Dancing with non-dancers

[pygmalion]

How do you accomplish it? Do you attempt partner dancing? Teach them a basic? How does lead and follow work (or does it)? Or do you just sit 'em out, if you're out with non dancers?

[Flat Shoes]

I don't dance very often with non-dancers. But when I do it's usually the close stuff. Non-dancers tends to do the 'swaying while slowly turning'-thingy. And that's fine if the chick is hot and/or a nice person. But I try to brake up the monotony a little bit with some change of rhytm and a couple of other small tricks. Not very advanced stuff, but the women seem to appreciate it anyway. 8)

I have never tried teaching a non-dancer. But I do have this cute little friend (with a hot little body) I'm looking forward to dance with again. And I have been wondering if I shouldn't try to teach her some basic connection. But exactly what, and how I will do it, I'm not sure about. It will probably have to be when we're out sometime to, as I don't know her well enough to go home to her place, with her man and her kids around, just to teach her to dance with me. :oops:

So more than answering your questions, I look forward to others offering some good hints, tips and tricks. :D

[Nammerz]

I'll usually just wait for a dance that has an easy basic such as a rumba and teach it to her real quick. If she catches on real fast I'll explain the next thing I want to do, and try it if she doesn't tell me not to. A lot of people are able to go with it with enough warning. But in general I just stick with a basic. It works out well.

But usually when I dance with a beginner it's usually just an excuse to talk to someone I haven't gotten to talk to before. So my main objective isn't to teach someone how to dance anyway.

[Sagitta]

I have danced with non-dancers at almost every other dance that I have gone to. You can dance with them if they just follow, but to a certain extent they may feel a little uncomfortable. To give an example...Tuesday night I danced with a girl who has been taking beginner AT classes with me, but does not know a step of salsa. So, we danced fine, even doing CBL, inside turn etc without teaching her anything. However at the afterparty later on, when I offered to show her anything she wanted she asked about CBL. I showed the entire footwork with two variations dancing on1: one with a tap in the first half of the musical phrase, and the other without. She told me after that she felt a lot more confident and sure of herself now. Granted this person knows a little about partner work, but even for people with those who have never danced a step we can enjoy a dance without showing much. And we don't need to do that slow swaying thing either. Tonight I hope to confirm this, once again, if I can effectively persuade the student worker at the library to come out dancing. She is a total non-dancer!!

To answer the questions more fully....I don't sit out because I'm with a non-dancer. I sit out for other reasons, such as keeping a friend who was upset from quarreling with boyfriend company, then dancing with her a couple of songs. I sit out to socialize. To me non-dancer is not part of my vocabulary, comprehensible world view. I believe that each one of us has a spirit, a soul, dancing through life, and that releasing that allows our inner beauty to show forth through dance.

How do I accomplish a connection and dance with what you call a "non-dancer"? It is a question of trust. If such a person knows that he/she cannot do any wrong in your eyes, trusts you, the dance is a marevllous dance. I've seen a person get flustered, look at the floor. Once I've convinced that person that I just want to have fun and that I chose her inspite of knowing the she thinks she does not know to dance the transformation is remarkable. :D

Something else...I take my time starting. I don't jump into the music...

[Flat Shoes]

There's a huge difference with someone having a little frame/connection and someone who has no idea about it.

[cl5814]

I have managed to show some non-dancers the basic ECS step.

[Sagitta]

There's a huge difference with someone having a little frame/connection and someone who has no idea about it.

A person may have no idea about the "concept" yet still may be able to provide their part of the frame/connection relationship. :wink: :)

[Phil Owl]

How do you accomplish it? Do you attempt partner dancing? Teach them a basic? How does lead and follow work (or does it)? Or do you just sit 'em out, if you're out with non dancers?

Hoo boy, prime example for me was when I was in a wedding party last year. The bridesmaid I was paired with could NOT dance to save her life. So, this Owl did his best to lead her in some really basic figure of some sort for the main dance, actually pulled it off, but it was maddening in an amusing way. She was a pretty nice lady otherwise.

[Sagitta]

Well...reporting back after being a dance host at a dance mix party. Hvaing danced with a wide variety of people and many non-dancers of various flavors I have to say that what you do is based on the person you dance with. Some of the non-dancers are almost intimidating to me as they catch on to the music and beat, while I struggle away at it!! :oops: I danced with a couple who just blew me out of the water. :oops: :) It is dances with people like these that those other advanced dancers, who do not tip their toes into the beginner pool, miss.