snapdancer
Forum Master
I had an interesting dance encounter this past weekend. I was traveling out of town, so I looked on the Internet for a place to dance in the evening and found an event to attend. Even though the music at this event was country, most were dancing the triple-two step and WCS worked well for the song selection. Other reasons for WCS working are that the floor didn’t fill up with line dancers as would happen in my home town when the same music is played, and the dancers respected LOD whichever dance they were doing. As I know how to lead the WCS and not the triple-two, I was doing that. I encountered a range of following skills and I was getting by pretty well. That is until “B” showed up and I asked her to dance.
During our dance, “B” was intentionally disconnecting from my leads and changing the patterns. After about the third time this happened, “B” declared “You’re in my slot”. I responded that she was disconnecting from my leads. Her comeback was to insist that I was in her slot, and to add that she was a better lead than me. I was taken aback, but somehow finished dancing the song.
Thinking back later on about the coulda/woulda/shouldas, my response could have been: “Well, since you’re a better lead than me, I’m going to ‘get out of your slot’ just like you want and let somebody superior to me take of the lead -- you.” Followed by my immediate departure from the dance floor. But I’ve never abandoned a lady on the floor in the middle of a song, and it’s just as well that I didn’t break my rule with her. So no regrets on how I handled this egregious situation at the time.
When it comes to being the lady’s slot in WCS, sure it is and that’s how I usually describe it -- to the other leads who don’t get out of it and to the follows conditioned to go around the leads who don’t get out of the slot. But in reality, it is not the follower’s slot until she gets a lead to go down it and then the leader should be out of it.
As far as a woman being a better lead than me, I don’t have false macho pride that thinks it can’t be. I’m sure that there are plenty of women who are better leads than me. But I don’t think “B” is included in that; watching her lead someone else later on, it seemed she was using her arms too much instead of her body. But I didn’t review her criteria for determining that she was a better lead.
From dancing with a lot of the ladies at this weekend’s social dance, I would rank my dance experience with “B” at the bottom. “B” obviously had some good technique, but that was offset by her disconnecting from me. And the attitude reflected was definitely at the bottom. I had a better dancing experience that night with a newbie who’d only been dancing a few months and whose stamina was limited by recent medical issues. But the newbie was doing her best to follow and had a smile on her face despite her adversities. On average, overall, I had a good time at the social dance despite this one episode.
Looking for the humor in the situation, I found it ironic that I found out later on that “B” had received a social dance award at an event, based on observations from the DJ booth. I doubt that the DJ there had special mind reading skills to determine whether or not each dance partner was left feeling wonderful about the dance experience.
Which leads to the point of this posting. So how do we determine who is a better dancer in a social dance context? Whether WCS or another dance (which is why I’m posting on the General Dance Discussion board instead of the Swing board.
Self-ranking is out due to the prejudice factor. And having a third-party observer is really not valid, because what they see is not necessarily what the couple is experiencing. The Jack-and-Jill contests that are common to the swing dance scene are somewhat a test of social dance skills but since the partner selection is by drawing there is an element of randomness to it; your partner for the contest might be a rank newbie you never danced with or someone you’ve danced with for years. Also, Jack–and-Jill contests are judged by third-party observers.
If there is to be a formal award for social dance skills, I suggest the contest be conducted like this. This approach could be applied to any dance, not just swing. The judging panel would consist of several social dancers, who haven’t danced with any of the contestants for at least a year. The judging panel would include a range of dance skills, from a newbie only dancing for a few months up to dancers with many years of experience. Because the contestants would be judged by their partners instead of a judge at the edge of the dance floor, the bib with the number would be on the contestant’s chest instead of the back. The judges would take turns dancing with the contestants, and at the end would rank the contestants for social dance ability based on criteria that would be more than just technique and content, looking at other attributes of the total social dance experience. A lead would have to quickly evaluate the skill level of his (or her) follow and determine how best to get the best performance from the couple and give the best experience to his(her) follower.
While competition dancing and showcase dancing is directed at an audience, social dancing is about the partnership experience. While your dancing should not intrude on the good time of others on the floor, if someone observing your dancing is favorably impressed by the visual appearance that is only gravy. Social dancing is mainly about what both partners experience during that dance. And that should drive the criteria for determining who is the better social dancer.
During our dance, “B” was intentionally disconnecting from my leads and changing the patterns. After about the third time this happened, “B” declared “You’re in my slot”. I responded that she was disconnecting from my leads. Her comeback was to insist that I was in her slot, and to add that she was a better lead than me. I was taken aback, but somehow finished dancing the song.
Thinking back later on about the coulda/woulda/shouldas, my response could have been: “Well, since you’re a better lead than me, I’m going to ‘get out of your slot’ just like you want and let somebody superior to me take of the lead -- you.” Followed by my immediate departure from the dance floor. But I’ve never abandoned a lady on the floor in the middle of a song, and it’s just as well that I didn’t break my rule with her. So no regrets on how I handled this egregious situation at the time.
When it comes to being the lady’s slot in WCS, sure it is and that’s how I usually describe it -- to the other leads who don’t get out of it and to the follows conditioned to go around the leads who don’t get out of the slot. But in reality, it is not the follower’s slot until she gets a lead to go down it and then the leader should be out of it.
As far as a woman being a better lead than me, I don’t have false macho pride that thinks it can’t be. I’m sure that there are plenty of women who are better leads than me. But I don’t think “B” is included in that; watching her lead someone else later on, it seemed she was using her arms too much instead of her body. But I didn’t review her criteria for determining that she was a better lead.
From dancing with a lot of the ladies at this weekend’s social dance, I would rank my dance experience with “B” at the bottom. “B” obviously had some good technique, but that was offset by her disconnecting from me. And the attitude reflected was definitely at the bottom. I had a better dancing experience that night with a newbie who’d only been dancing a few months and whose stamina was limited by recent medical issues. But the newbie was doing her best to follow and had a smile on her face despite her adversities. On average, overall, I had a good time at the social dance despite this one episode.
Looking for the humor in the situation, I found it ironic that I found out later on that “B” had received a social dance award at an event, based on observations from the DJ booth. I doubt that the DJ there had special mind reading skills to determine whether or not each dance partner was left feeling wonderful about the dance experience.
Which leads to the point of this posting. So how do we determine who is a better dancer in a social dance context? Whether WCS or another dance (which is why I’m posting on the General Dance Discussion board instead of the Swing board.
Self-ranking is out due to the prejudice factor. And having a third-party observer is really not valid, because what they see is not necessarily what the couple is experiencing. The Jack-and-Jill contests that are common to the swing dance scene are somewhat a test of social dance skills but since the partner selection is by drawing there is an element of randomness to it; your partner for the contest might be a rank newbie you never danced with or someone you’ve danced with for years. Also, Jack–and-Jill contests are judged by third-party observers.
If there is to be a formal award for social dance skills, I suggest the contest be conducted like this. This approach could be applied to any dance, not just swing. The judging panel would consist of several social dancers, who haven’t danced with any of the contestants for at least a year. The judging panel would include a range of dance skills, from a newbie only dancing for a few months up to dancers with many years of experience. Because the contestants would be judged by their partners instead of a judge at the edge of the dance floor, the bib with the number would be on the contestant’s chest instead of the back. The judges would take turns dancing with the contestants, and at the end would rank the contestants for social dance ability based on criteria that would be more than just technique and content, looking at other attributes of the total social dance experience. A lead would have to quickly evaluate the skill level of his (or her) follow and determine how best to get the best performance from the couple and give the best experience to his(her) follower.
While competition dancing and showcase dancing is directed at an audience, social dancing is about the partnership experience. While your dancing should not intrude on the good time of others on the floor, if someone observing your dancing is favorably impressed by the visual appearance that is only gravy. Social dancing is mainly about what both partners experience during that dance. And that should drive the criteria for determining who is the better social dancer.
