Towards learning to dance

The dance analog of this post on learning how to play guitar just struck me. Creation and versatility, not emulation.

I suppose this is why I'm fairly comfortable thinking of myself as a dancer, whereas I'm not at all comfortable with thinking of myself as (or other people calling me) a musician. I'm not even close to able to express my own feelings or ideas (musical or otherwise) through music. As far as guitar goes, I am the equivalent of someone who has watched a bunch of instructional YouTube dance videos and has learned from them how to execute a handful of patterns. I don't think of myself as being able to "play guitar"; I can just play some songs on a guitar. And I really enjoy playing them, no doubt -- but I wish I wasn't so limited to such a select few songs, in the specific keys and arrangements in which I learned them.

But with dance, I *like* learning the equivalent of scales, chords and miscellaneous theory; it's intrinsically enjoyable to me, to discuss and play around with the nuts and bolts of dance. I love exploring lead/follow connection and working on body control and movement, with no particular end result in mind other than getting better at moving myself and hearing/moving my partner. And it seems that this, as in guitar, is how you gain the freedom to express yourself. Knowing your way around your instrument.