Dance in a small town.

[oldtangoguy]

I'm male, and live in a small, but artsy town - Taos, NM. I've been dancing for years, taught, competed (swing dance), and am generally considered to be a good lead - smooth, clear but never forceful, give the follow plenty of space if she wants, etc. It is shockingly difficult to find a regular dance partner. Not that I have been rejected, but simply finding women who are interested in partner dance other than CW two-step is surprisingly difficult. Anyone else find this to be true?

 

[opendoor]

Hello, oldtangoguy, if you are a notorious dancer, the particular dance shouldn't really matter.

Certain dances need a certain breeding ground or substrate.

- Tango is danced in the metropols, where there are many college students, freelancers, psychotherapists and single mothers.
- Salsa (and related things) can be found where there is a stable community of latinos who grew up with this music.
- Folklore dances (in my country Germany anyway) are only danced by young alternatives or by very old people.
- The "one for all" dance, can be found in small towns or out in the country. In your case it's the C2S, for me it's swing-fox, a variant of the hustle. But the "one for all" dance is not danced in a separate community, it is danced in the general community. Everything is public. Due to the sociological function of the "one for all" dance, it also helps to find a life partner. That makes the matter sensitive.

In a small town or any other sort of diaspora, I would try to become part of the dancing community on site first, no matter which one it is. Once you have found a dance partner, you can decide to perfect yourself in the respective dance or to subtly influence your dance partner. Personally, I believe that influencing will not lead to any goal, as the inspiring breeding ground and role models for development are missing. So if you want to dance a different style or a rare dance, you either have to travel, or you should invite the global community of the respective dance to your area, organize dance holidays or a festivalito with a cultural accompanying program.

 

[oldtangoguy]

Thanks for your comments. Some of what you say is certainly worthy of consideration. However, I have danced essentially all social dances, and enjoy most. I have generally settled into Lindy, Balboa and Tango, although nightclub two-step, salsa and Zydeco are also perfectly fine by me. My biggest issue with CW2step, ECS, etc. is that I listen to, and dance to, the melody and the phrasing of a song. CWStep ignores the phrasing. It is danced 6 against 8 no matter what is going on in the music. Persuading a CW dancer to break out of the 6count pattern is futile. So, my quest is to find a dance partner who listens to, and wants to dance to, the music and not merely maintain a specific footwork pattern which may unrelated to the music. Arrg.

 

[Zhena]

You probably know from Lindy that it's possible to extend 6-count basics to 8-count groupings by inserting 2 additional counts. This also works with C2S and is frequently done by advanced leaders. I don't think it would be futile to work with a regular partner to incorporate this into your dance. In fact, any relatively competent follower should be able to respond to clearly led extensions.

[I have had very few lessons on C2S but certain leaders will seek me out when one is thrown into the mix at the WCS place I usually dance. I tend to keep a running count of QQS&S& in my head, but a good leader can throw in an extra QQQQ or SS and get me back to the standard count without a hitch IF the lead is very clear and IF they give me time to recover between variations. I consider it a challenge to my following skills; they seem to consider me a challenge to their leading skills (they know what they're getting when they ask me). It doesn't always work, but if it fails we just laugh, reset, and start again.]

 

[oldtangoguy]

Yes! So I'd ask you to dance!

 

[David_In_CA]

CWStep ignores the phrasing. It is danced 6 against 8 no matter what is going on in the music. Persuading a CW dancer to break out of the 6count pattern is futile.

You should find some old Mario Robau videos. He was a big proponent in WCS of not extending patterns, and has a number of techniques to be able to hit a phrase or accent on the middle of a pattern. One way to do this is to use transitions, such as starting or stopping a spin on the phrase change, or changes in direction.

 

[ralf]

I've had lessons from multiple instructors (though not Mario) on hitting the musical 1 no matter where it falls in your pattern. If you pay attention to advanced dancers, you'll often see them deliberately aligning their timing to put the 3 of a pattern on the 1 of a new phrase/verse as that gives more dramatic possibilities than the start of a pattern (it's the compression of a sugar push, the high-five of a tuck turn, etc.)

 

[opendoor]

..Persuading a CW dancer to break out of the 6count pattern is futile... Arrg.

But there are also are breaks, introductions, and finals in the music for CW2S. When the crowd stops and waits, the dancer's moment has come to interpret the music in a freestyling manner. That would exactly be your moment!

 

[Zhena]

simply finding women who are interested in partner dance other than CW two-step is surprisingly difficult

Although I have limited familiarity with C2S, I have not observed accented phrase changes mid-pattern to the extent I have observed them in WCS. Are there any proponents of accents in preference to extensions in C2S or videos of good use of accents you can point to?

 

[Steve Pastor]

Small (but not arsty) towns I've lived in include Brimley, MIchigan; Brule. Wisconsin; and Estacada, Oregon. Look 'em up just for fun. The best dances I've had in 2 of those places were polkas. And the last couple of times I daned polka here in Portland, the gals nearly danced me into the ground.
I noticed you didn't mention polka (LOL) as one of your dances. And they don't polka in Taos?

I've seen people doing Lindy (you mean Lindy Hop? or the West Coast version of Lindy which some people find to be different that the Savoy version - and some people don't) to "contemporary" country tunes, and it just doesn't seem to go with the music, which has very little swing. Balboa is even more rare and less like the music I connect associate with it. Tango? Argentine "milonga" can be danced as a "one step" to country. But, you specified "Tango."

Do they play mostly country tunes where you are dancing? Does Taos have a bunch of vacationers who show up for a while and look for somewhere to spend nights out? You might not find a regular partner in that group, but I've had some memorable dances with strangers.

Are you dancing 2 step mostly in a closed position, or open? I always go to a side by side position with my less skilled partners. I still dance the "red neck hold" closed position which isn't taught anymore where I am. Some gals don't like it much, and that's the end of that partnership (but not until the dance is over, if they are nice about it.)

Have you tried the step together step... version of "country two step" with people? If you could get that going, it could lead to Nite Club.
Anybody there do triple two step? KInd of like what Zhena wrote... what would happen if you were dancing triple two step and "accidently" put a stepstep between the two triples?

You could also create a two step pattern that mimics what you do in West Coast, and slowly work into a more WCS thing (middle of floor of course, unless they dance on a "race track" there.)

One more thought... If you lock into a step pattern (and there have been discusions here and other places about how well 6 count patterns "fit the music,") and can get your parnter to do the same in CW 2 step, you can lead, and they can follow, a whole bunch of variations that they "don't know."
Taos isn't Rome but.... (OK, maybe that's another thought)

 

[opendoor]

..It is danced 6 against 8 no matter what is going on in the music... Arrg.

I only know C2S through YT. In these videos the dancers actually do accentuate and interpret the music with special figures, dips, spins or poses.
And the 6-step pattern also means advantages: the dancer does not have to slavishly reproduce the "one" of the phrase.

 

[David_In_CA]

Although I have limited familiarity with C2S, I have not observed accented phrase changes mid-pattern to the extent I have observed them in WCS. Are there any proponents of accents in preference to extensions in C2S or videos of good use of accents you can point to?

It's been a long time since I've seen C2S, and I never really go the hang of it, to be honest. I was too new of a dancer at that point to make the different speed steps without any apparent communication of weight transfer make any sense.

It's mostly spins in C2S, I think. Looks like the basic spins start on 1, end on 3. So you could get a hit on an entry to sweetheart position or such. (e.g., spin on 1, 2, hit with the hand catch into sweetheart).

Here's a barrel roll sequence that ends on a 3 (or 15, depending on how you count), that would make a particularly nice accent, since there's a continuous spin that comes to a stop:

Here's an inside weave pattern with a hit on 3 (second 6 count pattern):