Social dances are not meant to be performed for audiences. They are asking for your participation–your turn around the dance floor, the church hall, the ceremonial fire. There are steps to be learned, but they aren’t hard. Once the beat finds its way into your body and muscle memory takes over, you’ve stopped thinking and started dancing.

Composers George Gershwin and Arturo Márquez both found inspiration in the dance hall–Márquez in the danzón and Gershwin in the big band–backed partner dances of his day. The foundation of these dances (and almost all partner dances) is the frame, the way in which you and your partner hold one another combined with posture, posture, posture.

The frame is what makes leading and following possible. In a proper embrace, followers can detect otherwise imperceptible cues from the leaders telling them what’s next and how to get there. The frame, along with the beat, tempo, hesitations, ochos, turns, and dips, is what quiets the whirring of an anxious mind and replaces it with the steady thump of a heartbeat. The choreographer Agnes De Mille said, “To dance is to be out of yourself,” and she wasn’t wrong.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be out of yourself right now, for even a few minutes? To hold and be held? Or does dancing make you feel self-conscious? Don’t worry. No one is ever paying attention, and even if they were, anyone lost in reverie on the dance floor is beautiful.

Find the nearest discotheque, throw a block party, or just clear the furniture out of the living room and ask yourself the question George and Ira Gershwin gave Fred Astaire to sing:

Shall we dance or keep on moping?
Shall we dance and walk on air?
Shall we give in to despair
Or shall we dance with never a care?
Life is short, we’re growing older
Don’t you be an also-ran
You’d better dance, little lady, dance, little man
Dance whenever you can

Playlist: ARTURO MÁRQUEZ / SALÓN LOS ÁNGELES

Arturo Márquez’s playlist offers a musical education, moving from Mexico City’s dance halls to concert halls around the world. The composer wrote, “In the 20th century, the music of the Caribbean, and especially that of Cuba, was the soul of dance halls. In the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s, danzón, mambo, and cha cha cha were danced and developed by the Latin American youth of that time. And although these celebrations have been largely lost on our continent, Mexico has maintained the taste for these dances in its parties, squares, and especially in a few dance halls that have maintained these traditions with old dancers and many young people. The dancers in these rooms continue to dance danzón, mambo, cha cha cha, and bolero, and more modern dances have been added, such as cumbia, salsa, and bachata. This music has been the inspiration for many concert music composers in Cuba, Mexico, and the United States.”