Would headbanging be considered dancing?

Headbanging is, as you know, bobbing your head up and down to any type of music, or without music, if you so choose :stuck_out_tongue:

I say it is dancing because you are moving along with the music, whether or not your whole body is moving doesnā€™t matter. It all depends on the type of headbanging, also.
Thereā€™s the light headbang, just your head and upper-back move, the medium, where the movement is decidedly faster, and then thereā€™s the ā€˜full on headbangā€™ where you bend to your waist and headbang.

Dictionary.com defines ā€˜danceā€™ as:

  1. To move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures.

a. To leap or skip about excitedly.
b. To appear to flash or twinkle: eyes that danced with merriment.
c. Informal. To appear to skip about; vacillate: danced around the issue.
3. To bob up and down.

Look at number threeā€¦

Youā€™re gonna have a fairly hard time defining dancing, as, like music, drawing, crafting, and writing, itā€™s a form of artistic expression. And when you get down to it, itā€™s more complex than you might think.

MegamanX2K defines headbanging (n) as:

  1. Parkinsonā€™s later on in life

Originally posted by Skankinā€™ Garbage
Youā€™re gonna have a fairly hard time defining dancing, as, like music, drawing, crafting, and writing, itā€™s a form of artistic expression. And when you get down to it, itā€™s more complex than you might think.

All Iā€™m saying is that there is no real definition to what dancing isā€¦ there can be any number of ways to dance. But moving along to music is definitely dancing, so headbanging IS dancing.

Originally posted by Steve
But moving along to music is definitely dancing, so headbanging IS dancing.

Iā€™m not saying headbanging isnā€™t dancing, but ā€œmoving along to musicā€ is not a good definition of dancing for two good reasons:

  1. You can dance without music.

  2. You can move to music without dancing. Case in point: I walk to the rhythym of my discman, but that is certainly not dancing.

My god, you brought it to the mb:P Well, you know me, I agree with Steve on this one.

I define dancing as bad foreplay. If I wanna get laid, there are faster and more efficient ways to get to it.

while maybe its dancing if you look at it literally, i dont think headbanging fits the connotation of dancing at all. and the connotation is wahts important.

Originally posted by Sinistral
I define dancing as bad foreplay. If I wanna get laid, there are faster and more efficient ways to get to it.

Some people dance for fun. :stuck_out_tongue:

If you moved more than your head, I think it could count as dance.
Some say that Pat Boone danced when he sangā€¦he sorta swayed like he needed to shift his weight on his feet, and snapped his finger to the beat of Tutti Frutti (more or lessā€¦the guy had the rhythm of a squid out of water.)

I tap my finger along with songs sometimes. That does not qualify as dancing. Neither does moving your head up and down.

Originally posted by Sinistral
I define dancing as bad foreplay. If I wanna get laid, there are faster and more efficient ways to get to it.

LOL! That reminded me of a party I went to a few months ago. I saw one couple sitting on a couch, doing what I can only describe as ā€œclothed sexā€. I mean, the girl was sitting on the guys lap, going through all the motions and everything. It looked rather silly, actually.

Real dancing is cool, though. I used to think that any dancing outside of the organized stuff (you know, like swing dancing or salsa, where there are actually certain moves) was dumb, but then I learned to just have fun with it. Itā€™s kinda silly, but Iā€™ve found it to be quite fun, and Iā€™m glad I gave it a try after being put off by the idea for so many years.

But to get back to Rounā€™s original post, I would only consider headbanging as dancing if you involve more than just your head. If all youā€™re doing is bobbing your head, then youā€™re really doing nothing more than those Night at the Roxbury guys. :stuck_out_tongue:

Canā€™t answer, I hate dancing.

No, it doesnā€™t. Even if you have long hair and it looks retarded like some of those people who do music videos, no.

Headbanging is not dancing, itā€™s something you do to make your brain enter another state of mind in which you perceive music much better.

Originally posted by Kero Hazel
But to get back to Rounā€™s original post

Please do not confuse Steve with me.

On behalf of my fellow ass shakers,no, head banging is exactly what it impliesā€¦banging your head around :stuck_out_tongue: Dancing involvesā€¦ettique(in some forms) freestyle and class or an extreme limited amount of clothing depending on where you are:kissy: head banging is just going out and out crazy and attempting to give you brain damage.:wink:

I have a very simple and effective barometer:

ā€œIf I can do it, itā€™s not art.ā€

Given that

A.) Dancing is an art

B.) I cannot dance (I canā€™t, trust me, I have no clue).

and

C.) I can headbang (and have).

it follows that

D.) Headbanging is not dancing. Itā€™s similar, but it is not the same, its a related, non-artistic, action.

well, headbanging is headbanging. whoā€™s to say if itā€™s really dancing/an art form?

To dissect this furtherā€¦

  1. To move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures.

This can not be an exact definition. A drummer movest rhythmically to CREATE music, and we certainly donā€™t call playing music dancing, do we?

The next definitions need to be taken in context, which I will provide for each.

a. To leap or skip about excitedly.
b. To appear to flash or twinkle: eyes that danced with merriment.
c. Informal. To appear to skip about; vacillate: danced around the issue.

a. Insufficient. Ingest several jalepeno peppers. Youā€™ll be running around in pain. Can you call it dancing? I think not.

b. I could strap fireworks all over my body and blow myself to kingdom comeā€¦sure, Iā€™d flash and twinkle quite a bit, but I sure as hell wouldnā€™t be dancing.

c. Eh. It already says itā€™s informal. Thatā€™s clear enough.

  1. To bob up and down.

My first thought for this third definition is that it is a more poetic use of ā€œdance.ā€ For example, the flowers and grass on a windswept plateau ā€œdanceā€ along to the breeze. To me, number three is a literary use of ā€œdance.ā€

In any case, donā€™t headbang. Waltz. Waltzes are fun. And they probably wonā€™t make you run the risk of jolting your brain around too much and making you into an idiot.