I’ve been shopping this idea for a show called “So You Think You Can’t Dance” and it would be about me, and how even though I love to dance and love going out dancing and dance alone in my house literally every day (this has only gotten worse since getting a dog, who is subjected to 4-5 daily performances), I cannot. I simply cannot dance! I have no rhythm. My #1 dance move is “jumping up and down” and I try to make up for a lack of talent with a bounty of enthusiasm/alcohol. However, this morning on Good Morning America, the hosts were saying that The Running Man is a “new dance craze” and I mastered that shit in the ’90s so I’m pretty excited to see what happens with that. Anyhow! Now it’s spring, and pretty soon it’ll be summer, and there’s A-Camp and weddings and all kinds of shit happening where my dancing skills will be tested. So I began to wonder if my problem might, in fact, be fixable! Like maybe I could LEARN HOW TO DANCE, maybe it’s a learn-able skill. Apparently people learn how to play ukulele on YouTube, so maybe I could learn how to dance on YouTube? Worth a shot.
1. How To Dance At A Club For Women: The Girly Bounce via pickupdance
Don’t let the title mislead you, this is not about how to dance at “a club for women.” Angela is for sure straight. The Girly Bounce sounds like a lesbian sex move, but it’s actually a very sexy dance move which could be performed by lesbians or straight people, or bisexuals, pansexuals, whathaveyou. This video is one of many from Pickupdance, a group of sexy robots dressed like restaurant hostesses who dance to elevator music on the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Honestly, this video was not NOT educational, ’cause Angela, who never blinks, is really patient and talks to you like you’re really dumb and have no hand-eye coordination and literally takes seven minutes to teach you how to move your hips from side to side. I definitely learned something about myself from watching this video, which is that I am very stiff in the knees. I kind of already knew this because Dancing Queen Alex Vega told me in 2008 that my problem is that I am very stiff in the knees, but Angela confirmed this issue for me this morning. My dog was pretty impressed with my hip pops, though! I’m working on the knees thing.
2. Learn to Dance With Three Easy Steps via WSJ Live
For some reason The Wall Street Journal sent a reporter in Keds to Broadway Dance Studio to learn to dance in three easy steps for their next mixer or something. This seemed weird until I realized that “a Wall Street Journal reporter in Keds” is probably exactly the kind of dance student I can most relate to. I was really able to apply what I learned from taking a lot of step aerobics classes in the early ’00s to these hot club moves, and look forward to taking my new skills to the stock exchange.
3. Dance Club Moves via The Better Show
This would be better in HD
This short video is aimed at girls who “want to feel sexier and be the center of attention at the club” and consequently “drive the boys wild.” The host of “Better TV,” which I’m confident no longer exists if it ever really did, meets up with Nicole, the host of the world-famous Sexy Dance Moves DVD series, at her studio. Nicole is wearing a really big chunky white bracelet. If I wore that bracelet while I was dancing, I would kill my girlfriend. Like I would smash her in the face with that bracelet and she would almost definitely die, or at least get a nosebleed. The big takeaway here is that Nicole has worked with Ricky Martin, who she loves, and that she has been dancing since she was three. Doesn’t everybody dance when they’re three? Honestly I would’ve demolished this situation like a severed head if the camerawork had been better. How can I follow her hips when you are filming her torso? What do I look like, Houdini? COME ON, CAMERA GUY. D+.
4. Dance Workout For Dummies / Basic Moves For Any Dance Workout via For Dummies
Don’t let the title of this video fool you, because it definitely fooled me into thinking I was learning “basic moves for any dance” in the form of a workout. Obviously as you may have correctly read, it’s simply “basic moves for any dance workout.” I already knew a lot of these dance workout moves from trying to teach myself to dance by taking Cardio Hip-Hop at the CCRB as a freshman in college before I developed a mysterious chronic pain disorder and had to drop the class so I could lie on my bed and feel sorry for myself instead. This video is a 44 minute actual workout! IT WAS HARD. I got tired. Unfortunately, because it’s YouTube and not New York Sports Club, the YMCA, Planet Fitness, or the g-dawful CCRB, we had to do the whole thing to stock music instead of to the copyrighted hot hip-hop beats I dance to in the shower. Obviously I couldn’t keep up with this video and just resorted to my traditional dance move, “fork in the garbage disposal.” After about 20 minutes I had to lie down. I already went to the gym today!
5. Sexy Dance Moves For Women via Howcast
The best part of this video is the dude standing there staring at her ass the whole time like it’s his job because IT IS HIS JOB. Dream job! I felt like what she was explaining was pretty simple but I still felt unable to accomplish it. So, I went and got the high heels I used to wear to this very sexy job I used to have, in case high heels were the missing link. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to do the sexy moves that I broke the buckle of one of my heels and it was this whole thing.
6. Justin Bieber – Sorry Dance Tutorial via Mandy Jiroux
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I don’t know what I was thinking
7. Bad Romance Dance Tutorial via Danceislife9
Once upon a time in 2010 at Girlbar Dinah Shore, DJ Samantha Ronson put on “Bad Romance,” which Alex had recently immortalized in a world-famous dance video, and I remember my BFF Laneia freaked out about how cute Alex and I were at doing the “Bad Romance” dance. I think she texted somebody about it, even. So I thought, well, maybe this is a dance I know / can do. What I learned from this video is that I was wrong, and whatever I did that night was probably because I was on hallucinogenic drugs, and Laneia probably freaked out because she was scared. Her text probably said “HELP.”
7. Lady Gaga Bad Romance Dance Video via fitforafeast
Don’t worry, I didn’t give up! Instead I found these nervous children in polo shirts who must have a green screen in their garage. I’m probably older than all of them put together, and therefore wiser, so I felt less intimidated by them. In the opening shot, one of the girls looked ALMOST as awkward as I looked in 7th grade, which was the year I learned that I can’t dance, so I figured that if she can do it, certainly I should be able to do it. Yeah, I couldn’t do it. How do people remember this shit? I did the hand motions twice and then immediately forgot. Is this the difference between people who can dance and people who can’t dance? The main dancer reminds me of a girl I would’ve wanted to be friends with at Camp Ranana who wouldn’t want to be friends with me, so it was kind of traumatic. Regardless, worth it for the special effects alone.
8. Contemporary Hip Hop Dance Lesson for Women DVD via pickupdance
The best part of this video is how cute Angela looks in baggy sweatpants and a crop top! I wish every morning I could wake up to Angela going, “Alright ladies, it’s time to learn some contemporary hip-hop” in her sexy monotone, and then explaining that contemporary hip-hop is “a newer form of hip-hop that’s been popularized in dance shows, music videos and stage performances.” I also like that she’s moved out of the Rough Back Alley set onto a new set with exposed brick, a fake plant clearly stolen from a furniture store, a tiny picture (probably a picture of a bird), and a tank with a dead body in it, draped in a green cloth. Probably you’d think that tank was a table, and you’d put your water bottle on it, not knowing that’s where she hid a dead body. No but really I couldn’t do the hand movements without feeling like I was making fun of myself. My dog went to sleep. :-(
10. Scotch Experts Review Cheap Whiskey via Buzzfeed Blue
When it’s all said and done, I think that this video was the best at getting me ready to feel confident on the dance floor. A++!!! SEE YOU AT A-CAMP!
HELP
this is me referencing your post and also because help me im dying
did i hit you with my bracelet
LOL!
I set my target dance skill level to “Drake” and have never felt better about myself.
That first video was really bugging me until I realized she is just imitating how a video game NPC would dance.
yeah there was definitely something vaguely CGI about her
I had to watch the video after you said that. And that is exactly how people in the Sims and Grand theft Auto dance.
I think some of this will actually help me improve my skills when trying to impress someone at the club/dace scenario.
I just watched these videos with many horrified delighted laughter– this is just the pick-me-up my finals week needed!
I can’t dance for shit! My hips are stiff as hell (although when it comes to uhm…pleasuring myself I’m…well lol).
Any tips? And is it weird if I wear a tutu when I get started? This video makes me wanna dance all sexy like her. Start at around 2:12 (but still, watch the whole video because it’s sexy-even though she sings about being angry at someone).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zteA5iIjfMU
I learned how to dance after learning how to do basic conducting for choir. One I realized dancing was exactly like conducting, except with your hips and butt, something suddenly clicked.
I don’t expect this advice to help anyone else. But it helped me and my conductor butt.
do you think i could learn how to be a conductor on youtube
Yes.
Umm… this advice may help me a lot, actually
Digging the French horn in your profile pic, future dance wizard Becca!
I FEEL YOU.
You should be watching this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQyALIEydbc
Soon you’ll be rocking classic contemp moves like the Pewp and the Seriously-Get-Your-Hands-Off-Of-Me all over the clubs.
This video was amazing! And informative!
HOW IS THIS SO ACCURATE.
The problem with these dance videos is that they all appear to be made by people who can dance.
What is needed is someone who cannot dance providing foolproof guidance on a set of minimally acceptable gyrations for the aspirational dancer.
Certainly if I can remember my own name, I cannot be found dancing. However, I feel the strategy for sober dancing should revolve around other things you are good at. Your confidence in being able to do these things already should count for at least two shots, I reckon. Like, are you good at pointing? Then point the fuck out of that dance floor!
I think the ultimate would be to create a string of signature moves to compliment one’s daily experience, e.g. “Spanking the Teabag,” “Fuck, Where’s My Charger?” and “Ugh, Men!”
You should have been watching this.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQyALIEydbc&w=640&h=360%5D
Soon you’ll be rocking the Pewp and the Seriously-Get-Your-Hands-Off-Of-Me all over the clubs.
What level of A+ membership would it take for us to get a video of you trying to dance to these dance videos?
If my grown up slumber parties have taught me anything is that Mandy’s videos are definitely NOT tutorials no matter how hard we try.
Also, Grown up slumber patiers = my friends and I at 24 years old
“patiers”, parties
Poteitou, potatou
Dance tutorial, Dance show off
my roommate and i just tried to do the “girly bounce” video. not good. not only do i have low knee mobility, i apparently have very low hip mobility. maybe it’s because i’m from indiana; my people are known for green bean casseroles more than dance clubs.
i did appreciate that the arm movements were nice and contained, though, since flailing arms are the number 2 way i tend to injure people at parties.
“my people are more known for green bean casseroles”
Ahahahaha
My mom’s side is from Michigan, and I can’t dance for Shit, but every holiday features some sort of normal food trapped in jello and called, inexplicably, “salad”
Onetime I legitimately injured my (apparently hypermobile??) shoulder tryin’ to learn via YouTube how to do that pop n lock arm wave thing
YouTube Dance Videos Don’t Play, Y’all
This is why I only go to goth club nights. No one can actually dance, so I’m free to awkwardly flail about with zero shame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INe0ouJ8a88
This is beautiful.
The contemporary hip hop video link leads to the Justin Bieber tutorial!
the woman in the first video reminded me of a pony and by the time it was done i was comfortable with the idea that this was a woman pony in a jumpsuit. i’d come to accept her.
I also hate videos where they use generic music. I love the Fitness Marshall, he has tons of “hip hop cardio” videos that are super fun.. He doesn’t make money off his videos so he claims that’s why he can use licensed music (although artists do take them down sometimes.) If you sincerely want to do a dance workout, that isn’t super hard but also not boring, try him!
This video was amazing! And informative Out standing depend on motivation
I feel a need to defend Angela and her “girly bounce” video as well as the entire program. I’m a crossdresser that desperately wanted to be able to go to clubs and dance like a woman. And her program gave me the confidence to do that. After about 2 weeks of practicing the entire program in front of a mirror, I can move and dance in a very sexy, feminine way.
I thought I’d NEVER get the girly bounce but it just took practice. Yes, her videos move slowly and seem very basic, but for some of us, that’s just what we need. If you have no clue how to dance, like I did, it’s a good program.
And I think she’s cute :)