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Getting Started
- If you'd like to try out ethnic folk dance
and ethnic music and you live in the area, or if you are visiting or passing
through Chicago, why not drop in and see about making dancing your second
language? As the saying goes, the hardest step in a journey is the first one, so why not make that a dance step?
- The first night you attend, you may
feel overwhelmed by the variety and newness of material presented. Many of you will experience new types of music and new rhythms. You'll
probably think that all the other folks there are expert dancers, but at some point, many of them started from where you are now. Give
yourself some time to learn the language of ethnic folk dance.
- After a few weeks, you'll start to recognize
that there are many common elements in dances from across different cultures. You will also find some unique elements of style in each dance form. You'll
also begin to recognize dance and music forms, styles, names, tunes
and countries of origin, and you might even recognize some of the dance or song names. You'll also notice that many of those
folks you once thought of as "dance experts" are just plain folks, like
yourself.
- The word is patience...
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Click for Overview Document |
No Experience Required
- You don’t need to have any
prior background or experience in dance. You just need to be willing to try and to learn.
- EDC offers teaching sessions early in
the evening. This is followed by an open dancing period until midnite. If you stick
around for the open dancing, you'll learn a lot more by trying things
that you haven't "officially" learned by getting in between experienced dancers
or by following behind the lines.
- In general, easier dances are taught
early in the evening and more challenging dances are taught later.
During the open dance program, previously taught dances and other
popular dances requested by the participants, and some occasional
"old chestnuts" are done until about midnight.
- While we do accept American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard
as payment, we don't accept the statement: "I don't know how to dance"!
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