I'd Like to Get You on a big empty floor with a nice slow foxtrot playing

[Chris Stratton]

Anyone ever get annoyed with the weekly practice/lesson/whatever routine not quite managing to include an opportunity to really dance for the art - or let's admit it, ultimately the enjoyment - of it?

Overcrowded studios, limiting schedules... real, important progress still gets made, but under usual conditions it ends up to be about learning what you should do when you get a chance, with few chances (except to a limited degree competitions) to actually do it.

Did you figure out anything to do about it?

 

[Laura]

Yeah, skip work and go when the studio is empty! (Or don't have a regular job .)

 

[samina]

Anyone ever get annoyed with the weekly practice/lesson/whatever routine not quite managing to include an opportunity to really dance for the art - or let's admit it, ultimately the enjoyment - of it?

Overcrowded studios, limiting schedules... real, important progress still gets made, but under usual conditions it ends up to be about learning what you should do when you get a chance, with few chances (except to a limited degree competitions) to actually do it.

Did you figure out anything to do about it?

come to hillsborough, chris.

every sunday afternoon.

 

[jwlinson]

Late-night, when we can have it all to ourselves.

 

[Chris Stratton]

Late night works well if your partner can make it - doesn't work so well for dancing with teachers as they are either wanting to go home, or finally dancing with their partners.

 

[danceronice]

Uh....to tell the truth, no, not really. I'm only really having fun if I'm on lesson. Practice is a chore, though I do it, social dancing is a torture, and I wouldn't know what to do with myself alone. If I had a partner I'd want to be practicing or creating a new routine.

 

[reb]

I agree with the suggestions above . . . basically anytime except from 6pm - 10pm weekdays - give or take an hour depending on local conditions!

 

[elisedance]

First thing, with the morning sun streaming in through the studio curtains, a slow foxtrot playing, two cups of coffee on the table and us just letting loose. Does it get any better, I really mean it, thats about as close to heaven as I think I can get.

Anyone remember that scene in the movie White Nights where Baryshnykov and Hines dance a duet alone in the morning in a studio in Moscow? I was so taken with that - I saw it before I took up dancing and wonder sometimes if it was actually instrumental...

Nice thread Chris. We can babble about competitions and lessons and socials and all - but, as least for me, it really only comes down to letting go and dancing. Now if I could only pull that off during a comp....

 

[Joe]

What happened to the slow boat to China?

 

[fascination]

actually I have been known to schedule a periodic play date...usually my birthday where pro has to just be quiet and dance

 

[Peaches]

Last song of any lesson is just dancing...heaven. (Well, for me, at least. Not sure how my teacher feels about it, but that's not my problem.)

And for me, the social dancing is the point. Nothing like a semi-crowded floor, with all the energy coming from the othe couples on the floor, the perfect song, and a magical connection.

 

[Peaches]

actually I have been known to schedule a periodic play date...usually my birthday where pro has to just be quiet and dance

I've done that as well. It was supposed to be a lesson--but given that I was just barely not dissolving into tears at the time, I asked him just to put the music on and make me not think about anything other than dancing for an hour and a half. It worked.

 

[fascination]

usually doesn't work too well for us b/c I know him so well that I can hear him think now

 

[Peaches]

Yeah, I'm gettin' to that point. But I dance with him socially, as well. (Yeah, I know he's working, but it's social dancing for me.) I've got no problem turning off the student part of my brain and letting go and enjoying a great dance from a leader I really trust and connect with.

Besides, even if I had been thinking in student mode, it would have gotten my mind off what I had been thinking about...which would have been an improvement. Basically, I just desperately needed to get out of my own head for a while, and it worked.

 

[fascination]

I think I could turn of student if he could turn off teacher...but I don't think that is even remotely possible