Modern Dance

Have you always been athletic? I am asked all the time. I guess it's rather odd to find someone my age as fit and devoted as I am to something that is not "gentle" like yoga or Pilates, who claims to have started "getting fit" at age 40.

This is me, 34 years ago in 1978 when I was 17 years old. I was a dancer in high school. I loved dance and danced a few hours a day, I studied Modern dance and I was also a student teacher, I loved it that much. I recall that in my senior year of school, I danced 3 to 4 hours a day. I don't think they have a budget for dance in public schools any longer, it's a shame.

I suppose this is where I got my start in the love of a physique based sport. Dance is very much like being a Figure Athlete, it is a form of self expression where your body is the canvas for the mood and story you are trying to tell.

This picture appears to be a ballet stance, but it's not. Modern dance has it's roots in ballet, but is considered  a more rebellious form of dance, more free spirited and unrestricted.

In Modern dance, the dancers often appear to be flowing and moving, but not necessarily following a choreographed set of movements,  although it is highly choreographed, believe me. I think what I loved the most were my solo's where I could then do what I wanted, drawing from the theme of the story, and dance with abandon while the rest of the troop and the audience watched.

I often got a bit too carried away, in the picture above, our dance was choreographed to the song "A Fifth Of Beethoven" performed by Walter Murphy in the movie Saturday Night Fever. I was dressed as an old lady with a cane, barely able to walk, but slowly, as the music got faster, the clothes came off, along with the hat, the shoes, the pearls and I was left in this, dancing like mad. if you don't remember Saturday Night Fever, or the music, here is a short video. (There are several videos below, email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view them).

Modern Dance is often mixed with jazz, and that was often the case with many of the dances that we choreographed. Our dances tended to be more fast paced, and set to current music.

Below is a video of a wonderful dancer, who is dancing to something that is similar to the types of dances our dance instructor choreographed for us.

Once I was a witch doctor, and wore a skin colored body stocking and had only a rabbit fur loin cloth on, that seemed to have upset the school principal and he insisted on previewing all dance performances prior to any live performances thereafter.


Here is a video that explains the history of Modern dance.

My desire to move into Women's Physique seems fitting, the body and muscles have been well developed, and the desire to dance and perform is still there, the two, combined together are an exciting prospect for me.