We've done our share of talking over how you can make a good impression at a dance social, so you can start building up dancers who know and like you. But none of that matters much if you don't put them first on the dance floor.
Why put them first? Because no dance is an island: If you just focus only your steps, your styling, you are alienating your partner and they will return the favour. And then the dance as a whole suffers. Plus, no one wants to feel ignored - hardly the way to ensure a repeat visit.
Let's explore the different stages of the dance, and how you can be a conscientious dancer at each one. And stay tuned for the special announcement at the end!
Part One: Newcomer's Guide
Part Two: Joining The In-Crowd
Part Three: From Wallflower to Social Butterfly
Transcript:
Hi guys! My name is Ian Crewe. I'm an instructor at the Joy of Dance Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and a creator of Social Ballroom Dance: Where you can learn your dance, at your place, on your schedule.
When it comes to making new and talented dance connections, what we do on the dance floor is at least as important as what we do off of it.
We've covered the essentials of making a good impression off the dance floor over the last few videos, so now we are finally ready to tackle the meat and the potatoes of it: How to make the dance itself one that they will never forget - or at least put yourself as a cut above the average dancer to help you stand out.
I could sum up all the advice I'm going to give today in one sentence: Put your partner FIRST. Because when you're taking care of your partner, they're gonna want to return the favour, and that makes the dance as a whole so much better than if you were just focusing on your own side and ignoring your partner.
And it goes without saying that if your partner's enjoying themselves dancing with you, they're gonna be more likely to dance with you again in the future.
Now, let's look at how to how we can make a good impression in each segment of the dance.
So starting with when we are guiding our partner or moving on to or off of the dance floor, I like to practice a little bit of chivalry here. Offer your hand leaders! Guide your partner up, even take the chair out from under them if they as they stand up. Place your other hand on their back and guide them on to the floor.
Not only does this give them some direction, it also helps protect them from other people on the floor. One coach that I learned from for awhile was saying that you start dancing the moment you step onto that floor, regardless of whether you're actually connecting and dancing your rumba, your cha-cha, or your waltz, or whatever. So help them to feel safe.
And followers, graciously accept your leaders hand, and don't just rush onto the floor, pulling your leader after you. Let them guide you on - again, allow them to lead you on to the floor, so that you know they can protect you and keep you safe as you get out there.
Now, I know this might seem a little bit silly, a little bit strange for some of you - chivalry is often considered to be a bit of an old-fashioned concept. But it's a very easy way to make somebody else feel very special, and it stands out from what most other dancers do, where they just kind of grab their partner and clump onto the dance floor. This will be a lot more respectful by comparison.
Now as the dance begins, start off with easier movements, you know, keep your styling basic, keep your patterns more on the basic step or beginner bronze level.
This is not the time to throw out all your crazy awesome moves, even though you may think that your partner is very talented. Just because you saw them clicking with somebody else really well, doesn't mean they're going to instantly be able to handle everything you throw at them. It's kind of like a relationship that way.
So take your time and feel out what styling movements and what kinds of patterns tend to throw off the connection. And don't waste time worrying about whose fault it is: We're working together to make a fantabulous dance, so just avoid those steps and styling that might cause trouble.
Now, as we move further into the dance, you're going to get a better sense of what you can get away with. So you can pull out a little bit more technique, a little bit more styling, to within their ability level, and even more importantly, within YOUR ability level.
That means stick with the patterns and moves that you are the most comfortable with. Because if we try and do stuff that's a little bit further out of our range that we've learned more recently, it often looks and feels awkward, and again, that can disrupt our connection and make the dance less enjoyable. It's not worth it.
And bring your most laid-back self to the dance. You know, smile! Make some eye contact. You don't have to be constantly staring - nobody likes the staring zombie.
And remember that no dance is perfect. You're gonna make mistakes, and that's okay. so laugh it off, or better yet, just make an easy joke like: "Okay, if anybody asks, I meant to do that."
Well okay, it doesn't have to be a GOOD joke: You're just conveying that you don't take mistakes personally, and that separates the good dancers from the great dancers.
Now, as we move to the end of the dance, think of a nice synchronized ending as the last impression on the date. You know, it doesn't have to be spectacular. We can separate from our partner and do just a simple and elegant bow, and this is often all we need for most ballroom dances.
Now, in certain faster Latin dances like a salsa for example, you might have a more dramatic finish like a dip. And you may want to let your partner know if you are not okay with that in advance.
And finally, it's not strange to hug your partner, especially if the connection was really good, and you were obviously enjoying yourself throughout the dance. A nice hug at the end is just a way of saying "thank you".
So, combining this conscientious dancing with the tips that we've worked on in previous videos, will help you make a good impression from start to finish. And over time, you will find that you can make new connections and find new and interesting dance partners effortlessly.
So I hope you found today's video and this month's theme very helpful for you: This concludes our theme of boosting your social dance popularity. And before we get to next month's theme, I have some exciting news for you.
This December, we are officially launching our online instructional ballroom dance video program! We have structured videos that range from the novice to the more experienced dancer, laid out in terms of a demonstration, looking more closely at footwork and leading and following, and then finishing with a musical demonstration to really make it easy to understand and follow
So this won't be like YouTube, where you're searching around for different and disorganized videos, for lessons that may or may not make complete sense. This is going to be so much more convenient for you.
We will be offering this for 75% off of our regular subscription rates, which means you'll have access to all this information for less than FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH to start. Now, that's just going to be for December, so jump in there if that's what you're interested in.
Right now, we have videos up for waltz, rumba, tango, and salsa, and we will be adding on new videos every single month. You will have some creative control over what videos get added as well, and there's a few other perks that I will talk about - I'm going to send a few extra videos out, or a few extra emails out in November, so that you have a better understanding of whether or not you would benefit from this.
And in keeping with that, our theme in November will be looking at how to improve your dancing from the comfort of your own home, regardless of whether you're using socialballroom.dance, or you're using YouTube, or maybe you just want to improve your your technique in between your private lessons.
So I hope you found this video interesting and helpful for you, and if you had any questions about it, as always you can email me at ian@socialballroom.dance, again that's ian@socialballroom.dance or you can message me on my Facebook fan page, which is Ballroom Dancers Anonymous.
Have yourself a great week, and until next time, happy dancing!