Music starts to play. What do you do?

A. Try to ignore it.

B. Start to shimmy your hips subconsciously.

C. Clear the area to allow yourself the largest possible space, grab an unsuspecting partner and break out into a Paso Doble. Or, work on your krunk. Or, Viennese Waltz your tush all over the place.

Some of those terms might be familiar to you if you have a dance background. Or, if you’re like the millions of others out there, you tune into Fox on Wednesdays and Thursdays to watch the “So You Think You Can Dance” contestants pop, lock, twirl and glide more gracefully than you could ever hope.

The show, which kicked off its season Thursday, was regularly No. 1 in its time slot last year, according to Neilsen ratings.

Wait, what’s that you say? You can’t dance. Even if you have two left feet and a sense of rhythm that rivals Elaine from “Seinfeld” you can still learn a move or two.

We recently asked some area dance instructors to offer tips for you, the amateur.

Hip-hop

On previous seasons of “So You Think You Can Dance” some of the dancers who struggled the most with hip-hop were those trained in a much more precise discipline.

Amy Carsten, owner of Fort Wayne School of Dance, says she notices that those trained in ballet especially have the most trouble.

“It’s really hard for them to bend their knees and get low to the ground and get really loose,” she says.

That’s the bulk of Carsten’s tips: Stay low to the ground, bend your knees and be free and loose with your movements. The dancers also need to be strong and precise.

Dancers struggle most with hip movements and opposite moves.

“It’s so fast-moving,” she says, “and you have so many steps and counts. (It) can be frustrating when you try to keep up.”

Viennese waltz

There are certain dances on the show that the contestants just dread, often because they’ve never heard of them, like, maybe the “Vietnamese” waltz?

Waltzes have 3/4 time, as heard in Weezer’s “My Name Is Jonas” and The Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”

Unlike a traditional waltz, which is slow, the Viennese picks things up a bit, says Troy Baeten, owner of the Arthur Murray School of Dance on State Boulevard in Fort Wayne. Generally, he doesn’t even teach this dance to students unless they’ve had a few years’ experience.

One thing that is distinctive in a regular waltz is a normal rise and fall action, which Baeten describes as something achieved through the legs and feet.

“You achieve a fall by falling literally into the knees, and you achieve a rise by coming out of those knees,” he says. “You achieve a bigger rise by continuing up through tje toes and feet.”

When done correctly, this movement is pleasing to watch; when done incorrectly, it looks awkward, Baeten says.

The thing that seems to trip up the contestants most about the Viennese waltz, he says, is the partnership.

Those who are trained in a street dance, jazz or tap never had to take someone by the hand and connect with him or her; it can be difficult for two dancers used to going it solo to feel that connection.

Swing dancing

Swing dancing is one of the only dances that originated in America, Baeten says, and it’s indicative of an American mind-set: The dance is loose and not nearly as standardized as others. The general concept is “to dance down,” he says.

Two of the more popular styles of swing are East Coast Swing and West Coast Swing.

Both have lots of hip and leg action, with a look that Baeten calls lowdown and dirty. The difference is in tempo.

East Coast Swing is a lot faster, whereas West Coast Swing is done to slower, more blusier music. Think Duffy’s “Mercy” or Rihanna’s “SOS” for East Coast, and Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet” for West.

West Coast, however, is going through something of a change – it’s speeding up in tempo.

Similar to the Viennese waltz, swing dancers need to be comfortable with partnership.

Salsa

The first tips Tony Didier gives for dancing salsa are general ones not necessarily geared toward salsa: Find the beat and connect with your partner.

“When (students) can find the beat, I say, ‘Take a step on the beat,’ and you only take one step,” says Didier, a dance instructor at American Style Ballroom in Fort Wayne.

After the beat is established and a dancer can move in time, he says, the most important thing is to connect with one’s partner physically and visually.

What sets salsa apart from other ballroom dances is that salsa is grounded and heavier than others.

Salsa dancers are more bent over and use their full bodies, whereas other Latin dances, like mambo, can be more upright with a ballroom feel and long, striking lines, Didier says.

Plus, salsa is more authentic: It wouldn’t use any radio tunes, whereas popular songs like Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” are perfect for dancing mambo.

Salsa dancing has a lot of turns and wraps to it, Didier says.

A wrap is where a couple starts out facing each other. The man turns his partner inward so her back is to his chest, and then back around so they’re facing each other again. This wraps their arms around one another.

“It’s fun. It’s sensual,” he says. “It has a lot of attitude to it.”

jyouhana@jg.net