EDIT I'm getting lots of questions wanting more details about my explanation, and lots of individual questions that could be better answered visually. I am planning on recording a video to try to answer as much questions as I can verbally/visually, and hopefully it will be up tomorrow. I'm going to include basic dance tutorial specifically to the explanation below, and how to basic shuffle, and how to sponge bob :D

Hey guys. I've been seeing some comments about people not having that confidence to dance, because they simply don't really know how to dance, or feel like they look awkward when dancing. I'm a dancer of 10 years, and I would like to help out those that want to start dancing with these beginner tips. Note, I said true beginners on the title. If you already have some basic fundamentals of dancing, this post really won't help you in improving, but please do share your thoughts also.

Little about me first: I discovered that I could dance when I was 16. I entered a talent show and performed the choreography dance from Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal with few of my friends. The responses were amazing, asking me where I learned how to dance, how long I've been doing it, etc. When I found out this maybe a talent I have discovered, I continued to build on it, and I still do today. I am not a professional dancer, but an avid dancer. I've tried out for So You Think You Can Dance Season 2, and I have friends in dancing crews of Swagger Crew and Jungle Boogie from Season 5 America's Best Dance Crew.

So, you have no idea where to start in dancing. Here are the steps I want you to take, in these order, and I think this will definitely help you understand the fundamentals of dancing.

Step 1: Listen to the songs carefully. Identify the tempo, different rhythm patterns, beat, analyze it. The simplest is the tempo, so practice with this first. It's almost always consistent throughout songs. Feel the tempo; count to it if you have to (1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.). Once you got the tempo, go to step 2.

Step 2: Now you have the tempo in your head, and you're counting in your head. Lets slowly translate that to physical movements. It can be anything subtle: head bobbing, clapping, snapping fingers, fist pump, moving side to side, anything. Just practice moving with the tempo. While you're counting 1, 2, 3, 4, during the COUNT you should be doing a repetitive movement. Once you got this down, step 3.

Step 3: Bigger movements, and/or multiple movements. Still, you're with the tempo, synced with the counts. If you're head bobbing, try bending your knees too with the head bob, or maybe if you're fist pumping add a side-to-side movement. Stay with the count. After this, you can move to step 4.

Step 4: Mix your movements. You don't want to be head bobbing throughout the whole song, you gotta mix it up so you don't look boring. Head bob for maybe 8 counts, then add some fist pumping, then side to side, then maybe knee bending, whatever you want to do. Mix it up ever so often. Always remember to stay with the count. If you want to kick it up a bit, try movements that takes 1 more than 1 count to complete, like 2 counts to complete 1 movement.

Practice these 4 steps repeatedly, until it becomes a no-brainer on detecting a tempo and then just moving with it. Don't worry about "how you look" right now. Being in-sync is much more important than looking fluid, but completely not in-sync with whatever song's playing.

After you understand how to move with whatever song's playing, then you can start adding "animations" to your movements, whether it's fluid movments, or stiff movements, or combination.

Muscle control is involved in any type of "animated movements." It's not hard, but you do have to wire your brain to understand. Fluid movements are created by having loose/relaxed muscles, and not creating any harsh/stuttery/rigid movements. Movements should be smooth in transition, and especially visible in transition from 1 type of movement to another. Body waves are the most common in creating this. There are many youtube videos on how to do body waves, so I'd suggest hitting up on some of these.

To create much more animated look, during all the fluid/smooth movements, adding some stiff/harsh movements for a little bit can really enhance the look of your dancing. This means locking your muscles pretty much, or a complete freeze. Lets say you're doing a simple side-to-side step, and you're adding like a sway. At the end of each sway, you can pause for a count. This creates an enhancement to your movements as you went from fluid to freeze.

All in all, practice all this, and you will eventually be able to do something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zumqR5WW6aA This is me freestyling to T-Pain - Take Your Shirt Off. As you can see, I try not to repeat a lot of my movements (I may end up using the same stuff at some point), fluid smooth transitions from 1 movement to another, sometimes adding a "lock" to really enhance the visual animation. Sometimes I'll go really rough with my movements (testosterone overload!!!), but it still looks great because I'm synced with the rhythm/tempo/beat of the song playing. No matter what you do, always remember, STAY IN-SYNC WITH THE SONG. That's my #1 never-forget rule. Doesn't matter what you do, you will still look like you are dancing.

If my explanation has holes, or confusing, or some people just downright disagree, I'm all ears. Criticisms can also help me understand some of my flaws. We are always learning, and you can always learn something from ANYONE :D But in the end, I hope I'm helping out some of you people out there!