Dance is fun and natural. Nearly every one can dance and most will dance when they hear music they love. But few people can dance as couples. Although it does take a little practice, the only requirement for couple (social) dancing is that you are both moving in time to the music and each other, and enjoying it. The ability to social dance adds a whole other world of clubs and events to your social possibilities.
If you have ever taken a dance lesson only to go to an actual dance event, and see nothing resembling what you learned in class….Let me confirm your suspicions – most dance classes teach you the wrong things.
Nearly all beginner dance lessons are not only wrong, they will create another set of obstacles that will take many more lessons to overcome. Most, nearly all, dance teachers teach the way they were taught. The men and women line up and do step exercises which are eventually chained together to make more complicated patterns. Then couples pair up and execute the steps as called by the instructor. This wouldn’t be a problem if they were teaching you to perform a choreography for an audience. But social dancing is nothing like that.
Typical Dance Lessons
All but a rare few will persevere through these pointless, frustrating step exercises. A few students with natural talent will succeed despite the teaching method. Of course the teachers love these students and hope they will go on to take many lessons and possibly compete.
I asked a friend, a long time owner of a dance studio, if in her twenty plus years of working with scores of instructors, she has seen anyone try a “different” way of teaching. She thought, and thought, and finally said “No”. I searched the web also. And I conclude there have been no significant advances in the techniques used to teach dance in at least 50 years.
Why were you taught in this awkward way?
Most dance teachers are great dancers, love to dance, but are not particularly interested in teaching the masses. Their attitude is that some students sink, some swim. If most of the men and half of the women drop out – that’s just the way it is. They are looking for the few they can train over many lessons to dance in good form. That is their business model.
For Women – can you relate to this?
You can dance well if you have a good lead. You can even do dances you never practiced. Unfortunately there is a shortage of men at the dance and even fewer who can lead well. You feel like a streetwalker trying to get someone good to dance with you.
For Men – can you relate to this?
After struggling through a few awkward classes to the learn the “Basic” and a couple more moves, you go to the dance club and no one seems to be dancing what you learned in class… not even the women who were in your class. Somehow they suddenly, by magic, are dancing complicated moves that they were never taught. You realize that you are not properly trained and are unprepared. Most guys in this situation go home – probably a good decision. That is one reason there are so few men dancers.
There is a much easier way
All social dances are very similar. Basic social dance has nothing to do with foot work. You need to move with the beat of the music and that is natural to everyone. The man will lead the woman will follow, doing moves consisting mostly of turns and passes. However complicated the moves look there are only two ways to turn a girl, clockwise and counter clockwise. And only two sides to pass on, left and right. What appear to be a complicated dance moves are combinations of a limited number of patterns with some styling.
The roles of the leader and follower are different
Men and women should not be taught the same way. In the classroom men and women are typically taught “patterns”, practiced together, exactly as shown by the instructor. But on the real dance floor men are making decisions and communicating them to the women. The man is watching the space around them, keeping the pulse of the dance, and making decisions. The man makes the decisions as to what pattern comes next and leads his partner to dance in that pattern. If he leads her well, she will not need to think at all about “steps”. She will express her charm within the structure of the pattern. The man’s role is cognitive and decision making. The woman’s is intuitive and embellishing.
The dance floor is nothing like the dance classroom
The dance floor is similar to Cinderellas ball. The women are decked out and beautiful. The lighting is romantic and mysterious. It’s often noisy. The men are princes and are in competition with each other. I’ve seen fights break out on the inner city Latin dance floor. Men are competing to see who can best demonstrate their physical abilities by using said abilities to show off the woman’s beauty. No one is staring but everyone is watching and no one wants to make a mistake. Even though we may not be aware of this it creates a cognitive burden on our brain that is in addition to having to dance.
Here’s the good news for guys
Because men are trained so poorly and usually drop out, or never try, there is a huge vacuum waiting for you to fill. So… the girls will cut you a lot of slack. They want someone to dance with and that means lead them with confidence. That does not mean “know a lot of fancy moves”. With a little training and practice, you can easily be the best dancer at a wedding or party. You can do decently at the club. You might not go far in a dance competition but who gives a fk about that?
Here’s the good news for gals
We are going to get you more good dance leaders but you’ll have to help a bit with their training.
What is the Direct Approach?
Everyone can feel the beat in most music. They can also dance by themselves, particularly if they like the song. We start with that.
Every style of dance has a certain look and feel – a basic pattern of movement. That “feel” is reflected in the music so that when you “got it” you will know it. It feels right and natural. Dance “moves” will come easily after you have that feeling.
We teach the man to make dance decisions about what he wants his partner to do. We start with a limited number of the most common possible decisions. We teach him how to communicate those decisions to his partner unambiguously but gently through the “frame”. Footwork makes no difference at all. In fact I will have him stand almost still at first so he can concentrate on the woman. Even what you do with your arms doesn’t matter much. What really matters is the shifting momentum and connection with your partner.
We teach the woman how to maintain frame. Everyone gives that lip service but we have a way to really “get it”. Signals constantly go both ways through the frame. If the woman is getting clear signals, the only technical talent she needs is to be able to turn without loosing her balance. We also teach how easy it is to add a few flourishes … the ones that make people go “That is soooo cool!”
You will need to practice. We have separate suggestions for men and women on how to practice alone. We have “tricks” for the guy to limit his cognitive burden and lead with confidence. Our goal is to get you dancing joyfully at the club, wedding, ball, dinner-dance, as quickly as possible.
So what kind of dance are we doing Jim?
We’ll start with West Coast Swing because:
- You can dance it to a lot of contemporary music
- It is fairly slow
- It allows for a lot of freedom and variation
- It looks and feels very cool
Dance to music you love. It is one of the few physical pleasures that doesn’t have a downside. It is healthy for your body, mind, and soul. When you dance it makes the world a little bit better.
Click! This is West Coast Swing
