Dancing Feat: One Man's Mission to Dance Like A Colombian

by Neil Bennion

Dancing Feat is the story of one Englishman's attempt to deal with his appalling dance ability – by dancing his way round Colombia.

Join inveterate dance coward Neil Bennion as he romps through this land of swashbuckling peaks and luscious coastlines, learning new dances as he goes. When he’s not doing everything in his power to avoid them, that is.

- Get an insight into Colombian dance: from the urban forms found in nightclubs, to folkloric dances steeped in historical significance.
- Learn about the truth and legend of this famously troubled country.
- Meet a people who are amongst the kindest and warmest anywhere on the planet, unless you’re trying to get away with not dancing.

Some six months after he began, he’s honour-bound to put on a show of the dances he’s learnt.

But can such a bad dancer really make the necessary transformation? Is it even possible to remember so many dances? And is there a window backstage big enough for an adult male to fit through?

324 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2014

Reviews

[Dixie Conley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title states, this is the story of one man's quest to learn how to dance like someone from Colombia, by going there and doing so. It's also the tale of a British man interacting fearfully with such dangers as being robbed and being forced to dance. In public, no less!

The text requires you to read each word carefully or miss a great deal of the author's dry humor. He goes into detail on each of the dances and each of the places he stayed on his journey and even includes little bites of the foods he's eaten there. Part travelogue and part personal exploration, the book mixes exploratory narratives with casual comments on the people he's met and things he's done.

It's a story well-told. If only it weren't so *boring*. I found his fear of dancing to be realistically portrayed, and thus the more irksome as this trait repeated itself over and over. And so did the book. It was a story of repetition, travel, see a new city, learn a new dance, wash, rinse and repeat. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book. It's just boring.

I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Joel Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read for someone interested in either Colombia or folkloric dancing. It is an amusing premise - non-dancer from England decides to learn to dance by traveling to Colombia and learning a wide variety of dancing styles from that country. The writing is clever at times (a bit too cutesy at others), and he does a nice job of throwing in tidbits about the country, people, and history (though for the most part the exact same tidbits one reads in just about every other outside book about Colombia). There was a lot of personal angst about the difficulty of learning to dance and the self-doubt that goes along with learning such physical self-expression, and at times I thought this stretched out a bit too long. And yet, imagining myself in his shoes (or his cotizas!) I know that is exactly the angst I would feel, and about that strongly! That being said, I was glad that the joy part finally won out in the end.

[Karol Gajda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dancing Feat will spur feelings of both wanderlust and dancerlust (new word I just made up that means "will make you want to dance"). I know I'm biased because Neil is a friend, but I highly recommend this book to travelers (and/or dancers). Especially, of course, for prospective travelers to Colombia.