How is Ballroom Dancing like a Relationship / Marriage?

markc said:
ballroom dancing is a lot like a relationship or a marriage .
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You mean, after two years the passion is over between the leader and the follower? And after seven years there is big crisis but if the couple survives it then it can last for half a century?
 
newbie said:
You mean, after two years the passion is over between the leader and the follower? And after seven years there is big crisis but if the couple survives it then it can last for half a century?
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No, that's not what I had in mind. I mean the marriage dance can go on forever, and be more passionate at the end than the beginning.
 
fascination said:
sometimes you realize that you aren't a match but you are already emotionally invested, so the divorce is very painful
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Yes, unfortunately that can happen. But it's not the end of your dance career, there doesn't have to be a lingering bitterness, and the "right partner" could be next. Don't give up!
 
markc said:
my plans were for new dancers, but i wouldn't limit it. I'm comfortable teaching bronze level ballroom, but not beyond that. We have several colleges in the area, and I thought of advertising with them to attract a younger audience - but i'm no where near that point yet. Still figuring out how to deliver this program.
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Just my opinion, but I think you may scare off newer and younger dancers with a course title/subject like this. It's hard enough to get newbies on the dance floor without making them think they're tackling something as big as a serious relationship. Newbies just need to get out there and get going on some basics for starters. (A casual mention that dance relationships can be tough/complicated, just like off the floor relationships, could be helpful if they are struggling with that - e.g. for a romantic couple taking dance lessons together.)

Give the Sissies book a read - and then think about what dancers would be a good audience for that book. That's probably your target audience for a class with this subject.
 
raindance said:
Just my opinion, but I think you may scare off newer and younger dancers with a course title/subject like this. It's hard enough to get newbies on the dance floor without making them think they're tackling something as big as a serious relationship. Newbies just need to get out there and get going on some basics for starters. (A casual mention that dance relationships can be tough/complicated, just like off the floor relationships, could be helpful if they are struggling with that - e.g. for a romantic couple taking dance lessons together.)

Give the Sissies book a read - and then think about what dancers would be a good audience for that book. That's probably your target audience for a class with this subject.
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Very good points! I'll have to give the title more thought; I'm glad i didn't take out a URL yet.
I don't want to scare off the new students, I want to encourage them. But at the same time, I don't want it to be just another dance class. And I want to teach dance, but I want to help build solid relationships and marriages more. So I need a "catchy" title that is light-hearted, marketable, and still conveys the metaphor of dance and marriage. Any suggestions?

I'm working on the Sissies book now, and I really like it. The two others I've read approach it from a Christian viewpoint, and are good for marriage counseling, but not translatable to a class syllabus. The Sissies book is written by psychologists, and is more pragmatic, and useful for building a syllabus.

Part of my reason for posting on this forum is to get help with what issues to build into the course, and how to teach them. For example, "Trust". We all know it's imperative in dance and marriage, but how do you teach it in a dance class? Are there exercises for it? and so on... The ideas are coming in, THANK YOU
 
fascination said:
I also think that it's equally important, if not more, to note how it is NOT like a romantic relationship...because God only knows how much damage has been done when people do confuse the two
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So very true. New students come in thinking of it as a dating service, and it's not. My studio averages 100 to 150 people on a Saturday night, and the ones on the prowl stick out more than they know.

In my own experience, I have a wife who loves to dance, but doesn't spend as much time at it as i do. So I am always careful about how I deal with other ladies. The ones who know me are comfortable, but it's obvious I dance with my wife differently.

The real limiting factor comes in showcases, where you get to select your own music. There are certain musical pieces, combined with certain dances (like a sexy bolero) that I just avoid with anyone else - I'm not comfortable at all with the image of "sex on the dance floor" that is often seen. Likewise with the age factor. I'm over 60, and if i'm dancing with a 25 year old girl (or student), there are certain images I just don't want to portray.

So again, you're right - It's not a romance, it's a DANCE - nothing more.
 
I incorporate some of these concepts into my regular dance classes. It's predominantly about dance, but I sometimes draw a correlation between lead and follow and marriage so as to illustrate the importance of teamwork. I talk about empathy, looking at how to improve yourself rather than blame your partner... Basically everything people have suggested here. I don't make a big deal of it, just work it in here and there. So I don't know that it's necessary to structure a whole class on this alone, unless you're marketing it as a relationship improvement workshop and have the credentials to do so.
 
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