Ron, I disagree. Wait ten seconds after any particular song is over, then
ask a beginner to name the song he just danced to, or to simply hum a few
bars of it. 9 out of 10 beginners surveyed won't be able to. They are
really just listening to the beat and might as well be dancing to a
metronome.
Is it best to have appropriate music for the dance you wish to do? Of
course. But look what I wrote:
... rather than standing around, you could have danced...
I hope he doesn't mind me broadcasting this, but Aaron wrote me privately
that when he started dancing Y, someone told him that he should be doing X.
He didn't know X, so he stopped doing the dance Y that he knew. This kind
of thing gets him nowhere. I'd like to ask the "helpful" people who are
giving this kind of advice to CUT IT OUT!
Another part of the problem is that many members just attend practice
because it's a chance to see their friends and they treat it as simply a
free dance. If you are seriously trying to improve, don't try to follow
their example and copy what they are doing: "dancing" is not "practicing."
Break things down, work on individual skills, and get in enough repetition
until those skills become muscle memory and you don't have to consciously
think about them. When that happens, move on to other skills. There's no
shortage of them in dance :-) If you don't know what I am talking about,
borrow some of approximately 20 technique videos in the DI video library.
> On Tuesday evenings from 8:15 until 10:00 the Regent has a nice long
>practice dance at which lots of music suited to beginner dances is played,
>the kind of dance is announced each time, and a large proportion of the
>dancers are beginners. David Lin says, "Tuesday practice is for the
>beginners" and he does not play certain kinds of music at all on Tuesdays
>for that reason. Unlike Friday nights, it is usually not crowded, partly
>because the whole floor surface is available for dancing. A possible
>drawback is that it costs $3.00.
great advice. Let me just add that since David's Tuesday night "practice"
is run much like a dance, again, don't feel like you have to do what
everyone else is doing. Feel free to grab a spot by a mirror, out of the
way of traffic, and practice what you need to work on, with or without a
partner. David is also happy to answer questions as long as you don't try
to monopolize him.
I hope this helps,
Mark
ps - In my last post I left out that you can also practice new or difficult
Cha cha steps to the slower tempo music for Rumba.