Dance Somewhere Else
(The names were changed to protect the guilty.)
Fleet, not his real name, owns and manages a wonderful dance studio, Fleet Feet, with several teaching rooms. At least twice a week, after lessons, Fleet has a Practice Dance, variety music in the large studio and the "dance of the month" in a smaller studio. Fleet Feet is one of the most enjoyable places for lessons and practice in the city, perhaps in North America. Having taken at least one lesson there, and attended numerous practice dances and a few Saturday dances, typically with a band, Fleet Feet can't be beat. The clientele reinforce this by voting with both their feet and their finances; Fleet smiles all the time, I think from both the joy of dance and the joy of the till. Unfortunately, FF students, as enjoyable as they are, can barely dance.
Students at FF remind me of the "twin syndrome" on the dance floor, the couple who rarely mix, and when they do, they can hardly lead/follow. They have developed their own, personal style, separate from standard practice, and, like twins, they can communicate with each other much better than they can with anyone else. Some have been so isolated from other dancers that they essentially can't dance with anyone save each other. Students at FF dance with each other and with the teachers, who also frequent the practice dances, often giving "mini lessons" throughout the evening. All this is to be commended, but there are unintended consequences. To wit.
Students at FF practice the variations they learned in class, often repeating the latest variations incessantly. This is good, for it reinforces learning and solidifies knowledge in long term memory. Unfortunately, the followers immediately recognize a variation and gladly "do their part," and, in the process of the rote repetition, respectively lose the opportunity to master leading and following. I know from experience that even some of the most proficient students, and even some of the teachers, have marginal dance frame and can barely follow, and I suspect, especially from their comments, that the leaders can't lead. I also suspect that the students, when dancing with teachers, respond to verbal rather than psychomotor directions; thus they learn the "step" and miss the lead.
It is our "apologetic" culture that enables me to enjoy dancing at FF, for when a partner incessantly apologizes, I offer an explanation of the role of the dance frame, which they invariably say has had little or no attention in dance class. Perhaps it is the ubiquity of frame in partner dancing that leads most teachers to assume that their students learn it in another class, or perhaps it is something saved for the private lesson; at least one teacher has openly admitted the latter when I have suggested that more emphasis be placed on the dance frame during beginning classes. Whether the cause at FF, usually after two or three dances with one of the followers there, they have learned enough to be enjoyable, and perhaps I have helped them along the road to a better dance future. At least their comments leave that impression. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the leaders, with whom I have never danced, but about whom I remain suspicious, both from what I observe and from comments by dance partners there.
If your dance world has been confined to one partner, or to a studio such as Fleet Feet, dance somewhere else. Perhaps it is also time for you either to take a private lesson or to attend a workshop, like the one recommended to Fleet, below. Such a workshop would likely do wonders for students at Fleet Feet, if only Fleet would see the wisdom therein, and, Fleet, if you are reading this, select your workshop director carefully lest you further propagate the problem you are attempting to ameliorate.
(Dear Fleet, if you read this, realize that I know several "Fleets;" you aren't the only one, just, perhaps, the worst. Encourage your students to dance elsewhere, even better, coordinate trips to "elsewhere," and, best, offer one of my workshops on an occasional basis at Fleet Feet. See: Elements of Social Dance and Partner Dancing.) |
