Are you a Ceroc Purist?

[Lory]

Come and dance with me, I love men that lead me into things I've never done in my life before To be honest, with a good leader, there is no need for me to "know" any of his moves.

As long as nobody yanks my arms off in the process, I enjoy having a go at anything new

[Agente Secreto]

She has the right to dance whichever way she wants. If she only likes the moves she has been taught, and doesn't like being led into anything else, then that is her choice.

It is easier for leaders, as we only have to lead what we want. It is far harder for a follower, and short of not following the only thing she could do is tell you. Maybe she could have been a lot more diplomatic with the way she explained this. And she has to accept the consequences of her choice - such as some men not wanting to dance with her.

It is her choice to make, not ours to make for her.

Easier for leaders - be quiet man you'll be blowing years of carefully laid propoganda that says we have it hard

She absolutely has a right to dance as she wants, but how the hell do you tell which moves she might or might not know? I can see a horrible vision of having the dance equivalent of a pre-nup soon, agreeing which moves are acceptable to both parties and witnessed by a competent notary (note to self - potential business opportunity).

[Lou]

remind me to steer clear of Kidderminster!

One dancer does not a venue make.

I've had some really pleasant nights at Kidderminster. When I used to go, Debbie Atwood was the teacher - and I'd rate her as one of the best Ceroc teachers I've experienced.

And, to be fair, we've only had the original poster's brief rant on this thread. We don't know the context. We don't know if this woman is a Kidderminster regular - or even how experienced she is. From his description (and I realise from experience how difficult it is to describe moves on here ), the move in question sounded quite choreographed - for instance, it appears it required the lady to know to "click". And, forgive me for being blunt, we don't know how good he is at leading.

It sounds, to me, that she was worried by his dancing. Maybe she could've been more diplomatic - but I've learned not to make snap judgments based on one half of the story...

[Jive Crazy]

She has the right to dance whichever way she wants. If she only likes the moves she has been taught, and doesn't like being led into anything else, then that is her choice.

It is easier for leaders, as we only have to lead what we want. It is far harder for a follower, and short of not following the only thing she could do is tell you. Maybe she could have been a lot more diplomatic with the way she explained this. And she has to accept the consequences of her choice - such as some men not wanting to dance with her.

It is her choice to make, not ours to make for her.

I appreciate your comments Dave she made here remarks to me about 10 secs before the end of the dance though. She could just have easily kept them to herself and not danced with me again. She was really quite rude had she not been I would have laughed it off. I think she did herself no favours in the long run. It reminds me of the time I used to work in a bar with a bolshi customer I told all the other staff not to serve them. Similarly I told everyone to avoid her to and so I am sure her night was not as pleasant as it might have been. This was most out of character for me but as I say she was very rude in the first place.

Steve R

[bigdjiver]

"official Ceroc moves"? Is that like "8 ladies on"?

[ducasi]

One dancer does not a venue make.

Of course not, and if I ever find myself in Kidderminster (unlikely, as I don't even know where it is), I shall make every effort to go dancing there.

[NZ Monkey]

It is her choice to make, not ours to make for her.

True, but it's our right to speculate as to the practicality of said choice....

[Jive Crazy]

I appeciate your comments Lou you are right she could have been more diplomatic. Obviously we dont know each other but the last thing I would want to do would be to hurt her feelings or anybody else for that matter. I was just surprised by the way I was treated. I have danced on and off for about 10 years now and while I understand that people have the option to dance with and how they like there is still a need for common courtesy. Dont take this as a dress down it is not intended like that.

Steve R

[Jive Crazy]

I agree Debbie Attwood is a real great teacher. I refer you all to the post double couple dancing I am about to do.

Steve R

[MartinHarper]

Dancing is like a conversation. When your partner solicits you to "speak English man", it may not be an impeccable opportunity to enlighten her on the purloining complexion of our mother tongue, and the entertainment to be realized by actuation of its linguistic treasure house of utterances. Additionally, informing the hoi polloi that said confederate is a hebetudinous dolt risks imperilment on a subsequent eventide.

[frodo]

I was put out by a female dancer at a recent Kidderminster freestyle who said to me that she only does "official ceroc moves" Being being this way inclined surely she is limiting her overal dance experience and repetoire. While I understand that the Ceroc formula has been very successful in its various forms over the years I have to ask the question "Are you a Ceroc Purist".

Aren't all moves taught in Ceroc venues official Ceroc moves ?


If so perhaps it isn't a huge limitation, if like lots of people you've only ever attended Ceroc venues.

Ceroc moves probably go though some sort of quality control so there could be a reasonable motive in doing so.

There may be some safety in doing only Ceroc moves.


Sounds like something out of "Strictly Ballroom" though.

[Lynn]

She has the right to dance whichever way she wants. If she only likes the moves she has been taught, and doesn't like being led into anything else, then that is her choice.

That was my point, suggesting she could be an inexperienced dancer not comfortoable with 'new' moves and maybe she only wanted to follow the beginner moves. I know a lot of followers go through this stage, even though they rarely tell leaders, certainly at least two women have said to me just in the past week 'I don't like moves I don't know, I feel I can't do them'.

She may have been embarrassed if she couldn't follow a move and that may have been the reason for her manner?

THere are hundreds of intermediate moves - I've been to classes with some very long, very complicated, moves, with footwork, 'choreographed' parts - ones I personally think would be very hard to follow in freestyle - but they are all taught as 'Ceroc moves'. So any follower stipulating to the lead what she wants to follow would need to say 'beginner moves only' etc.

[Martin]

That was my point, suggesting she could be an inexperienced dancer not comfortoable with 'new' moves and maybe she only wanted to follow the beginner moves. I know a lot of followers go through this stage, even though they rarely tell leaders, certainly at least two women have said to me just in the past week 'I don't like moves I don't know, I feel I can't do them'.

........

So any follower stipulating to the lead what she wants to follow would need to say 'beginner moves only' etc.

Sounds logical, I know that when I dance with a beginner or a non confident dancer, I do mainly beginner moves, close to how they are taught.

[Lou]

I appeciate your comments Lou you are right she could have been more diplomatic. Obviously we dont know each other but the last thing I would want to do would be to hurt her feelings or anybody else for that matter. I was just surprised by the way I was treated. I have danced on and off for about 10 years now and while I understand that people have the option to dance with and how they like there is still a need for common courtesy. Dont take this as a dress down it is not intended like that.

Steve R

Hiya Steve. Don't worry about me taking your comments as a dressing down - I spoke honestly to you, so I'm glad you feel you can reply in the same manner.

My post was directed more to people here - who should know better! (Grins at Ducassi )


(p.s. It's in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham* city centre.

*Birmingham (pronunciation (help·info); IPA /ˈbɜːmɪŋˌəm/; Burr-ming-um) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the largest of England's core cities, and is often considered to be the second city of the United Kingdom.

(thanks, Wikipedia))

[johnnyman]

Such a reaction goes into the realm of saying no to you bluntly and then happily going off with the next person she sees.

Given the wealth of good tuition we have in the UK and on occasion from OZ and the US when the generous souls, who make an effort to travel , grace our dance classes as guest teachers, it is quite sad that someone would only dance official ceroc moves.

However, as other people on this thread have admitted, she might be nervous or new to dancing in general and wants to get used to this before trying out different things.

I am sure that there are plenty of other people less set in their styles you can dance to at freestyles, weekenders and classes.

best
johnnyman

[jive-vee]

I just try to follow what's being led I'd have no idea if they were official moves, variations, made up on the spot. If the dance feels nice and the music's good then I'm . (although actually if it were just move after move dancing straight through the music then )

[ducasi]

(p.s. It's in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham* city centre.

*Birmingham (pronunciation (help·info); IPA /ˈbɜːmɪŋˌəm/; Burr-ming-um) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the largest of England's core cities, and is often considered to be the second city of the United Kingdom.

(thanks, Wikipedia))

Sorry, where's England?

I should have remembered to add DS's trademark to the end of my message to show I wasn't serious – or was I?

[Daisy Chain]

Pretty sure it's just the lady spin renamed, except for taking hold of the follower's wrist to stop and spin then rather than getting the follower to create a fist to catch in a cupped hand and then spin.

I agree, but from a follower's point of view it feels very different (and much much nicer). Probably because it's easier for the man not to push you off-balance.

Daisy

(An Unbalanced Little Flower)

[LuLu Baby]

No Lory sadly she was downright rude and just walked off. I regard myself as a fairly advanced dancer so tend to invent moves as I go.

I don't see anything wrong with inventing new moves. And I very rarely dance with men who stick to "official ceroc moves". Your follower surely would have picked up on the fact pretty quickly that you were not going to stick to "ceroc moves", so should probably have brought this up quicker than she did. But, just basic manners are not too much to ask for - walking off is very rude I agree

There are moves?????

Just what I was thinking!

She has the right to dance whichever way she wants. If she only likes the moves she has been taught, and doesn't like being led into anything else, then that is her choice.

I totally agree with this, but just basic manners wouldn't go a miss


I personally don't think she is doing herself any favours, by only wanting to dance in this way... The best dances I've had have been where there has been a little experimenting going on I like a challenge But everyone's different.


Lou xx

[Gav]

She has the right to dance whichever way she wants. If she only likes the moves she has been taught, and doesn't like being led into anything else, then that is her choice.

she has to accept the consequences of her choice - such as some men not wanting to dance with her.

Never mind I have learnt a bitter lesson.

I would suggest that the lesson you learned was a valuable, not bitter one. That is, not to ask that lady to dance again because your styles don't suit. I would also suggest that you have a perfectly valid reason to say no if she ever asks you to dance.