is a purer sort of dance. Unfortunately, our culture has dancing and music so tied together, it is near impossible for us to do this kind of dancing.
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