As a crew member, it's my role to dance with beginners. One of the delights of Modern Jive as a dance form is that I can take almost any first-timer follower onto the dance floor, and she will enjoy the dance. That's because there is so little that she needs to know to dance.
It takes only a couple of seconds to assess her arm tone (I normally do this whilst walking her on to the floor). That enables me to choose a style that will work with her ability to follow. If she has minimal tone (leading her into a step backwards results in just her arm moving), then I know to lead "pulling" moves, plus anything that has been taught in the beginners' class that night. If she has great tone, then I will lead any move where she stays upright, normally avoiding the moves that have been taught in the beginners' class. In either case, my intent is that she enjoys the dance, and boosts her confidence.
Here is a set of moves that are useful when leading a follower with soft tone.
Each of these is biased towards "pulling". If she doesn't follow a backwards lead, that's OK. I can create enough separation with my own stepping so that she has space to step forward when I lead the next beat.
The repertoire looks small, but it can be supplemented with any of the moves taught that night. And in the course of dancing one or two tracks, she won't get bored, and the repetition will help her enjoyment.
I know that it's counter-intuitive. Surely it would help her learning and confidence if I lead the moves that she has already learned? My theory is that that's not necessary.
By the end of a 45 minute class, she will have stepped through the class moves a number of times, most of them without being led effectively. And in the review class, she will again spend 45 minutes focusing mainly on those moves. There are two consequences of this 90 minute focus:
So I lead other moves. I lead any of the easier beginner moves, and any of the easier intermediate moves (remember that some of the beginner moves are actually harder than some of the intermediate moves). And, as with the first time dancing with anyone, I continually assess her ability to follow what I'm leading, and change the complexity to suit. If she suddenly loses confidence after a fairly complex move (such as a Yo-yo) then I'll reassure her and drop the complexity back a notch. And if she fails to follow a particular part of a move, I try to seamlessly lead her into a variant, so that she doesn't realise that she didn't follow.
In most cases, she finishes the track delighted with her new-found ability. She has realised that she doesn't need to know the moves to dance them, and because most of the dance has avoided the moves taught in class, she hasn't had the opportunity to lead herself through any moves. She's understood the concept of a "led dance".
Experienced dancers have little concept of personal space. As a dance couple, we have our hands and bodies in positions and grips that would have us arrested in Dubai. But it takes a while to release our conditioning of acceptable personal space, and realise that different rules apply during dancing. It's important to remember that beginners still have normal expectations about personal space, and beginner women especially want to keep a fair distance from men they don't know.
One of the moves first-time women like the least is the Ginger. That's because:
I will only lead a first-timer into a Ginger if it has been taught in class that night, and even then, I'm not likely to do so.
Several side-changing moves work best if we stay in contact all the time. Examples are break-through, neck-through and loop-through. In each case, the contact with my partner's right arm helps me feel where she is, helps lead her to turn towards me at the end of the move, and enables me to lead the next move in time to the music. But many first-timers prefer to break contact for these moves. During the review class, I explain to them why it helps to keep contact. Once they have a valid, non-sleazy reason for the contact, they're happy to change.
For all other moves, I try to keep a safe distance from my partner - enough separation so that she feels comfortable, but close enough so that we can keep in time to the music, and keep out of the way of other couples.
An experienced teacher once told me that she could teach an entire two-hour workshop on floorcraft. Yet in normal classes we cover it only incidentally. There's a good introduction here.
Floorcraft is essential to keeping safe on the dance floor. There are feet, arms and heads flying everywhere. Both partners need to cooperate to avoid injury. But first-timers don't have the learned awareness of the dance floor, so the leader needs to look out for both.
Beginners raise two floorcraft challenges:
The leader needs to be aware of these at all times, especially on a crowded dance floor. I can compensate a little if she steps back a long way, by exaggerating my own step back, and by keeping my leading arm short. As the floor becomes more crowded, I also choose moves where she stays closer - a First move walk or Basket walk, for example.
As always, be aware that a dance floor is very dynamic. A space that was safe one beat ago might be occupied on the next beat.
My philosophy is that coaching whilst dancing should be avoided, unless it's requested (see No Danseplaining, please). I want beginners to enjoy the dance without thinking, and coaching generally has them focus internally rather than on the music and the lead. Too much coaching can be counter-productive, even if it's requested: it's easy to overload your student with too many things to think about at the same time.
During the track, I restrict my comments to encouragement (especially when she's looking like she's lost confidence after a more complex move) and essential safety. My most common advice is "small steps", followed by "eyes up". Very occasionally, I'll also say something like "stay standing" - for example, if I lead her into a basket and she thinks I'm leading a dip instead of a sway backwards. Only after the track do I sometimes offer other advice, but only after asking if it's wanted.
Copyright © John Stoke 2013