Social Dancing. Rerun #37

By Guy Nakagawa, Kalani Valley

What is social dancing? Seems pretty simple right? On Oahu it is batted around quite a bit but it is still up for grabs. Can social dancers dance exhibitions? Of course. How about competition dancers? Why not? It must mean dancing socially, Which it does but there are actually several forms of dance that could be considered “social dancing.”

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Social dancing was first really coined as a term to describe how men and women used to dance with each other at “Socials” which were organized events where a band would come play music and people would come specifically to enjoy dancing with each other. We could even go back to Old England to when the royal court used to have social gatherings where dances like the Waltz were performed.

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But in modern times the term social dancing started to gain popularity in the 1920s with the big band sound that was popular back then and dance styles such as swing, waltz, rumba, foxtrot, and samba coming later on. And the bands would mix them all up for the enjoyment of all. Social dancing can also be used to describe “Party Dancing” which is what people would call the original styles of hip hop grooves that originated in the block parties in Urban areas like New York, and Los Angeles in the 1970s and 80s.

All of these different definitions of social dancing can get confusing so for us on Oahu it is much easier to use the term “Social Dancing” as a blanket term to describe any style of dancing that is best performed either with a partner, or in “Social” group situations with many different dances. It has become any dance that is primarily performed with a partner in social situations like social dance clubs, weddings, school cafeterias, district parks and community centers and even in night clubs.

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Originally when dance socials were popular the term made much more sense to use to describe these events, but nowadays so many different styles have emerged that it doesn’t make sense to use the term to describe any one style. Then there are the peripherals, Tango and Salsa Bachata for instance. They have evolved into becoming more "correct" or "incorrect." And then who is the judge?