This is a story about a new trend in dance studios that encourages dancers to cut loose on the dance floor. People can groove and shake without being ridiculed, where all body types are accepted:<P><B><A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/07/DD30386.DTL&type=performance" TARGET=_blank>Follow this link to the SF Chronicle article</A></B>

How nice that this has become organized. You can go to specific places where an event is scheduled to indulge your dance fantasies. I used to do this (I know I'm not alone here) back erm....a few years. It's always fun to randomly fuse some of one's dance experience in a club inspired by some libation, of course..

I took a class in Portland, Oregon once which sounds similar to the ones in the article, but a bit more structured. I think it was based on some philosophy of waveforms or shapes. Music of various textures was played - it may have been new-agey.<P>I don't think this was a class I'd have continued to take if I lived in Portland, but was interesting to visit. People did let pretty loose, but it wasn't a contact improvisation jam, and though some more familiar people may have touched for a second or something, it was pretty individual.<P>It was kind of nice to be in an environment where people were encouraged to do their own thing, but not in a pushy, touchy-feely way. And no one had to interact at all - I could look at what other people were doing to see if I wanted to work it into my ideas, but didn't have to engage if I didn't want to.<P>Funny, I hadn't thought about that class in a long time...<P>