Is it possible for aspies to dance?

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I smell a troll. Mods?

Your nose may be too close to your armpits or something.

I knew at the beginning of Freshmen year I wasn't going to senior prom.

Uh-oh, cat fight.

I didn't go to my senior prom either, because I had no date and feared dancing. I shocked myself by getting out on the dance floor at that club, something I thought I'd never try, and I messed it up badly. I'm sorry if it's not a very inspirational story.

I can see how the motor issues might be a problem for a few people.
Other than that, formulaic dance (like ballroom dancing or jive or something) is very rhythmic and patterned, so I think that wouldn't be too horrendous to learn. I can do a little of that.
"Just Dancing," on the other hand (like at a club or a concert) is both public improvisation and social interaction, and I not only can't do it, I find it rather awful to be in that sort of situation. It seems to me like that might be the case for a number of aspies.
Just my point of view.

...Someone take care of this... I don't come to WP to listen to this mindless s***.

KristaMeth, it's obviously a troll.

Break out the Troll Traps!

I was a dance major in college. I love to dance. There is an inner beat with in me all the time. I got the moves.

Having said that; when I learned of asperger's and being clumsy or jerky, I thought first that was not me because ' I am graceful'. But then I realized that is when I dance. In the real world I trip on side walks, carpets or bump into trees, walls, tables. It is so bad if it is raining or there is ice my family members want to hold on to me.

I have that problem too.

I strive to be a professional dancer, la la la.

So, my answer would be that: yes, autistic people can dance. It depends more on motor skills, additional disabilities and everything that can hinder any other person from dancing too.

There's likely to be a problem about dancing though:

Imitation.

The ability to imitate another person. Two things about this.

I tell you, I can't imitate my trainer or the other dancers. All other people at my school learn by imitating the teacher and the other dancers. That's how you learn a choreography in my school, that's how everybody learns it but me. There is an interesting thing about this.

While the other dancers have truly mastered imitation to a degree that they can dance a choreo at the first or second try (by watching the teacher while dancing), they don't know the choreography themselves. Their mind hasn't stored enough information in order to enable them to dance the choreo alone. When they try this - they can't.

I on the one hand am naturally a slow learner by imitation. That's one of my greatest deficits (and typically autistic as far as I know). On the other hand, when I can dance the choreo finally - I can do it, all by myself, because I know it for myself while at the same time, the other dancers still can't do it all.

Why does dancing have to be about imitation? I would think there are some natural dancers who are creative enough to develop their own styles rather than simply follow others.

It were lessons and full-blown choreographies I meant. Whether it's in a school or in a musical, everybody's got to learn the basic steps. That much is usually about imitation, especially if it's professional dancing in ensembles.

Of course, you're right, in the end, dancing has to be about creativity. This is something I think everyone who starts dancing has to realise at some point. It's no use just imitating and learning the basic steps, because what counts in dancing is how these movements are expressed by your own body and mind.

It's funny that must new students try to truley imitate their teachers beyond the choreo, trying to imitate their teacher's every movement, every expression. That can look good to a public, amaze people and all that, but it's horrible if you yourself are asked to dance in your very own style coming from your very own soul.

I wish dancing wouldn't be as much about conformity as it is today, sadly.

Very true sora.

I sometimes get distracted if I watch an instructor. I have to close my eyes and recreate the moves/forms in my head and translate it analytically, then do it.

Stupid mirror neurons. At least, I hope it's the mirror neurons. Because if they're alright... I am SUCH an unco!

I couldn't follow dance steps if my life depended on it. Can't imitate the movements, can't memorize the routine. I can move to music on my own, though. Club dancing is fun (if I'm drunk) and I'm pretty good at it (or at least I think I am, because I'm drunk).

I tend to analyse the movements of instructuctor too and it is not easy for me to remember them and repeat under fast music. But, IMHO, improvization is even harder than ballroom dance classes. And extracting rhythms from dance music is not always obvious and fluent; listen music and dance is definetly a sort of multitasking. I don't care if it is a bug of "mirror neurons" - I have a lot of other neurons.


Are you doing karate? And I disagree with you - dance is a nice thing, but slightly strange and complicated. I enjoy learning some of ballroom dances.