Are you good at dancing?

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Just curious, because I know a lot of aspies have difficulty with motor skills. I do generally struggle with motor skills, but surprisingly I'm not that bad at dancing. I'm really bad at anything that I have to use my hands for, like sewing, opening things, locking/unlocking doors, and I still have an odd way of holding silverware when I eat. As a kid it took me forever to learn how to tie shoes and ride a bike. And I couldn't play sports (well, I think it was partly because I couldn't kick/throw/catch a ball correctly, and partly because in sports you have to be good at reading other players' body language and subtler social cues). But dancing was always a lot easier for me. I actually took ballet, tap, and jazz classes when I was a child/teenager, and as an adult I enjoy going to dance fitness classes like Zumba. I'm definitely not the greatest dancer ever and I may not always pick up the steps right away, but again, it's always just been easy for me compared to other things that involve motor skills. I guess I kind of get lost in the music and I'm able to sort of "feel" the music, which makes it easier for me to remember and perform the steps.

I can boogie okay----but I have trouble dancing with other people.

I can sort of "slow dance"---but that's it.

Me? Rhythm? LMAO. Um no. I'd be lucky not to fall over slow dancing. I can pogo with punk rock, but that's all.

lol, I have 2 left feet!

It's interesting to have aptitude in something when not good at other things similar.

I could, with practice.
Better, if it's improvised instead of following or copying steps. Because yes, I do 'feel' the music too.


I'm one of those aspies who has neither fine motor and gross motor issues. I could dance and catch ball as much as I could knit and sculpt.
I found ways how to know which is which -- I'm good with simulated/steps by steps/by certain muscle memory/pattern related/'flow', yet I'm bad at reaction time and I prefer accuracy over speed.

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Yup. I take dancing lessons. I mostly do hip hop dancing. I also won a dancing contest in an after school party.

Yes, but choreographed, and ballet is much easier than other forms because there is vocabulary to cue my memory instead of abstract shape. I love to get lost in music, but with set movement. I can't improv, freestyle, dance at a club or party.

No, I’m dreadful. I have no rhythm.

I have just enough rhythm to play a kindergartener's level of the drumset. but not enough to dance, unless it's the Charleston

I think I might be quite good at improvised dancing as I can feel music with my body well, and I sometimes get great urge to move my body along when I hear music, but I am not interested in learning specific dance styles. As for my motor skills, I think I mostly have some problems with fine motor skills while gross motor skills are just fine.

I certainly enjoy dancing, and it has attracted notice quite often, and some interesting (though no doubt deliberately tactful) comments. I feel like I can only dance if the music just makes me do it, so I can't dance to music that doesn't suck me in - I like lots of syncopation and even music in odd time signatures.

I certainly can't dance "like" someone else or in a particular style, just as my regular posture is a bit off and I have an idiosyncratic walking gait. And, as Kraftie mentioned, I can't dance "with" other people, in fact, I need a fair bit of space around me, as I lose awareness of the other dancers, and folks are likely to get an accidental black eye or stomped feet if they venture too close - I've hurt myself quite badly a couple of times by stumbling into people or furniture. People who crowd the dance floor and then barely jiggle themselves while also trying to chat to someone and hold a drink really, really annoy me!

There are definitely some common themes to the kinds of comments I get...
- That I dance with my "whole body". Makes sense; I don't feel like I'm consciously controlling my body at all, that's part of the enjoyment.
- "Where can I get what some of what you've been taking?" Ironic, as I was never into "dance drugs", and if the music is funky enough, I don't need chemical assistance to get my groove on.
- Comments along the "dervish" or "shaman" kind of lines. I the sense that I'm lost in the music, true. It not a "spiritual" thing for me, but maybe it is a kind of "super-stimming".
- That I seem to be really enjoying myself. Yes, I am. Thanks for noticing, hope you are too.

I don't like it if there's a break in the music or something else happens to snap me out of my trance. As soon as I get too conscious of what I'm doing, I feel like a rag doll randomly waving its limbs around, lose the beat, and get a rush of being incredibly self-conscious. I get the impression sometimes that because my dancing is strange and very enthusiastic, people think that I'm showing off for attention, but I don't really like being the centre of attention, and nothing could be further from my mind when I'm mid-dance - my "dervish trance" is really quite a private thing, and it blanks out the fact that there are spectators.

Sorry for the long post - I had no idea I had so much to write about dancing - haven't had a good boogie for ages, I think I'm missing it!

In the parties I've been to, the more drunk people get, the less people care about "how" you dance. It's carte blanche out there on the dance floor!

Even sober, people don't usually mind it if a person improvises----as long as that person doesn't hit on other peoples' partners.

That's the most important thing, really. Both men and women get really upset if it is perceived that a person is trying to "take away" a person's partner.

Not really. I took dance lessons when I was younger because my mom wanted me to do them but I was always the worst one there and I stood out because I was always doing the wrong thing.

I can't even walk properly so... nope.

I have never heard an opinion on my dancing, but I used to enjoy it a lot. I learned the right attitude from a friend who had been in the Peace Corps, where he was the only white man in an African village. Even when schools have thatched roofs and no walls, they still have a regular Variety Show. When my friend was there, the act that had everyone rolling in the aisles was two five year olds with an act called "White Folks Dancing."
I am no good at ball sports or playing music, but have good driving and handyman skills.