Does anybody have any other alternatives to calling them "spare ladies"?Originally Posted by Andy McGregor on the class line etiquette thread
Some classes space the "spare" ladies out throughout the lines so there are no "spare" ladies.
If you do this, please make sure that there's one lady waiting to join the first row so that the poor guy at the front isn't left on his own while the next rotation starts without him because the last lady has 1/2 a mile to walk to get to him.
I do this in intermediate lessons where there's room. I call it the ladies in the gaps rotation and it takes constant management. The problem with it is that the lady that comes off the end doesn't always appear to be the one lady waiting to come back on. I think she stops on her half mile walk and has a chat, goes to the loo, etc. I have to keep getting other ladies from the gaps to be guy number 1's partner - probably on every second or third rotation in my experience.
The ladies in the gaps works much better when you are teaching in a circle. I would rather not use it for classes in lines as it is such a pain with the management of disappearing ladies. However, it does mean that the class runs faster because one lady on is quicker than 13 ladies on.
"extra followers"
"women over"
Last edited by bigdjiver; 13th-September-2007 at 12:38 PM. Reason: beautifully constructed ascii diagram lost alignment
This is true and would work in some venues. However, the venue I mosly do this has a bit of a Catch 22. I can have 4 lines quite comfortably. But putting the ladies in the gaps makes it a bot crowded so I need to change to 3 lines.
I've tried getting the last guy in Line 3 to tell the lady coming off that she's needed at the front. This works until some other guy joins the end of row 3. This usually means he grabs the lady coming off as well. And, yet another time, I have to find a lady from the gaps for guy number 1. And, as the new "last guy" hasn't been briefed he lets the ladies wander about at random.
This is exactly how things are usually run in NZ, and I have to admit that I thought it was completely backward when I found out the common opinion was that "filling in the gaps" required too much management and was really messy when I was in London. It had virtually never been a problem where I came from and as Andy says - it makes the classes move faster. It also has the added advantage of meaning you really do get to dance with everyone and not just every fourth or sixth person which occasionally happens.
I guess it's more a case of what the punters are used to than anything else. I suspect if we were to have a line of ladies in waiting here in Auckland it'd be confusing moving them all on a number greater than 1 for a while.
I never say "Spare Ladies"... I was Ceroc trained
Surely the best alternative to spare ladies is to get more men?
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