20 Dance Humour Gems for Laughing At Mistakes

In our perfectionist society, we’ve been trained to see mistakes as some terrible defection of character, something to avoid at all costs. In the world of ballroom dance however, missteps are simply another form of growth. And good thing too, because you will make many, many mistakes while dancing. Therefore, you and your partner have no choice but to get used each other’s mistakes. And in the social ballroom scene, some well-timed dance humour is the best way to keep calm and dance on.

Why is dance humour so effective? For one thing, it immediately cuts the tension, replacing what would have been a negative experience with a positive one. Also, well-crafted dance humour can actually raise your partner’s opinion of you, because they see you as a fun, easygoing person to dance with. Of course, poorly planned dance humour can have the opposite effect!

Therefore, follow these rules when unleashing your funny side:

1. Always build them up. You can poke fun at yourself, but NEVER at your partner.
2. Keep it simple. If your subtlety isn’t understood, it won’t be funny.
3. Avoid sarcasm. A lot is missed on a noisy dance floor. If your dance humour could offend someone who takes it literally, don’t use it.
4. Err on the side of caution. Unless you REALLY know the other person, say nothing off-colour or personal.
5. When in doubt, add a smile or a wink!
6. Watch their response. If they don’t give you an answering smile or laugh, shelve the humour.

Here’s a few of my favourites:

Yours

1. ‘I allow 10 mistakes per dance. Sorry, I’ve already used up 6 of them.’
2. ‘I’m going to pretend I meant to do that.’
3. ‘Sorry, it’s my first day with my new feet.’
4. ‘How did you like my new step?’
5. ‘That was an interesting variation, want to do it again?’
6. ‘Well, it always worked in cartoons.’
7. ‘Sorry, I thought you were getting bored.’

Theirs

1. When you stop your partner from falling: ‘Hey, warn me next time you try a dip!’
2. ‘Trying to confuse me, eh?’ *wink*
3. Partner accidentally hits you: ‘It’s okay, I probably deserved that.’
4. ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing that won’t grow back.’
5. ‘I don’t think we’ll have to amputate this time’ *wink*
6. Partner steps on your foot: ‘It’s okay, I have a spare.’
7. ‘Who taught you my signature move?’

Together

1. ‘Okay, if anyone asks, that was a variation.’
2. Having trouble with lead and follow: ’Tell you what, I’ll lead this dance, you lead the next one, what do you say?’
3. ‘Wait, which dance is this again?’
4. ‘Don’t worry, I think everyone saw that.’
5. When dodging other, slower couples: ‘We are SO winning this race!’
6. On a crowded floor: ‘Let’s just do a lift and thin this crowd out a bit.’

So readers, what’s the best dance humour you’ve heard?