Dancin' fools....what's your favorite(s)?

[mamselle]

Ok, my feet get mad at me if there's music playing and I stop them from dancing.

They're pretty indiscriminate...if a gigue is playing in the bookstore elevator, I might just have to do a demi-coupe or two....any good swing music anywhere might find me sizing up partners for a rock-star or a swing-out.

And if it's salsa, just....watch out.

You?

[mamselle]

Swing dance tonight, I'm going.

Who else is dancing? What kind of dance?

When?

M.

[ergative]

I cannot dance spontaneously. When I was in high school I did show choir, where every step and every hand movement was rigorously choreographed, and that was great, but I can't do it on my own. I usually try to leave wedding receptions when the dancing starts because of this. I was at a gym class this week which is like an aerobics thing where they play pop music and have strobe lights and club-like lighting, so that exercise feels like 'a night out on the town'---which is cute, I guess. (I was only going because that was what they had at a time that fit in my schedule.) And most of the time it was fine, because the instructor would give us steps to do. But then sometimes she would say 'freestyle!' and I would freeze.

You must dance enough for both of us, mamselle.

[mamselle]

I do dance, a lot, but one person can't do another's dance, or their dancing, forvthem.

I'll hope you find your dance, the dancing you can do, and find ways to be comfortable in it, instead.

Sounds like you're just in the process of figuring it out....it will, someday, tap you on the back, take you by the hand, and help you find a way to be comfortable moving on your own.

M.

[clean]

I have a dream/desire to learn to dance. I really like Swing. I dont know enough about it to say I prefer East Coast Swing or West Coast Swing, but I like that one. 
A coworker used to have a dance class one night a week over the semester for 2 hours. He would do one dance in the first hour and a different one in the second.  He covered all sorts of dances from Tango, waltz, foxtrot, salsa, sometimes swing, and Im sure there is another popular dance I can not think of that was in his rotation.

He would go to Brigham Young University in the summer for one of their dance classes.  He got me interested in going to one too.  However, I just havent felt that I was in shape to go and dance for hours on hours a day for a week! 

On the bad side, my girlfriend would like to dance, but she is not good at it at all!, and she would (selfishly!) want me to dance with HER If we were to go out!  Maybe someday ill get off of my fat ass and start moving and maybe even pay for private lessons in addition to the local church mixers that sponsor dance classes. 

[mamselle]

So, cool, you have some starting points.

1. When couples go social dancing, it's better if they dance with a lot of different people. It's even considered a bit rude not to do so in some settings. Split up for most of the evening. When I go out with someone to a dance, we usually agree to do the first and last dances together, and one or two in the middle.

Your technique gets better and you learn more steps that way; you also don't develop any ingrown bad habits that one or the other learns to compensate for (My dad's off-count 13-step combo, I think, probably started that way...).

2. East coast (I think) is easier to start with; learn west coast after that. But others may see that differently.

3. Your friend's pattern follows the one the MIT ballroom group uses. Anyone can attend, in the course of 6-8 weeks they cover 4 or 5 dances twice each, or just about. Ballroom folks call their version of swing "jive" but it's the same triple-step pattern that swing uses for slow tempo; the one-two-rock-step pattern swing dancers usually teach first, and is easier for faster dances, might be a bit simpler to learn, but either one has the same loose-limbed, casual style that is what people often like about swing.

Go to the mixers, and explain to your girlfriend that hogging potential male/leader partners on the floor is just "not done." She's expected to share....she still goes home with you.

4) You don't have to be "in shape:" that's why you go dancing!

If you have any known medical issues or symptoms, well, you should get those checked out anyway, and ask your MD if you need to curtail ANY physical exertions in ANY way, anyway.

But you can usually do one slow swing piece, sit out the fast dances--visit the water table, walk outside, talk to friends--then go back and dance 5he next slow dance (Good DJs and/or bands alternate between "hot" and "sweet" pieces so that should be pretty easy to predict.

5) It's fair game for women/followers (some guys learn both parts) to ask guys/leaders (who can also be women or men) now, too.

Etiquette there is that if you're asked, you dance.

Or, if you decline you either a) say you'll dance the next slow dance, you're catching your breath (then do it); b) Say "No, thanks" but then DO NOT get up and dance with someone else for that dance (so, don't play favorites with who you'll dance with...).

If you see someone heading for you with whom you do not want to dance (several octopoi with wandering hands, and robots whose grip is so harsh it hurts are on my "no.never.nay.never" list) you glance the other way, get up to talk with someone else/walk sedately to the water fountain or the lav..whatever. Cut off the request before it's asked.

Otherwise the rules are simple: no aerials, contact is gentle, be kind; have a good time.

There are several online swing networks, check for one in your area. The guy at the Boston one has an old-less-up-to-date one but I found a swing dance site in Paris there a few years back...we closed up the place at 3 AM! (Caveau de La Huchette, near St. Andre, opposite the Ile de La Cite).

Have fun!

M.