[HN Gopher] Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)
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Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)
Author : Tomte
Score : 43 points
Date : 2021-03-11 13:22 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.utdallas.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.utdallas.edu)
| bruiseralmighty wrote:
| Pretty good write-up. I did a lot of social dancing in my last
| two years of college and for several after that.
|
| This document sets up a pretty good standard baseline that would
| only be tweaked going from scene to scene.
| benjwrdill wrote:
| In the lindy hop community, there has been a very strong pushback
| on the "don't say no to a dance" sentiment that was inherited
| from ballroom communities and is advocated in the featured
| article.
|
| There's some tension there between making the scene inclusive and
| keeping people comfortable. I do think it's important to
| encourage people to dance with newcomers, but there's also the
| fact that it is -work- to dance with a newbie. I'm still forming
| my thoughts on the matter but currently I encourage all the
| leaders of my (admittedly small) scene to dance with newcomers
| when they have the energy to do so.
| potatochup wrote:
| Yup! The West Coast Swing community went though the same thing
| fairly recently. E.g. "No is a complete sentence". The social
| dance scene has traditionally been a place where unsavory
| behavior can go undetected/unchallenged, due to the social
| pressure of not being rude.
|
| Even if you don't have unsavory characters, many people
| unintentionally tie their self-validation to getting accepted
| for dances on the dance floor, which can create a lot of angst.
| Managing expectations is a huge part of introducing people to
| social dance, since it's so different to the outside world.
| Bluestein wrote:
| Would never have looked at it that way, but, indeed, it is work
| ...
| at_a_remove wrote:
| The best dancer I have laid eyes on in my entire life was at a
| goth club. This guy was so good he actually made his partners
| look like they knew what they were doing, flawlessly adapting
| to their little mistakes. It was astonishing. You would see
| them with someone else and they were a mess, but this guy just
| ... blended everything without a seam. It took effort not to
| gawp at this guy because you rarely get to see someone who is a
| complete master at something in the wild. I've been to ballet
| and he made most of the performers I have seen on stage look
| like palsied bears by comparison. How much work and energy does
| it take to get to _that_ level?
|
| It's a bit like how impressive the dance scene is in _Ex
| Machina_ (from a Watsonian, not Doylist, perspective): you
| realize that this gynoid is capable of watching this guy out of
| the corner of its eye and matching his every doubtlessly
| unplanned mildly inebriated move, as Nathan is probably a guy
| who leads when he dances, not follows.
| Tomte wrote:
| Years ago I read a blog post that I found good: it recommended
| that advanced dancers ask new dancers (especially one who are
| there for the first time) within the first hour of the dance.
|
| After that they can focus on partners on their own level.
|
| (Obviously you can't make that mandatory - it's a voluntary
| thing you decide for yourself)
|
| The newbies are less hesitant when they don't know yet that
| their dance partner is very good. They have a good time. And
| when they see their dance partner from earlier do really cool
| and advanced moves they feel that the scene is welcoming ("such
| a good dancer actually asked me to dance").
| benjwrdill wrote:
| I agree! It's important for advanced dancers to ask newcomers
| to dance for all of these reasons. I also acknowledge that
| dancing with a beginner can be difficult and at times
| dangerous if they are overenthusiastic or have unsafe
| technique, and not all advanced dancers have the energy to
| meet that in a safe way.
| ThrustVectoring wrote:
| > Gentlemen: if you have no place to leave your keys and loose
| change, carry them in the _left_ pocket of your trousers. This
| makes it less likely to bruise your partner.
|
| For those with less context into social dancing, this is because
| the typical default "stance" is offset to avoid stepping on each
| other's feet - each partner's _right_ foot is roughly aligned
| with their partner 's midline.
| virtualritz wrote:
| > For those with less context into social dancing, this is
| because the typical default "stance" is offset to avoid
| stepping on each other's feet - each partner's right foot is
| roughly aligned with their partner's midline.
|
| I presume that is in ballroom.
|
| For Latin, Tango and Swing which are all mentioned: Simply not
| true. Your hips are so far apart that it doesn't matter.
|
| That being said: you ideally have a key/change pocket in your
| pants. Or even better, a beltline interior pocket. The latter
| is where I keep my keys when dancing tango. On the right side
| btw. You can't tell from the outside.
|
| These pockets are sadly not available in off-the-shelf clothing
| any more since maybe around the 1940's.
|
| The reason is twofold: you won't feel your keys/change as much
| and from the outside you wont have anything ruining your leg's
| silhouette. Left or right. :-P
| ThrustVectoring wrote:
| Yeah the offset is used for "closed position" in ballroom,
| though my personal exposure is through vernacular social
| dances that borrow dance vocabulary from proper ballroom
| dances.
| balfirevic wrote:
| > For Latin, Tango and Swing which are all mentioned: Simply
| not true.
|
| It absolutely can be true for Argentine Tango, depending on
| the style of embrace.
| _nothing wrote:
| I'm not sure which Latin dances you're thinking of but I can
| think of a bunch of instances in salsa where objects in my
| right pocket would get in the way. _Definitely_ in bachata,
| and kizomba if one considers that a Latin dance.
|
| Also depends on what "Swing" you're referring to, but even in
| Lindy Hop I would say I my right hip is close to my partner
| frequently enough that this would be an issue, in partnered
| Charleston and various Shags there is regular side-by-side
| connection (connected on the right side for the lead), and
| Balboa is danced in an offset close embrace position where
| your hips, while not necessarily in direct contact, will
| often brush against each other simply due to proximity.
| torarnv wrote:
| > For Latin, Tango and Swing which are all mentioned: Simply
| not true. Your hips are so far apart that it doesn't matter.
|
| Offset stance, and closed position, is used in many swing
| dances, for example Lindy Hop and Balboa, so your statement
| is simply not true ;)
| Tomte wrote:
| > For Latin, Tango and Swing which are all mentioned: Simply
| not true. Your hips are so far apart that it doesn't matter.
|
| Many Swing dances (and including the most popular one, Lindy
| Hop) have a closed position.
|
| In Balboa you're generally so close that there is contact at
| least from the side of the hips to the side of the chest, in
| more advanced levels often extended up to the cheeks.
| mellosouls wrote:
| Nice article, though mostly aimed at partner dancing.
|
| For solo dancing (e.g. in some clubs where a dance-targeted event
| is happening) there is at times a frustrating lack of awareness
| as the boozers wander round aimlessly, "dancing" ironically and
| obliviously spilling drinks and banging into people who are there
| to actually, you know, _dance_.
|
| I'm not talking about nights where its a bog-standard drunken
| meat-market and obviously its up to the event organisers to set
| the parameters for the night, but part of the reason for the
| decline of dance culture in some parts of the world (e.g. the UK)
| is a contempt for dancers, and priority given to packing them in.
|
| Those non-partner-dance events where dance culture and etiquette
| is still respected are incredibly rare.
| Bluestein wrote:
| > Exercising common sense and social skills is always a good
| idea. If someone is sitting closely with their significant other,
| whispering sweet nothings to each other, then it is probably not
| a good time to ask either of them for a dance. Now a different
| scenario: your intended partner is cornered by a bore and being
| lectured on weather patterns in lower Namibia. You can advance
| and stand close. Once your intended partner makes eye contact
| with you, smile and say: ``Dance?'' Usually, that is enough to do
| the job. If not, it is better to leave him/her to learn about
| weather patterns in lower Namibia.
|
| I love this :) (And by "this", I also mean the
| whole article. It is great ...)
| virtualritz wrote:
| > Milongas: (Argentine Tango) For both ladies and gentlemen,
| black or dark themes are preferred.
|
| As someone who has been dancing tango for a decade, around the
| globe, including lots in Argentina, I can only say that this pure
| and utter BS.
|
| EDIT: After reading the rest of this: it seems to be written from
| the perspective of a ballroom dancer.
|
| Just for example, in tango you never walk up to a person and
| verbally ask for a dance. It's an absolute no-no. Contract is
| negotiated by eye contact/face only. Only exceptions are people
| that you know to like dancing with you already and who stand
| right next to you.
|
| Same with declining. A no is a no. No weird requirement to offer
| a different dance later; to 'compensate'.
| Sharlin wrote:
| Not sure about ballroom culture, but the article is 100% spot
| on for swing dances at the very least.
| [deleted]
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