The Dance Primer

“You got to know when to hold ‘em…” Floor craft: knowing where you and others are on the dance floor so you and your partner don’t hit others. It’s like seeing where you fit in a moving puzzle.

I was at a dance pratica a while back, dancing with a lead who is pretty new to the dance, and pretty serious about wanting to “get it right.” At one time he swung me around and said, “I’m not sure about this. My swing out is only going around to here. Shouldn’t it go to here?” I don’t even remember if he rotated more or less. I had to smile as I told him that it truly didn’t matter. He was so stressed about it, and he would be so much better off if he didn’t stress so much.

But then, on the way home I told my husband about it, and he said, “but it does matter!” Oh no, here I am giving false information. He went on to point out that you need to be able to turn your swing out to send out the follow to the open spot on the floor. He is SO right.

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I get bumped into others by leads that stare at their feet. These guys are either super shy, or just concentrating so hard on what their feet are doing that they can’t take their eyes off ‘em. But there are also those who look at you, or even look around the floor, and still bang you into others. In these cases, I have to focus a lot of my own energy on watching the floor, and backleading when necessary to keep us from hitting someone.

Fellahs, it is so important that you work on your floor craft! A follow would much rather feel safe in your arms than be impressed by the ten new moves you learned at last weekend’s workshop.