Everybody dance now!

To make one of my biggest understatements of the year, I love to dance. The Twist, the Electric Slide, the Funky Chicken, the Chicken Dance, salsa, polka, disco…. You name it, if I know how to, I’ll do it!

If I don’t know how to, I will check out the dance video and DVD collection in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Film & Audio Department. From historical dance to hip hop, they have instructional videos to help with almost any kind of dance you’d like to do! Depending on what you are looking for, you might also be able to find some downloadable instructional dance videos. Our Overdrive collection, for example, has several videos by Gabrielle Roth, a leading instructor in dance as a meditative or healing practice.

Hooked on Dancing with the Stars? There are many ballroom dancing titles, such as Ballroom Dancing Basics, You Can Dance: Foxtrot, or Cal Pozo’s Step This Way, Volume III: The Latin Dances. We even have Dancing With the Stars Cardio Dance. Inspired by So You Think You Can Dance? Try your hand, or rather, your feet, at Argentine Tango, The Bollywood Dance Workout, or tap dancing. You’ll be reading for prime time in no time!

You may be able to tell by now, but you can dance your way around the world with us! African and Caribbean dance, Bulgarian dance, Israeli, Indian, belly dancing… you get the idea.

Now there’s always youtube. What kind of dance do you want to try? Just type it in with the word “lesson.” You’ll get a mix of quality, but with a little patience you can usually find something! Of course, attending a class isn’t a bad idea, either. I, myself, am signing up for beginning hip hop this fall, after a long time of saying, “Wouldn’t it be fun to take a hip hop class?” So what are you waiting for? Even if you just want to get out on the dance floor at your cousin’s wedding (or your own wedding, for that matter), you can come to the library and get started!

-Kaarin