So recently I was listening to this podcast of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and stumbled on a beautiful monologue on dancing. I am going to share it here –
Beautiful Monologue on Dancing:
“I absolutely love to dance. It’s funny because I really don’t get to dance much, which is my loss. Dancing is the most joyful thing to do.
Dancing and singing. Yeah, these are the most natural expressions of human joy, really. I mean, if there’s an upside to social media and okay, that’s an open question, obviously.
I think that it’s all these videos of those little babies dancing, you know, babies sing and dance before they walk and talk. That’s how primal dance is. And then to get to see a baby dance with rhythm, give me a break.
I mean, it is just the best, isn’t it? I grew up going to all kinds of dance performances. My mom took us to the ballet a lot, to see the New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, ABT.
And I remember very vividly that I could not stay in my seat.
So I would go out into the aisle and I would dance along with the dancers on the stage. And somehow my mother allowed this. I mean, my memory is it just wasn’t a disruption in any way.”
“the truth is that I’ve always felt inside that I’m a dancer, not trained or anything, but you know, I just, I have an inner confidence that I’m good. I’m a good party dancer, but I never really studied dance other than taking movement classes.”
“Movement is actually a big part of my comedy. I love physical comedy and I incorporate physicality into my performances. I mean, well, I mean, obviously a lot of actors do that.
That is nothing new, but it’s something that I work on a lot.
You can Skip the next part if you are not a Seinfeld fan.
How the Famous (or infamous?) Elaine Dance came into existence:
“And then in 1995, might’ve been 96, I don’t know. I have to look that up.
But one of our Seinfeld writers, Spike Farriston, wrote an episode in which my character Elaine had to dance. And this was based on somebody that he actually knew. And I know who it is, but I’m not telling you.
Anyway, this person was very respected and admired and looked up to. And then at a work party, this particular person danced. And all of that respect and admiration instantly vanished because this person’s dancing ability was so god-awful, was like non-existent.
So Spike built this into a Seinfeld episode and I was the lucky recipient of that lack of dance ability as Elaine. And in the script, it says something like, Elaine gets up to dance and does these little kicks. And so the little kicks is actually what the episode is called.”
“And I remember the night before rehearsals began, I stood in front of a mirror and I tried to come up with moves that were weird and didn’t resemble anything graceful or rhythmic. And I came up with a couple of options and I went downstairs to where my mom, who happened to be staying with us at the time, and my husband were in the kitchen. And I said, okay, you guys, so which one of these is the worst?
And I did the two movements and both my mom and Brad picked the same one. And that’s the movement, ladies and gentlemen, that I incorporated into the episode. And it’s what people now call the Elaine dance.”
“I can feel people watch me because obviously they’re expecting me to dance that horrible dance, the Elaine dance. And the truth is that if I actually stumble on that episode on TV, I can’t even watch it because it’s just so God awful ugly. It just makes me wince.”
“So there can be as much dancing in my future as I allow there to be. And I mean, how beautiful is it that in cultures all across the world, we dance when we’re happy, we dance when we’re sad, we dance to be funny. People dance to express what can’t be expressed in any other way.
I mean, in the end, the body is the best communicator.”
From Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Julia Gets Wise with Debbie Allen, May 8, 2024
I could relate to Julia on so many levels.
If you think about it, we dance all the time. Dance is an expression of our physical body. We move our body unconsciously with beats, we move our body when we are mad at something or when we are passionate about something. Dance is the most innate form of art.
If you look at TikTok, it’s just a silly app where you can dance with trendy songs. But if you think deeply, you will understand why it became so popular. I think, people needed an outlet where they can dance to their heart’s beat and TikTok does exactly that. It resonated with all ages of people because of dancing. People love to dance, even who are not good at it. I am a terrible dancer but I remember dancing with my dog at the middle of night all the time and of course when no one was watching.
History of Dancing:
From early cave paintings, we can deduct that dancing was there even 30,000 years ago. The ancient men used to mimic animals and different human emotions through dance forms. In pagan religion, they used to perform various rituals through dancing. In 19th century, ballet dance got popularity. Later on, in 20th century hiphop dance grew more and more.
Iconic Figures of Dancing:
Michael Jackson as we know is the most popular icon in terms of dancing in last 50 years. Anybody who was born in 90s can never forget moonwalk or the ‘beat it’ dance. People don’t call him king of pop for no reason.
Marius Petipa is considered the father of classical ballet. He created famous ballets like ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.
If you want to see a performance of one Jazz Dancer in your lifetime, it has to be Josephine Baker. She used to perform in Paris in Jazz age. She was famous for exotic dances and charismatic screen presence.
Revolution Made with Dancing:
In 1960s, dance played a significant role in the Civil Rights movement. Dance became means for celebrating African American culture.
In 70s, Dance and disco music became synonymous with LGBTQ+ movement. Disco club eventually became a safe space for LGBTQ individuals to express themselves freely and protest against the entire system.
Dancing and Pop Culture:
Dance has had a profound impact on pop culture. In 1952, Singin’ in the rain came in the movies and it is remembered for its beautiful dance sequences. Who can forget Michael Jackson’s 1983 music video Thriller. Madonna’s vogue MV introduced voguing – a dance form in 1970s, from the LGBTQ+ ballroom scene.
We will always remember Britney spears and 90s with Baby one more time. Watch the iconic music video here.
The first youtube video that got 1 billion views was popular for gangam style dance.
Co-ordinated dance performances in public space popularly known as Flashmobs got really popular in 2010s.
Tiktok Dances: During and post covid TikTok influenced our life largely with various dance challenges
Gen-Z Love Dancing:
I think this is the era of dancing. I see everyone wants to dance nowadays. Of course there is a big influence of reels and TikTok there. Still, I believe, generation z is more expressive than earlier generations and that has led them to dancing more.
Forms of Dancing:
Dance is diverse. There are many styles and forms of dancing.
Classical and Traditional Dance forms:
Classical Ballet: It originated in Italy and later developed in France and Russia.
Contemporary Ballet: Combination of classical ballet and modern dance. It is more relaxed than classical ballet.
Traditional and Folk Dance consists of Kathak, Flamenco, Irish Dance, Hula and African Dance.
Social and Ballroom Dance Forms:
Ballroom dance includes Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot and Quickstep
Latin dance includes Salsa, Cha-Cha, Rumba and Samba
Street and Urban dance forms like Hiphop, House Dance and Freestyle dances got popularity in 2000s.
Exclusive Suggestions from FGM:
Movies – If you love dancing you should watch Silver Lining’s Playbook and Black Swan. SLP is one of my absolute favorites, you should watch it even if you are not into dancing because the movie is more than that.
Podcast: Wiser than Me with Debby Allen (The monologue that I shared earlier was from this podcast)
Goof – I think the idea of Fat Monica dancing in FRIENDS was an inspiration from Elaine Dance in Seinfeld.
I am no way an expert of this matter. I appreciate when I see a good dance and in another life, I would love to be a good dancer. So this was me writing my Heart out about dancing.
