- by Anand Majumdar
 
 

This is the question i have often asked my self especially when i started dancing and teaching it. Incidently i started teaching dance before dancing. A lot of the people i come across with as a result of my profession also ask me the same question.. They say that they often get so involved in getting the moves right that they cant think of anything else. Others insist that though they have the moves right, it gets too mechanical ..

So what really is the secret of enjoying dancing ?? Is it in knowing all the moves ? Or dressing well ? Or going to the best studios, nightclubs or instructors ? 

Well, no. While a certain level of proficiency with the actual moves is good, that only keeps us from not enjoying it. It, in no way ensures that we do!

Cut to some personal experiences. I have had the good fortune of dancing with some very diverse people. People from different backgrounds, people who do different things, from different countries, doctors, executives, students, architects, jouralists, home-makers, young, old, ... all kinds. But what was very very surprising to me was that all these people had something common in them. They were all people. 

With some of them we went out, some who we visited when they were sick, some with whom we had extended coffee sessions after every class, some who shared stories of their college, some who had valuable stuff to say about different careers. Again there was something common. Everyone had something to say and everyone made me feel a particular way. And no matter how hard i tried i couldnt shake the way i felt towards each one of them.

What i began to realise after a while was that the amount i enjoyed dancing with someone was directly proportional to the number of times i had coffee with them. And probably exponentially proportional each time they visited me or me, them.

I soon began to realise that i was at the mercy of so many people and it would dishearten me extremely if one or some of these people wouldnt come to the class for a while. It finally dawned on me that it wasnt dancing which i liked, but dancing with these people that i liked. Every month i would find newer and newer people with whom i liked to dance but "that" feeling would come back every time someone whom i knew for a long time would visit me and we would dance..

Knowing them for the people that they were and not how good they were as dancers automatically made me enjoy more with them. That really is the truth. Dancing is about proximity, connection, fun and enjoyment with PEOPLE. 

What their lives are about, what bothers them, what makes them tick, are we part of their lives in some way and are they part of ours,.. the answers to some of these questions really will make us enjoy the dance a little more. Its really upto you now as to how much you wanna have fun ;)... Also i am very very bad at all this people business, i know. I hardly bother about other people as much as they do about me. But im smart enough to know that these people are these only reason i enjoy dancing..

If it werent for the people around me, those specific people, dancing would never be the same.. 
 

Anand Majumdar is a teacher of Latin American, Standard Ballroom, Salsa, and Tango Dancing based out of Mumbai, India. 
He is a also a DJ and Fashion and Portfolio photographer
 

Anand Majumdar

Mobile : +91-9820146788
www.anandmajumdar.com
anand_majumdar@hotmail.com