Gender Favorite Dances

[Spitfire]

I was just wondering if there is a dance or dances that women generally favor over what men favor and vise-versa.

Those of you who are or have been instructors; is there a most common dance that male students have wanted to work on most and one that female students have wanted to work on most?

Just curious.

 

[jdavidb]

I'm getting the feeling that some females like partner dances, but almost none of them consider it their #1. Their top priorities are solo or group dances like tap, jazz, ballet or hip hop. The girls & women I dealt with from Feb 2003 to May 2004 treated me like I was a major burden when I was doing all I could to make the partner stuff as easy as it could be for them.

Ballet girls gripe & moan about not having guys in their school for pas de deux, but when they finally get a class in it, they don't like it. Pas de deux becomes the class they dread the most, or at least the most boring class for them.

Regarding partner dances, I still don't really know why women don't like hustle. In our hustle class, 3 women enrolled and 4 guys enrolled. One of the 3 women has already said swing is her favorite. There's another one there who seems to have become quite an expert in every dance except hustle, so my impression is that this class is just a remote extra for her.

 

[sunderi]

I know that when my husband & I started dancing as a couple, he wanted to learn waltz most of all and I wanted to learn cha cha and salsa most of all. Our teacher told us we were weird -- it was usually the other way around.

 

[standardgirl]

Hustle is by far my favorite dance, but only when it's done with certain guys.....otherwise, I get bored
I like V Waltz in Standard when it's done right, otherwise a BIG NO!
In general, dancing with people I don't really know at social/studio parties, I find myself having more fun in Latin dances since I guess, they dont require as much connection as standard dances. easier to dance with people you don't know.

 

[DWise1]

I'm getting the feeling that some females like partner dances, but almost none of them consider it their #1. Their top priorities are solo or group dances like tap, jazz, ballet or hip hop. The girls & women I dealt with from Feb 2003 to May 2004 treated me like I was a major burden when I was doing all I could to make the partner stuff as easy as it could be for them.

My wife (currently working hard on becoming my ex) always loved to dance and still does. She suffers terribly if she can't get her Jazzercize fix each day. She simply could never sit still when danceable music was playing; I never could understand it at the time, but now I'm the same way, especially when it's swing music. But she had a hard time trying to adjust to partner dancing and never actually did. In her case, it was mainly because she hates anyone telling her what to do, especially if that someone was me.

But in general, I think that the added challenges of partner dancing might not suit many women who otherwise love dancing.

Regarding partner dances, I still don't really know why women don't like hustle.

All those turns and spins, maybe? That was the main complaint I heard in my hustle classes.

 

[MacMoto]

In my area, absolute beginners salsa classes are usually full of women. As you move up the ladder, the gender ratio starts balancing out, and intermediate/advanced classes may go close to 50-50. My theory is that there are a lot more women who want to try salsa than men, but the majority of these women are happy just to get a taste of it. As beginner followers in a class situation they have fun (and exercise) without having to work too hard, and many of them are quite happy to settle at that level. Many never go social dancing, and many leave as they find other interests. Men, on the other hand, have to invest a lot more time and effort to get anywhere in salsa, it's a real challenge for them, and for this reason those who have risen to that challenge tend to stay longer.

So I suppose salsa is favoured by women at the beginning stage. This may apply to other dances too, of course.