Social dance is a term for a large group of improvisational partner dances done to music in which one person leads and the other follows. There are numerous styles of social dance. Most are associated with a particular genre of music and have a complex structure of movement patterns designed around the timing of that music. Many social dance styles are also deeply rooted in the culture from which the music they are danced to originated. 

I was first introduced to social dance in 2014 by Dill Costa. Dill (pronounced “Jill”) is multitalented musician, dancer, and actress from Rio de Janeiro. The dance she taught us is called Forró, a term which encompasses a group of social dances from Northeastern Brazil done to music of the same name popular in that region. Forró is not commonly danced in the US even today, and it was less so then.

After trying many other styles of social dance, I focused my efforts on learning the “on 2” version of Salsa (sometimes called Mambo) from Del Dominguez. Eventually, I discovered that highly structured styles of dance, such as Salsa, do not fit with how my body encodes movement. For me, creative dance is a fundamentally different kind of movement than following a pattern.

In 2017, while in San Francisco, I was invited to Mission Fusion, one of the largest monthly Fusion dances in the world. It was my first encounter with fusion, and I loved it. Fusion is the least formally structured social dance. There is a lead and follow, but there are no standard movement patterns. It can be done to any type of music by anyone with any kind of social dance background. Unlike more structured styles, in which the roles of lead and follow are typically very rigid, Fusion is more of a conversational collaboration between lead and follow.

It was through Fusion that I discovered Blues dance. Blues is related to Fusion both stylistically and historically, but it is focused on a specific musical genre. Blues is often danced to live music, and it can be one of the most intimate styles of social dance. I currently dance, teach, and DJ in both Blues and Fusion styles. I’m particularly interested in how they can overlap with and inform each other.