Most useful/least useful club dances

[pygmalion]

This question has come up in many forms in many another thread, so I figured I'd compile it in one place.

If you were strictly a social/club dancer and had to pick ONE dance to learn to do well, what would it be? I'm talking something that would serve you well at office parties, dances, weddings. If you could only do one dance in that context, what would you pick?

[Sakura]

You're so eeeeeeevil! You're gonna make us choose?! :shock: :shock:

...Okay... Well, based on my limited experiences, I'd go for Cha Cha. It's light, it's fun; could be romantic (So it'd serve well at a wedding; you know, something light, fun, and playful like a beginning couple, I suppose... *shrugs* Okay, speaking from an outside view of relationships. =^_~=), so you could do it in a club, at a party, or any other dance setting. :D So, that's my idea.

...*pouts* I still can't believe you made me choose... :twisted:

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[Spitfire]

Cha Cha is my choice as well. :wink:

Edit: or WCS

[voilsb]

Swing. Suitable for tempos of 60bpm - 360 bpm, uses your entire body, requires body-leads, covers everything from slow, sultry, romantic, or flirty to energetic, playful, or balls-to-the-wall, and emphasizes dancing *with* the music so you can "socailly fake" other dances if need-be. Additionally, swing dancing has a large history of utilizing the break-away to also dance improvizationally separate from your partner, which provides a basis for solo dancing, too.

[Sagitta]

I'm forced to choose something that I wouldn't do. Swing it is. The basics you learn with you can do to almost any music. You can do them to disco music in lieu of hustle. You can do them in salsa as I was doing it before I dropped swing to learn salsa properly. You can do use your knowledge to to turns etc when waltz and foxtrot comes on, while keeping to the beat of the music. It looks a littel different from other people, but you can do something if a person is willing to tolerate you, and most poeple are if you at least keep to the rhythm/beat of the music.

[peachexploration]

Salsa, what else? :D

[Sagitta]

Salsa, what else? :D

Incorrigible Peach!! You really think that what's they play at office parties and the like? Not in my experience!! :( But, I'm working to change that! :wink: :)

[Laura]

At the office parties I went to when I still had a job they'd play ambient, dub, downtempo, trance, house, jungle, and electro. So nothing taught in a ballroom ever came in handy there....

[Flat Shoes]

Lindy, absolutely. The reasons are given above, it incorporates so many different elements. You got fast and slow, dancing to rhythm and/or the melody, open and closed position, partner and solo, introvert and extrovert and even aerials like jumps/throws/drops etc.

[squirrel]

At my office parties they paly no music...

Weddings - Romanian traditional music... when I get married I'll change that for SALSA!

Socials - I do not attend socials unless forced to... I hate them... unless they play SALSA! - so, if I'm forced to go to this social where there is no salsa, I won't dance... just talk to anybody interesting...

So, I guess the answer is still SALSA!

[tsb]

while they may be a great degree of overlap depending on one's perspective, i personally would not put club dancing & social dancing in the same category. moreover, i know a good number of "social" dancers whose abilities & technique are comparable if not superior to those of would-be competitive dancers.

having said that, at the present it's my weakest dance, but the dance i see have having the most potential for being used interpretively depending on the music for being alterately romantic, elegant, playful, flirty or high energy as well as being able to choreograph for a dazzling exhibition is argentine tango.

[MacMoto]

I'm talking something that would serve you well at office parties, dances, weddings. If you could only do one dance in that context, what would you pick?
In that particular context, none of the partner dances would be much use as you wouldn't find a partner to dance with (I suppose leaders have an advantage here -- what can a follow do with a clueless bunch of drunken guys?). At office parties and weddings in Scotland, you get some Ceilidh dancing, and the rest is all freestyle solo dancing to chart/house/70's-80's cheese.

[Flat Shoes]

I'm talking something that would serve you well at office parties, dances, weddings. If you could only do one dance in that context, what would you pick?
In that particular context, none of the partner dances would be much use as you wouldn't find a partner to dance with (I suppose leaders have an advantage here -- what can a follow do with a clueless bunch of drunken guys?).
:lol: There should be some kind of secret hand-signal you'd only learn after social dancing for a couple of years. So whenever you'd find yourself in a non-dancing crowd you'd just scratch your right eye with your lift pinky or something, and any guy noticing and knowing how to dance would know you could follow! 8)

[Purr]

I would have to say swing. Except, I didn't specify exactly which variation. That might mean east coast swing, west coast swing, or, my favorite, hustle. 8)

[peachexploration]

Salsa, what else? :D

Incorrigible Peach!! You really think that what's they play at office parties and the like? Not in my experience!! :( But, I'm working to change that! :wink: :)

LOL. They will when I get done with them. :lol: :lol: The thing is, the people I work with are quite stoic so they will not appeal to "any" dance. So the Incorrigible Peach will Make Them So if given the chance. Wanna help?!? :lol: :lol: A salsera can dream, can't she? :wink: :P 8)

[pygmalion]

while they may be a great degree of overlap depending on one's perspective, i personally would not put club dancing & social dancing in the same category.

Good point, tsb. The dancing I do at a wedding and at a club can be quite different. (I rarely grind at weddings, for example. LOL. :wink: )

The question I'm asking is one that has come up in several other threads. It is,"I have a very limited amount of time to learn a little dancing for a social function or outing. What should I learn?"

Incidentally, I know a few people who have approached their social or club dancing this way. One couple in particular, whom I love dearly, comes to mind. The two of them were young and dating when the bop, a mid-tempo swing-derived dance, became popular. To this day, that's the only dance they do. They wait until an appropriate swing song comes on, which one always does, and they get out there and put everybody to shame with the quality of their dancing. Neither one of them could foxtrot to save their souls. But boy, can they bop!

If you had to pick only one dance to use in that way, in clubs or in other social settings, what would it be? Why?

[pygmalion]

btw. My picks for most useful: rumba for people who prefer slow dancing, ECS for people who prefer faster dancing

Edit: I should have said a swing dance of your choice. Swing almost always fits in. I picked ECS because it's what I know best and because you can use single, double or triple to fit various tempos of music. But any swing dance you like would work just fine, I think. 8)

Least useful: samba At any given time, there may be a samba or two in the top forty, but, if I had to conserve my dance learning energy, I'd skip samba. You could sit them out or freestyle to them, I think.

[tsb]

while they may be a great degree of overlap depending on one's perspective, i personally would not put club dancing & social dancing in the same category.

Good point, tsb. The dancing I do at a wedding and at a club can be quite different. (I rarely grind at weddings, for example. LOL. :wink: )

The question I'm asking is one that has come up in several other threads. It is,"I have a very limited amount of time to learn a little dancing for a social function or outing. What should I learn?"

Incidentally, I know a few people who have approached their social or club dancing this way. One couple in particular, whom I love dearly, comes to mind. The two of them were young and dating when the bop, a mid-tempo swing-derived dance, became popular. To this day, that's the only dance they do. They wait until an appropriate swing song comes on, which one always does, and they get out there and put everybody to shame with the quality of their dancing. Neither one of them could foxtrot to save their souls. But boy, can they bop!

If you had to pick only one dance to use in that way, in clubs or in other social settings, what would it be? Why?

the social settings i'd anticipate would be work parties and/or wedding receptions and i'd expect american top 40. i've never been to such an event without hearing kool & the gang 's "celebration" which i would use as the prototypical song in terms of percussive beat & tempo. WCS would work but take too long to master compared to something like hustle - which could be done without the syncopation as a four count step. with those caveats & assumptions that's what i'd recommend.

[pygmalion]

No!!!! :shock: PLEASE don't pick hustle as a most useful dance! :shock: Just kidding. :lol: I do so hate hustle. :?

That said, I can see the merits. Lots of up-tempo top 40 stuff, techno, house, and, of course, 70's/80's era oldies are perfect for hustle.

[Sagitta]

First the question was one, and now it has switched to two!! :shock: Hmmmm....

You know what I say? Pick the dance you like, bring along a CD mix of the best songs, and play it. That way you have the music you can dance too. If no-one else can dance it then you can dance it with someone and let everyone just stand watching you, wondering where this other side of you is coming from -- that is if they don't really know!! :twisted:

To a certain extent it is a jungle out there and survival of the fittest. Every dance that I can I get a bachata or two in. If I see there are enough people I try to get a rueda started. If people want to learn afterwards I don't mind showing them. That is the way to popularize the dances you love.

[Sakura]

:D This is interesting; we seem to have opinions all over the board! It seems that most people seem to be favoring Salsa and varying kinds of Swing! Cool. 8)

Kudos to Spitfire for going with my opinion on Cha Cha! =^___^=

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[Pacion]

The least useful dance :roll: can I say grinding :shock: :lol:

I know it is very popular amongst teenages today, but "back in my day" when I called it "rent-a-tile" :lol: it would literally be painful! One or both of my hips would start to stiffen up due to the minute minuscule movement, to the music of the time, which was sloooow (think Air Supply :lol: if you remember them, or Lionel Richie's Three Times a Lady :lol: ) Oh, and because I didn't care for all those clinches, I would suddenly go to the Ladies to avoid those songs :lol:

[pygmalion]

:lol: :lol: You crack me up!

If I had to pick one dance and dance step from my arsenal, it would probably be a box step in rumba. You can dance a whole slow song using that one step, and, to make it even sweeter, you can adapt the box step to other dances or add turns and arm styling to that dance. Plus, you can fake a rumba (American style!) basic box to almost any slow song out there. It'll take ten minutes, and enable you to dance to any slow song, which is pretty significant.

I doubt we'll come up with a consensus. I just think it's interesting to hear everyone's perspectives and reasons.

Also, this thread is going into the club dancing index, so new people don't have to keep asking. :roll: :wink: :lol:

[Pacion]

If my imagery is working properly, a box step has more movement than the "rent-a-tile" :oops: :lol:

"Rent-a-tile" = two feet planted approximately 1.5-2 feet widths apart and you and your partner are just "swaying in the breeze" :roll: :roll: and the hands (usually his!) are roaming all over your back ... which, is great if you like the guy, but not so great if you don't like the guy :oops: :lol:

[pygmalion]

Yes, it does. Another reason why it's useful. It's not too intrusive, so you can dance that step with your SO or with a perfect stranger, and still feel comfortable. 8)

[tsb]

No!!!! :shock: PLEASE don't pick hustle as a most useful dance! :shock: Just kidding. :lol: I do so hate hustle. :?


i recall your expressing that sentiment previously.

and vehemently. :)


That said, I can see the merits. Lots of up-tempo top 40 stuff, techno, house, and, of course, 70's/80's era oldies are perfect for hustle.

which is the reason why i took a couple of classes in hustle recently. i wouldn't want to dance it all night, but it beats sitting down all night.

and now that i'm back in edit mode, yes, a basic box step would work. you can also throw in underarm turns and non LOD type moves. you could also be doing waltz to the relatively small segment of popular songs written in 3/4. and while potentially leading to a grind, slow pivot turns would be useful too.

[jdavidb]

No!!!! :shock: PLEASE don't pick hustle as a most useful dance! :shock: Just kidding. :lol: I do so hate hustle. :?


I love Hustle. I mean, I really really love it. I wish it was in the top 10 of most popular things people learn. Hustle can be done to heavy metal, disco, pop, all kinds of rockish stuff. And I love the hell outta funk. Hustle is great for funk.

Hustle also doesn't have to be minimalist. There is an advanced realm to Hustle too.

Least Useful: polka

[pygmalion]

I've developed the theory that I need to learn hustle with someone who can actually do it. :shock: :lol: Hustle might turn into one of my favorite dances. ECS did -- after 2 years of pathological hatred. But that was when I found a good teacher who could actually dance swing (thanks MD). Maybe, if I can find a good hustle teacher, I could learn to enjoy it.

[DWise1]

I've developed the theory that I need to learn hustle with someone who can actually do it. :shock: :lol: Hustle might turn into one of my favorite dances. ECS did -- after 2 years of pathological hatred. But that was when I found a good teacher who could actually dance swing (thanks MD). Maybe, if I can find a good hustle teacher, I could learn to enjoy it.
About a month ago on rec.arts.dance, a woman made derogatory comments about men's inability to dance, to which one man gave a very thoughtful analysis of the subject, ending with the statement that God gave us the Hustle in order to get even with those women who have such attitude problems (only not worded as nicely).

I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.

So, the best dance to learn depends first and foremost on what venues are available to you.

If we were to assume that venues for all dances are available, I would vote for WCS, even though I love ECS/Lindy more -- now after starting Friday night off with H, C2S, N2S, and WCS, I invariably finish it off with Lindy (and now branching out more into Balboa). But I find that the selection of music that we can dance Lindy and Balboa to is more restricted than the selection for WCS.

Though my ulterior motive for learning some Hustle was to learn some moves that could be applied to Salsa when I return it in another year or two (when my schedule frees up on the nights it's taught).

[pygmalion]

I honestly don't think I have attitude problems. I dance anything and everything with anybody, including newbies and very experienced dancers. I even dance hustle. I just don't enjoy it most of the time, because people who don't know how to manage their own weight try to pull my arms out of the sockets when they rock step. Oddly enough, I don't enjoy that. :tongue: :lol:

[DWise1]

I honestly don't think I have attitude problems. I dance anything and everything with anybody, including newbies and very experienced dancers. I even dance hustle. I just don't enjoy it most of the time, because people who don't know how to manage their own weight try to pull my arms out of the sockets when they rock step. Oddly enough, I don't enjoy that. :tongue: :lol:
I've known for a long time that you don't have attitude problems. But that guy's comment about Hustle being a way to get even evoked an immediate and very rare LOL from me, because with all those turns "we" do (actually, that the women do) we've noticed the women often complaining about getting dizzy. It's almost as good as Country Two-Step in that regard.

I'll examine that issue of the rock step in the next class (in a couple of weeks). In the meantime, could it be that you are over-extending your arm and that keeping the arm bent more would allow it to absorb the shock instead of your shoulder? Just a thought.

[Sagitta]

Least Useful: polka

I love giving my opinion, and commenting, so...there are many versions of polka. There is brazillian polka, forro, then there is lousiana polka, called zydeco. If you know how to polka you can do a variety of dances at different tenpo. Then there is scottische, very similar...

I love the idea of just teaching some basics with stepping to the music. So, box step, a couple arm turns, sweetheart...

[Sakura]

I just don't enjoy it most of the time, because people who don't know how to manage their own weight try to pull my arms out of the sockets when they rock step. Oddly enough, I don't enjoy that. :tongue: :lol:

Really?! :shock: I can't imagine why you wouldn't enjoy that! :D :roll: *grins* Hopefully you can find a teacher to remedy that soon!

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[tsb]

I've developed the theory that I need to learn hustle with someone who can actually do it. :shock: :lol: Hustle might turn into one of my favorite dances. ECS did -- after 2 years of pathological hatred. But that was when I found a good teacher who could actually dance swing (thanks MD). Maybe, if I can find a good hustle teacher, I could learn to enjoy it.
About a month ago on rec.arts.dance, a woman made derogatory comments about men's inability to dance, to which one man gave a very thoughtful analysis of the subject, ending with the statement that God gave us the Hustle in order to get even with those women who have such attitude problems (only not worded as nicely).


i saw the thread but lost interest before this response. i should go try to find it.


I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.


in the 'real' oc (whatever that means)? how about atomic ballroom? or avant garde, or danscenedance or ballroomisback? or are we speaking about years ago?

[tsb]

I honestly don't think I have attitude problems. I dance anything and everything with anybody, including newbies and very experienced dancers. I even dance hustle. I just don't enjoy it most of the time, because people who don't know how to manage their own weight try to pull my arms out of the sockets when they rock step. Oddly enough, I don't enjoy that. :tongue: :lol:

you just haven't danced with a good hustle dancer yet. i've seen a lot of hustle dancers tap in place of the rock step so it's possible to dance hustle w/o getting 'yanked' on '1'.

[Purr]

I had a teacher once show me a little trick to short circuit that type of arm pulling in hustle. Basically, when I take a rock step I step almost in place, without putting any weight into the step, then I immediately start to push little forward. The movement happens very fast. I'm still maintaining tension to follow the lead. One thing to watch for, is that type of movement can speed up the dance, dramatically.

[pygmalion]

To be perfectly honest, yes, I think much of my hustle experience has been with bad hustle dancers. *shrug* I don't feel I'm missing much by skipping the hustles. I can always freestyle through them. I love freestyling, and I'm very good at it. So hustle? Eh. If I find someone good to dance with, fine. If not, I'm okay with that, too. :)

[dragon3085]

I stick with Salsa, but if I didn't live in San Antonio or another city that was primarily latin in culture I might have to change that.

[Purr]

Hustle is one of my favorite dances. Maybe it's because disco was popular when I was growing up. Maybe it's fast and fun. And maybe it's because I remember seeing students from my former sister-in-law's studio dance hustle at her & my brother's wedding reception. They were really good, and a couple of them got on Dance Fever.

I still enjoying doing the "Y-M-C-A" to the Village People (if that song would have been placed in competiton, my teacher & I would have done it). Or striking a John Travolta pose. Or doing that dance move Uma Thurman did during Pulp Fiction. Now I'm feeling silly. :lol:

Ok, time to crank up my Disco Fever cd on my computer. 8)

[dragon3085]

I honestly don't think I have attitude problems. I dance anything and everything with anybody, including newbies and very experienced dancers. I even dance hustle. I just don't enjoy it most of the time, because people who don't know how to manage their own weight try to pull my arms out of the sockets when they rock step. Oddly enough, I don't enjoy that. :tongue: :lol:

you just haven't danced with a good hustle dancer yet. i've seen a lot of hustle dancers tap in place of the rock step so it's possible to dance hustle w/o getting 'yanked' on '1'.

According to my mentor in all things Hustle that tap step is really the proper way to do the hustle, it just tends to be hard for beginners to learn. My other mentor in all things WCS tells that really a Tap in WCS as well but once again beginners usually learn as a full rock for simplicity's sake.

[pygmalion]

It looks like there are a bunch of variations, dragon3085. There's a hustle info page somewhere in another thread, where two different authors give two different views on the proper way to do it -- one thinks rock or coaster step is okay; one says a rock step is never okay, only coaster. Neither author mentions a tap step. (I like the tap step or a point to the side and hold, whenever possible. It gives me a "pose" moment. :oops: :lol: When not possible, I use a coaster step. )

And I have a bunch of hustle videos -- Billy Fajardo and Katie Marlowe are the newest ones. They're all over the map with variations. And I have some older videos by Roberto Pagan. The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes constantly. I think it's just a matter of picking what feels comfortable for you, then doing it in a way that you don't injure your partner LOL. (Same goes for the arm wraps in hustle, btw. Just don't hurt anybody! :lol: :lol: )

[Flat Shoes]

I guess it's with Hustle as with swing in general, there's more than one right way.

Personally I like to put some variations into it.

[DWise1]

I've developed the theory that I need to learn hustle with someone who can actually do it. :shock: :lol: Hustle might turn into one of my favorite dances. ECS did -- after 2 years of pathological hatred. But that was when I found a good teacher who could actually dance swing (thanks MD). Maybe, if I can find a good hustle teacher, I could learn to enjoy it.
About a month ago on rec.arts.dance, a woman made derogatory comments about men's inability to dance, to which one man gave a very thoughtful analysis of the subject, ending with the statement that God gave us the Hustle in order to get even with those women who have such attitude problems (only not worded as nicely).


i saw the thread but lost interest before this response. i should go try to find it.

Yes, most of the "replies" were really dumb and the quality deteriorated rapidly from there. But the very last one -- I'm pretty sure -- went into an analysis of the different advantages and disadvantages that men and women generally have as beginners and then as they progress (the skinny: women tend to have the advantage as rank beginners, but then it evens out after a few months with men more likely to stick it out in the long run). But that last line about the Hustle did get me to literally laugh out loud, which is a great rarity.



I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.


in the 'real' oc (whatever that means)? how about atomic ballroom? or avant garde, or danscenedance or ballroomisback? or are we speaking about years ago?
The real Orange County as opposed to the fake one on Fox. It's not all beaches and rich kids in Newport Beach. How much of my home town of Santa Ana (sometimes AKA "Tijuana del Norte") and the old colonias (now barrios embedded in cities) have they shown? Probably none, since, as I understand, they don't even film in Orange County. If you don't know at least a little Spanish, you won't be able to read most of the signs in some parts of the county. And I won't even start to get into Little Saigon. The real OC is a lot more diverse than the electronic one.

The time I was talking about was the beginning of this year. Atomic Ballroom is one of the things that has changed since then; that's where I finish my Friday nights with Lindy. I don't know of any Lindy open dancing at Avant Garde, but that's where I've been going for lessons every Sunday for over a year. Tia Juana's on Wednesday has always been difficult for me to make, but then they expanded it to Monday nights as well; only I had just started a college class that night (finals next week, so here I come).

Does danscenedance do Lindy? Hustle and WCS, I know, and Salsa too. Don't know about ballroomisback; I'll have to check it out. SunDance in Placentia is where I'm doing the non-Lindy dancing at present.

ADDENDUM:
ballroomisback is way out of the way, being in Huntington Beach. And they don't say what kind of swing they offer. Though the overall mix of offerings does look good.

[Hank]

I pick west coast swing. It can be danced to a wide variety of music styles and tempos, and it allows an infinite number of footwork variations, syncopations, and improvisations to keep it interesting.

Years ago, I would have picked east coast swing. Like west coast swing, it can be danced to a variety of music, so opportunities to use it are widely available. But, it does not provide the variation that west coast swing does, so because I danced it so much for so many years, I eventually got bored with it.

Salsa is a fun dance, and I'll do it for an hour, but I find the music monotonous. The music has so many accents on so many beats that every beat sounds virtually the same. There is also little variation from song to song. I quickly tire of listening to it.

[johnnywalker]

The two dances I would think to be the most versatile are Cha Cha and Swing; at least that's what I seem to 'hear' when watching or listening to many of the songs on MTV, radio stations etc. I think Hip Hop would also be in there somewhere. I really like Salsa but unless I specifically visit a Salsa club the chances of the music being played is not as great.


The dance I have yet to see performed at clubs is the Polka. I've asked around but no-one seems to be able to demonstrate it for me. :D

[Sagitta]

Two least useful dances, even worse then samba, are paso doble and bolero. Beautiful dances, don't get me wrong there, but these are dances that you are least likely to see, even in social ballroom settings.

[pygmalion]

Hmm. That's interesting, Sagitta. Maybe it depends on where you're dancing or who the DJ is. Here, especially in clubs, quite a few slow love songs get played each night. The dancers either do NC2S or bolero. The non-dancers do the grope and sway. :lol: I guess it just depends. *shrug*

[Sakura]

I *really* wanna take some Hustle lessons now! :D :lol: Everyone makes it sound so interesting!

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[tsb]

I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.


too bad you don't live up my way; lindygroove is a five minute drive from my house on thursdays - although i have to admit lindygroove doesn't appeal to everybody.

what about disneyland on saturdays?

wow. i don't think there is much of anything else near you.


The time I was talking about was the beginning of this year. Atomic Ballroom is one of the things that has changed since then; that's where I finish my Friday nights with Lindy. I don't know of any Lindy open dancing at Avant Garde, but that's where I've been going for lessons every Sunday for over a year.


i think they have wcs every 2nd saturday.


Tia Juana's on Wednesday has always been difficult for me to make, but then they expanded it to Monday nights as well; only I had just started a college class that night (finals next week, so here I come).

Does danscenedance do Lindy? Hustle and WCS, I know, and Salsa too.


yeah i think they have wcs every 3rd saturday. probably not lindy. haven't been down there yet - o prefer primarily ballroom venues, plus, wcs dancers tend to eat their young compared to other types of swing dancers...


Don't know about ballroomisback; I'll have to check it out.


they're pretty much ballroom only, actually. great floor.

[tsb]

Two least useful dances, even worse then samba, are paso doble and bolero. Beautiful dances, don't get me wrong there, but these are dances that you are least likely to see, even in social ballroom settings.

paso doble much less frequent than bolero at the places i frequent. i've seen paso doble exactly once - at a venue that was pretty much entirely international style dancers.

[Spitfire]

I pick west coast swing. It can be danced to a wide variety of music styles and tempos, and it allows an infinite number of footwork variations, syncopations, and improvisations to keep it interesting.

Years ago, I would have picked east coast swing. Like west coast swing, it can be danced to a variety of music, so opportunities to use it are widely available. But, it does not provide the variation that west coast swing does,

Roger that! :wink:

To the westies of the world; you have given me a new indoctrination. 8)

[DWise1]

I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.


too bad you don't live up my way; lindygroove is a five minute drive from my house on thursdays - although i have to admit lindygroove doesn't appeal to everybody.

what about disneyland on saturdays?

wow. i don't think there is much of anything else near you.


The time I was talking about was the beginning of this year. Atomic Ballroom is one of the things that has changed since then; that's where I finish my Friday nights with Lindy. I don't know of any Lindy open dancing at Avant Garde, but that's where I've been going for lessons every Sunday for over a year.


i think they have wcs every 2nd saturday.


Tia Juana's on Wednesday has always been difficult for me to make, but then they expanded it to Monday nights as well; only I had just started a college class that night (finals next week, so here I come).

Does danscenedance do Lindy? Hustle and WCS, I know, and Salsa too.


yeah i think they have wcs every 3rd saturday. probably not lindy. haven't been down there yet - o prefer primarily ballroom venues, plus, wcs dancers tend to eat their young compared to other types of swing dancers...


Don't know about ballroomisback; I'll have to check it out.


they're pretty much ballroom only, actually. great floor.
Yeah, it seems to be mostly WCS here, which I'm doing through Sundance to round out my experience. Though then it's off for Lindy afterwards on both WCS nights to round out the evening.

Disneyland does have some good bands. My in-laws have been going there for many years. One bummer is that you have to get the highest-priced annual pass, because all the other passes have almost every Saturday as black-out days.

Another thing I've been advised -- and my in-laws have confirmed this -- is that it's mainly couples there, so a "single" dancer like me would pretty much be SOL (short on luck). I'll have to see how things develop.

I've run across LindyGroove on the Web, but being an aging working stiff I have to be more careful about weeknights. What is it about LindyGroove that does and doesn't appeal to people?


If I give you enough information that you have questions, I've done my job.
To question is the answer.

No, really. We can't start learning until we start asking the questions.

[tsb]

I've run across LindyGroove on the Web, but being an aging working stiff I have to be more careful about weeknights. What is it about LindyGroove that does and doesn't appeal to people?


it's a pretty friendly crowd, great floor, i like that they let you & ten guests in free for your birthday (five must be newcomers to LG though) and include a birthday cake, dancers of all skill levels. the lindy they lean towards is more wcs-ish than they want to admit & the tunes are often tunes that i find myself wishing i could do a foxtrot to instead (ironically, at some ballroom venues i find myself wishing i could find someone to do lindy when they play certain foxtrot tunes). but since i actually prefer wcs to lindy it works for me. the hardcore faster tempo lindy dancers aren't so crazy about it though.

[bren]

i like swing

[leftfeetnyc]

West Coast Swing, all the way!

And the sprinkler, lawnmower, and shopping cart of course!!!

[Stiletto One]

Most useful:
<BS>
Samba, because once you show it off once, everybody around you is hooked and wants to learn it
</BS>

I'll say Hustle, if only because it's a bit more adaptable than Swing. I don't know West Coast Swing, so no opinion there.

Least useful:
Paso Doble. Useless in a social context.

[chachachacat]

I would have to say swing. Except, I didn't specify exactly which variation. That might mean east coast swing, west coast swing, or, my favorite, hustle. 8)
The music is what dictates the dance! :!:
So, I'd say swing is the most versatile to more of "popular music," from many eras, up to the present. And yes, you get to choose among West Coast Swing and East Coast Swing, triple single or double time, Lindy, Lindy Hop and whatever other variations of swing I may be omitting.
However, Purr, is Hustle really Swing? What do y'all say?

[randomMysh]

WCS, hands down. Can be danced to anything with a passable 4/4 beat, from elevator music to hip hop. Does not require lots of room (I once danced it on a 2'X2' box at a club 8) ). Allows for lots of play from both the leader and even the *gasp* follower! Fun stuff.

Hustle would probably come into a close second. Pygmalion--what you're describing is not hustle, it's just painful. I know exactly what you mean. I know a lot of people, even otherwise pretty good dancers, who dance hustle that way. Needless to say, I avoid them like the plague for hustle, sometimes even telling them that hustle is the one dance I will not dance with them, and why. Mean, I know, but gets the point across and keeps my joints safe. :twisted: When done well, hustle is very very very smooth. And a lot slower than a lot of people think, i.e. Darude's Sandstorm is NOT a good hustle song unless you slow it down a lot.

Two step gets third place.

Least useful: Paso. Who ever plays that at a social??
I disagree that bolero is useless in social settings, I think it's great for the clutch'n'sway songs. Provided, of course, that you have a bolero-dancing partner handy. :roll:

[Stiletto One]

Least useful: Paso. Who ever plays that at a social??
I disagree that bolero is useless in social settings, I think it's great for the clutch'n'sway songs. Provided, of course, that you have a bolero-dancing partner handy. :roll:Well, if they know Nightclub Two-Step, it's not terribly hard to retrain them for Bolero...right? Bueller?

[randomMysh]

Least useful: Paso. Who ever plays that at a social??
I disagree that bolero is useless in social settings, I think it's great for the clutch'n'sway songs. Provided, of course, that you have a bolero-dancing partner handy. :roll:Well, if they know Nightclub Two-Step, it's not terribly hard to retrain them for Bolero...right? Bueller?

Um...depends on what your definition of bolero is. The rise and fall combined with the hip movement is not what I'd throw at someone in a social setting, yet it's what makes bolero what it is, IMHO.

[chachachacat]

I started learning Hustle and Country Two-Step and Nightclub Two-Step and returning to West Coast Swing because those are the three principal dances at the local venue that was most available to me. I love ECS/Lindy, but my access had been very limited at that time, though the situation has changed since then.


too bad you don't live up my way; lindygroove is a five minute drive from my house on thursdays - although i have to admit lindygroove doesn't appeal to everybody.

what about disneyland on saturdays?

wow. i don't think there is much of anything else near you.

CHACHACHACAT Wrote:
**Atomic Ballroom, check out their website, (the obvious) has lindy, salsa and ballroom on different nights.***


The time I was talking about was the beginning of this year. Atomic Ballroom is one of the things that has changed since then; that's where I finish my Friday nights with Lindy. I don't know of any Lindy open dancing at Avant Garde, but that's where I've been going for lessons every Sunday for over a year.


i think they have wcs every 2nd saturday.


Tia Juana's on Wednesday has always been difficult for me to make, but then they expanded it to Monday nights as well; only I had just started a college class that night (finals next week, so here I come).

Does danscenedance do Lindy? Hustle and WCS, I know, and Salsa too.


yeah i think they have wcs every 3rd saturday. probably not lindy. haven't been down there yet - o prefer primarily ballroom venues, plus, wcs dancers tend to eat their young compared to other types of swing dancers...


Don't know about ballroomisback; I'll have to check it out.


they're pretty much ballroom only, actually. great floor.
Yeah, it seems to be mostly WCS here, which I'm doing through Sundance to round out my experience. Though then it's off for Lindy afterwards on both WCS nights to round out the evening.

Disneyland does have some good bands. My in-laws have been going there for many years. One bummer is that you have to get the highest-priced annual pass, because all the other passes have almost every Saturday as black-out days.

Another thing I've been advised -- and my in-laws have confirmed this -- is that it's mainly couples there, so a "single" dancer like me would pretty much be SOL (short on luck). I'll have to see how things develop.

I've run across LindyGroove on the Web, but being an aging working stiff I have to be more careful about weeknights. What is it about LindyGroove that does and doesn't appeal to people?


If I give you enough information that you have questions, I've done my job.
To question is the answer.

No, really. We can't start learning until we start asking the questions.

[tsb]

**Atomic Ballroom, check out their website, (the obvious) has lindy, salsa and ballroom on different nights.***


did you have fun there tonight? you would have met 'the babe' (the moniker ascribed by dancepoet in a different thread) then if TACAD was doing introductions. i like jerry jordan. you'd never guess that he wrote the lindy syllabus for AMDS. plus he shares my penchant for unusual music choices for songs. i wish he'd stayed in LA county.

[Caldakid]

how do you do the southside heel toe?

does anybody know what I am talking about.

[cornutt]

Um...depends on what your definition of bolero is. The rise and fall combined with the hip movement is not what I'd throw at someone in a social setting, yet it's what makes bolero what it is, IMHO.

Hmm... in my area, there's quite a few people who can do at least a bolero basic respectably well. At the larger city socials, it's seldom a problem to find a bolero partner. Is this unusual?

[ClubDanceLessons.com]

Beginning Hip Hop classes will help you get rhythm and coordination

[ClubDanceLessons.com]

Beginning hip hop classes will help you gain rhythm and coordination.

[Schatz]

I vote SALSA !

[etp777]

For most or least? :)

[Schatz]

Easiest to move to - favorite of the ladies!

Strictly subjective, of course.....


OTOH, you can find a merengue in darn near anything - gotta love that 2 count.

[etp777]

Yeah, merengue is very popular here on base exactly for that reason. Girl over on helpdesk was complaining that she couldn't find anyone to learn salsa with.

[DWise1]

As you leap to her rescue.

[etp777]

Possibly tonight. :) Went by last week, but didn't see her. Also, didn't find salsa night (least, hope not, was all bachata/cumbia/merengue). Need to walk around the building a bit more tonight to see if there's more dancing somewhere else in there, and see if I can find her.

[DWise1]

You give me reason for hope if I should be mobilized. Question: is the Navy Customs Battalion there or are they at another base? That seems to be the most likely way I'd get called up.

[etp777]

Not a lot of Navy here, considering we're X (not sure how far) inland and in the desert. :) Some navy staff here though. Believe most navy besides the few here are stationed at Kuwait naval Base (Marines too, one of roommates at CRC was former marine who had been stationed there). Another likely posting for navy here in this theater is in Djibouti over on eastern eedge of Africa. Station is operated by different branches in rotation, currently run by the Navy, and I think they're talking about new Africom being out that way. We had a guy from our shop go out there for a month and is heading back this way now. But here and at Ali (Air Force/Army base farther north) there was definitely dancing, so don't despair.

[etp777]

Looks like no salsa tonight, and didn't see her over at the latin dancing, so I won't be able to rescue her again tonight. ;)

[LCbaseball22]

This is an interesting thread. I would separate social and club dancing, but I sorta have the same question as the OP, with a twist. :) The question is which dance would you start a complete beginner off with? I don't by any means think I'm qualified to teach but I have a friend who doesn't have the funds to take lessons or an opening to fit dance into her class schedule so she's asked me to teach her and I'm gonna try my best. Correct me if I'm wrong, but East Coast Swing seems like the best jumping off point...and Swing is what I am most familiar with, having taken a class in it quite a few times. I think I have a good grasp on the basics at least, and I'm guessing that's all she's looking for at this point. But East Coast before West Coast?

After Swing if she wants to continue I think I'd next go to Latin and then finally Ballroom. This way the personal space is being gradually decreased her personal space, as I know a lot of girls are bothered by this when they first start)...but I've only had one class each for those so I wouldn't feel at all competent teaching either of 'em. Any tips or whatever? I've borrowed one of my friends notebooks so I can learn the girls footwork at least.

[suburbaknght]

Single-time east coast swing/jitterbug.

[LCbaseball22]

Single-time east coast swing/jitterbug.

Ugh, I hate single time swing...triple time is so much easier to keep on rhythm to. Plus, single time is for old people who can no longer move fast enough for triple time. As my instructor likes to call it- "geriatric swing", lol.

BTW, I've noticed they don't do WCS on DWTS, is that cause it's too hard to teach quickly or what? It's not as easy as girl just mirrors the guy...

[suburbaknght]

Single time swing is a great dance for beginners. They usually find the turns interesting, it's highly adaptable to different types of music, works in crowded spaces, suits different tempos, and isn't terribly difficult. I don't consider it the best choice for clubs (tie between WCS and hustle) but it's certainly the best option for complete beginners.

As for WCS on DWTS, they tried it one season and the results, predictably, weren't great. While WCS can look fantastic, it's not one of the most difficult dances to choreograph to appeal to non-dancers. Some couples can do it (Jordan and Tatiana come to the forefront of my mind) but most choreography to most people looks like, "She's moving one way, she's moving the other way, she's turning."

[bia]

As for WCS on DWTS, they tried it one season and the results, predictably, weren't great. While WCS can look fantastic, it's not one of the most difficult dances to choreograph to appeal to non-dancers. Some couples can do it (Jordan and Tatiana come to the forefront of my mind) but most choreography to most people looks like, "She's moving one way, she's moving the other way, she's turning."
And WCS is a dance that most of the DWTS pros have had less experience with. Better to keep the show focused on the ballroom styles, if you're just hiring ballroom pros.

[Arrion]

It's particularly hard to show off the man in WCS, so it's really not suitable for DWTS. I remember the season they tried, the judges criticized Lacey for dancing around her partner while he mostly just stood there. Since Lacey has a WCS background they did a more authentic version than anyone else.

To answer the original question, WCS is my favorite with someone who knows how to dance, as it fits most popular music, can be adopted to almost anything, and leaves lots of room for improvisation. But at a club or wedding dancing mostly with ladies who have no training, I find single time ECS and box rumba the easiest to lead them through.

[LCbaseball22]

Well, to reiterate I will not be teaching her single time East Coast...it leaves you far too limited in the range of music you can dance to plus it is not what our instructor teaches in the swing class. In fact if I recall correctly our teacher has said triple time is more logical as single time can leave you on the wrong foot sometimes when you come out of a turn and such. I've noticed that. I've tried single time a few times, it kept screwing me up.

[LCbaseball22]

As for the responses about WCS, yeah that makes sense. I have seen some pretty unbelievable WCS routines though and even though it might not "show off the guy" perse it's a dance that requires a really strong connection and lead or else it looks like a disaster. I suppose for DWTS purposes it would be hard to judge whether the guy was actually leading the moves though when the follow is aware of the patterns and could be backleading to compensate for a weak lead. In social dancing that doesn't work so well.

And from a lead's point of view I've found WCS to one of those dances I have very little success at leading a newbie through. I led some complete beginners (not to dance but to the respective style of dance) through Rumba, Foxtrot, and triple time East Coast the other night relatively easy...yet when I tried West Coast with a few it was a disaster, and I would consider myself to be the best at WCS out of the 10 styles I know. The problem is the woman simply must know her footwork. There's not enough connection to lead otherwise. Idk, maybe really advanced West Coasters can lead a complete beginner even when they only have ahold of one hand, but for me it doesn't work so well. That doesn't keep me from challenging myself and continue to try though! I figure if/when I can accomplish this I know I've got it down pretty darn well. ;) I plan to take some advanced lessons soon.

And yes I agree with Arrion, with a follow that's familiar with the dance WCS is definitely my fav as it works well for a variety of music, including club.

[Steve Pastor]

Plus, single time is for old people who can no longer move fast enough for triple time. As my instructor likes to call it- "geriatric swing", lol.

Can't say for sure about everyone every where, but based on what I see on the dance floor around Portland, it might be a good idea to teach people how to dance "single time" before they try to keep things straight with the music and step 3 times for each two beats.
One reason WCS is mostly danced to slower songs now a days is that the ability to switch to single or double when the music is fast was dropped decades ago.

[suburbaknght]

Well, to reiterate I will not be teaching her single time East Coast...it leaves you far too limited in the range of music you can dance to plus it is not what our instructor teaches in the swing class. In fact if I recall correctly our teacher has said triple time is more logical as single time can leave you on the wrong foot sometimes when you come out of a turn and such. I've noticed that. I've tried single time a few times, it kept screwing me up.
If you have trouble with a dance then it is certainly the wrong dance for you to teach. I agree with your instructor about all the benefits of triple-time over single-time but I would advise against teaching it in the circumstances you've described (complete beginner, just needs a place to get started, you have limited teaching experience and not overly familiar with the follower's part, and I presume the original poster's goal of being useful in a club setting). Beginners tend to be most comfortable with dances that have very few steps and a lot of tolerance for error; triple-time ECS certainly fulfills the second requirement but not the first and I've seen many dancers get frustrated because of that (see also: WCS and cha cha).

As an alternative I'd consider merengue or, if the lady will try a slow dance, American rumba.

Can't say for sure about everyone every where, but based on what I see on the dance floor around Portland, it might be a good idea to teach people how to dance "single time" before they try to keep things straight with the music and step 3 times for each two beats.
Many studios do this. In fact, I know that at least one of the franchises has a policy of refusing to teach triple-time until students are enrolled in long-term courses because they've seen that students who try to start with triple-time often get frustrated and never complete their programs, let alone re-enroll. Personally, I believe new dancers can and should be taught triple-time, but it takes an experienced teach to do so and the student must be prepared for that curve or learning.

When I teach ECS to my new students I start with triple-time but I also tell them, "Before we begin I want to let you know that this is one of the two most difficult dances for beginner dancers that we teach, along with cha cha. It's not that they're overly complex, but they involve a lot of steps in the basic and it can be complicated to keep track of when you're first starting out and worrying about everything else we need to keep track of, such as the timing, weight changes, lead and follow, and so on, and we can't do those until the foot positions - where we step -are in muscle memory. Because of those complications, I'm not expecting perfection today; if anything, I'm expecting we're going to keep working on this basic next time. But let's start with the foot positions so we can begin building those muscle memories and see how far we're able to get.

One reason WCS is mostly danced to slower songs now a days is that the ability to switch to single or double when the music is fast was dropped decades ago.
I've heard a lot of stories about this, enough not to trust any one source in particular. Given how adaptable WCS I don't think the single or double timing was dropped, but rather adapted into other styling (see: arguments about tap-step vs. triple-step). The most reliable stories I've been able to gather, and what seems most realistic to me, is that the original teachers used slower music in their classes so that students could learn correct technique, but the students became accustomed to the slower music and began using mostly the slower music for socials; as such the technique changed. Vestiges of this discrepancy can be seen by the tendency of WCS comps to have pros dance to both a slow and a fast song so that judges can observe both stylings.

My personal theory is that because many people in the WCS community dance only WCS, they began to apply it to songs that were too slow for original WCS but discovered that they liked it and the slow music caught on.

[rbazsz]

Single-time east coast swing/jitterbug.

That's an excellent choice. It's a big mistake to start dancers with triple steps because they might not ever get over the difficulty of timing their steps correctly.

Night club two step is probably even easier and therefore a better choice for beginners.

Even a simple sway might be the best way to go. Anything as long as it's very simple and it has some interesting variations.

[LCbaseball22]

Hmm, I find it really interesting that everyone seems to think single time ECS is the easiest for beginners to learn. It certainly wasn't for me. When I first tried dancing I was in a course that taught single time and I got so frustrated with it I dropped less then half way into the term. I couldn't stay on beat and was such an awful lead that the girls were reluctant to dance with me. Maybe that guy was just a bad instructor, idk...but a few years later I transfered universities and I'd heard the dance program was really good so I gave it another go. It was like night and day. This other instructor taught triple time and he broke it down so nicely with the foot positions and how to match your steps to music and all. I picked it up really fast. :) Ironically though when I dance East Coast Swing now I find myself getting lazy and dropping out steps, lol. Sometimes I catch myself doing the same for West Coast too. Ugh, I start developing these bad habits. Luckily I have reached the point where if I miss a step it doesn't phase me, I just drop another or add one in somewhere to get back on. No big deal, with triple time at least...