The Social Dancer in Hawaii

In both disciplines that we have on Oahu, the American and the International, there are the three basic divisions, Bronze, Silver and Gold. And each one has over fifteen different patterns. Yet, there are over five hundred documented patterns in most dances. How you figure? Anyway it is nice to know any of the patterns in both disciplines. Social dancers can usually pick from the Bronze and modify whatever they wish.

"Social dancers are well aware of those that can give them a hard time,

or expect perfection. They will try to avoid them."

Rudolf Laban, the pioneer of modern educational dance, 100 years ago,

analyzed the five basic bodily movements that occur in dancing.

The First is gesture: which is a movement not connected with supporting the body's weight.
The Second is stepping: which is transferring the weight from one support to the another.
The Third is locomotion: which is simply getting the body from one place to another.
The Fourth is jumping; which is a movement without a point of support.
The Fifth is turning, which is just changing the position of the front.

"Maui Waltz" by Loyal Garner

If you are doing any of these movements to music, you are dancing. Social Dance enables us to better understand ourselves and the world in which we live. In our social atmosphere others can learn to recognize the contribution of all cultures to the fabric of our society and increase the understanding of diversity and values of all people. Social dance lends itself well to this task through learning traditional American style dances and creating new ones based on our feelings. Dance also enhances skills of perception, observation, and concentration which will undoubtedly help all of us in life.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  – Lao Tzu