When I first took dance class, I thought that all I was going to learn in dance class was basic upbeat movement and choreography. Learning different dance styles and genres along with the music. But now that I already know the rules about dance and how dance can be used as a form of communication and emotions, it hits differently. See, the type of dancing people know nowadays cannot compare to the type of dancing used in dance class. Most people know the Tik-Tok dance style technique or the modern K-pop choreography and urban street/freestyle dancing techniques. But the type of dancing I know now in dance class, has altered my mind in so many different ways that I cannot explain. I feel that the type of dancing I’m used to now in dance class, is so much more worth learning about than just finding these random dance styles that other people are using from different dance notions that do not really make any sense and just call it a ¨free-form-dance¨ to entertain the audience. Dance is important due to its cause of improved physical fitness, stress reduction and increased social connection with other peers. So, if I had to choose between contemporary dance structure and freestyle/free-form-dance styles, I would probably choose contemporary dance structure because it has a better sense and understanding of how contemporary dance can coordinate well due to its underlying use of specific/strict choreography and dance techniques to enhance the entire routine. If I did not know or took an ordinary dance class, then I would have chosen a free-form-dance skill or a freestyle type of dance because I would know that even without having to learn the dance expectations and the structures of that specific dance, it would still be easy to create my own type of style to whatever song Iḿ dancing to. But If I did not learn all the dance concepts and how dance techniques can work in different ways, it could have affected my body differently than it does now. – Leilani H.
