Dance Paths
05.16.07

We have seen a proliferation of dance opportunities in the South Florida area over the last year. To many of us truly addicted to the dance, this comes as a welcome chance to get out and enjoy our lust for West Coast Swing as many nights as the body will hold up!
 
For those of you just starting out, the chance to become good at this dance has never been better. One of the toughest ways to learn anything is to take a class on the subject, but never jump into the process completely. Feelings of "not being good enough" consistently rear up and bite these potential dancers and limit them severely. I know I've used this saying from an old instructor of mine before, but it bears repeating at every opportunity; "The only way to the cool room is through the geek room!"
 
Each and everyone of us have spent time learning the ropes in dance, whether ballroom, WCS or the many other styles available to us. With the right crowd around us, we get encouragement and support in our efforts to convert from awkward to awesome. Avoid individuals who are negative and unneccessarily critical of those around them. Focus on learning in manageable portions. Don't bite off more than you can digest in one go. After my introduction to dance, I made a decision to concentrate on two dances a year in my learning time. Make a similar decision and stick with it. Dances you learn later use many of the same techniques as the ones you learn now, making the later dances easier to get under your belt.
 
Learn from mistakes, but don't sweat them. Learning to dance is a lifetime commitment if you want. Skippy Blair consistently states that the days she doesn't make a mistake is a day wasted.
 
ON A SIDE NOTE...
 
One thing I want to suggest to the organizers of dances in this area: Etiquette is important. Think about someone grabbing the microphone and announcing a dance they are organizing during your event. Doesn't sound like something you want to see happen, does it? This is what you are doing when you ply someone else's dancers with flyers or running from table to table to relate your marketing message without permission from your host. Dance news gets around, so people will come up to you and ask for details and making that connection to answer those questions is proper. Just please don't generate ill-will and backlash by aggressively marketing your dance on someone else's time...