Maybe you have recently been to a club for the first time. Perhaps you are about to go to a club for the first time. Or maybe you have been to clubs several times. Either way, if you are reading this article, chances are you want help with how to dance in a club.
I am a dancer with 20+ years of dancing experience. I have seen most of what you will encounter in your club dancing. So be reassured that this article contains the information you need to know how to dance in a club.
To dance well in a club you will require:
1. Muscle memory of several basic dance moves
2. The ability to transition from each move comfortably
3. Awareness of what makes club dancing different from other forms of dancing, which includes the:
- Quality of teachers who will try and teach club dancing
- Music type played
- Space available on the dancefloor
- And the type of people you will meet at clubs.
Acknowledge that memorising moves is not helpful, but muscle memory is helpful:
The status quo approach for teaching people how to dance in a club is to teach ‘easy’ dance moves and then for the user to remember those moves when they find themselves on a dance floor. However, there are many problems with this approach. Illustrating this point is the categorization of two groups of people below:
Group 1: People who use dance muscle memory:
One group is people who are not using their mind memory to command their bodies to move. Rather they are drawing on their MUSCLE memory of dance moves. These people are regarded as good dancers. The reason for this is they are able to draw on dance moves automatically, not manually. Take a look at a good example below:
Group 2: People who have no dance muscle memory:
The other group is people who do not have muscle memory of dance moves. As a result, when they try and dance, they have no tools in their bodies to draw on. These people are not regarded as good dancers. Take a look at the following dancers for an example of bad dancing:
Whilst humorous, group number 2 are obviously not good dancers.
Why does group number 2 fail to be convincing in their dancing ability? The reason is that bad dancing is not a shallow problem. There is a depth of problem which needs to be addressed if you truly want to look:
- Sexy
- Confident
- And feel great on a dancefloor.
There are deep elements missing here such as:
- Coordination
- Rhythm
- A lack of positive dance experience
- And nervousness as a result of all of these things
Much of this is a result of no dance muscle memory.
A sporting analogy:
Think about it in a sports scenario. Imagine a tennis player who lacks coordination, athleticism, and natural talent. Simply teaching them to memorize the many complex steps on how to hit a forehand is not going to help that player that much. In fact, it will probably make them self-conscious and play worse.
The true help is the physical practice that ingrains the forehand movement into the muscle memory of the player. This is crucial for unconscious, confident, and competent retrieval.
In the winning point for the match, it is the tennis player’s automatic muscle memory that wins the match. Not his brain overanalyzing each movement.
For a comprehensive guide on how to be more like group number 1, read the step-by-step article How To Become A Good Dancer: The complete guide people need.
Be aware that there are many dance teachers who are not good dancers themselves:
This is a constant gripe of good dancers. This gripe is the quality of teachers who try and teach beginners how to dance in a club.
Beginner dancers need a quality teacher, however often, teachers are not great dancers themselves. Yet many of these teachers assume an attitude of superiority when teaching. A true case of the blind leading the blind.
For an example of this, have a look at this video.
Looks bad right. So just be aware that there are good teachers and there are bad teachers. This will go a long way in making sure you don’t pick up bad dance habits or movements.
There is nothing worse than having your potential to dance well being crushed. All because the movements you are being taught are poor dance movements to begin with.
Be aware of what type of music can be played at clubs:
Music in clubs can range from chilled RnB songs to intense trance songs. It all depends on what type of club you find yourself in.
The key message here is that the type of dancing you do will depend on the music that is being played. In turn, the type of music that is being played will either motivate you to dance or it will not.
Many good dancers find themselves either loving songs that a DJ plays or being underwhelmed by the song choice.
A good test for yourself in this context is to ask yourself ‘would I love this song if I was listening to it by myself with no social pressure to dance’.
A good test for your motivation is to ask yourself:
‘would I love this song if I was listening to it by myself with no social pressure to dance’.
If the answer is yes then that is a good sign it is a good song for you to dance to, but if the answer is no, then chances are you might be dancing just because the crowd is dancing which isn’t ideal.
Remember to feel free to tell your friends you will sit this song out and get a drink. Then you might come back on the dancefloor when there is a better song.
Also, remember that good friends will understand this and not heckle you for not wanting to dance all the time.
Special Note: Protect your ears in clubs:
Music at clubs can also be very loud. There are serious stories of people suffering permanent ear damage such as Tinnitus (permanent ringing of the ears) from being overexposed to loud music in clubs.
A few ways to get around this is:
- Try not to dance right next to a speaker.
- If the music is dangerously loud, consider wearing some earplugs.
- The security guards in clubs wear earplugs so it doesn’t look too out of place if you wear them also.
- You can keep a small pouch for them in your pocket. Then if the music is too loud you can go to a bathroom and put them in. Then hit the dancefloor with your ears protected.
- Sure you might get one or two looks for wearing them. But in the end, you are the smart one for protecting your ears.
- There are in fact earplugs designed specifically for clubs. These can be seen here with these low profile Alpine ear plugs.
Be aware of the space on the dancefloor:
Clubs are notorious for having packed dance floors. Something about people not having to dance properly if they are packed in like sardines. Not to mention all of that sensual body-to-body contact between girls and guys.
The above is all well and good if you are trying to pick someone up. However, if you truly just want to dance then dance floor space is a big factor.
Time for an example. Imagine when you’re favorite song comes on AND you’re in the mood to dance. However, when you hit the dancefloor you have zero space to move your body in. Additionally, you are being buffeted roughly by the crowd. It’s not ideal and can be frustrating.
There is not much that can be done here, unfortunately. Except to be aware that this kind of thing happens in clubs.
What you can also do is assess the dancefloor crowd. This way you can be mentally prepared for not much space to dance in. Or if the dancefloor is not too full then take the opportunity of the space to do your dance thing.
Be aware of problematic individuals in clubs:
The drunk:
One type of problematic individual is the heavily inebriated person. This means a few things when it comes to dancing. Often inebriated people lose their fine motor skills, aka a motor skill such as balance. This means that when such people try to dance they will often stumble around a dancefloor and knock/bump into people.
This can be off-putting when you are in the dance zone and you are feeling good. But then some drunk comes along and careens into you.
Unfortunately, this is part of the club scene. It is a problem that will unlikely go away in the near future due to alcohol. What you can do is:
- Be aware of any particularly problematic drunks on the dancefloor and position yourself in a safe part of the floor
- Or move away from that individual if they come closer. Annoying I know, but it is what it is.
The creep:
Another problematic type of individual is guys who try and grind on girls with little permission. This is very poor behavior in clubs.
Let’s say you are a man. You are in a group with girls that are receiving unwanted attention on a dancefloor. There are two things you can do:
- Place yourself casually in between the unwanted guys and the girls whilst continuing to dance somewhat. Also, let the girls know that you are there to help them if they need it.
- The unwanted guys may be trying to penetrate the dance circle to gain access to the girls. In this case place yourself casually in between them and the dance circle to cut them off.
Remember that club dancing does not need to define your dance ability:
Often young people will often not realize the pitfalls of club dancing. They will not realize that it is not the most ideal environment at times for dancing. They may feel that because they didn’t have a good time on the dancefloor, it must be because they aren’t a good dancer.
As you can read above, this is not always the case.
So stick with it. Keep practicing in private as mentioned in the complete guide to dancing here. In time your ability and confidence will grow. Before you know it you will know exactly how to dance in a club.