Inspired by EricD thread on special needs people joining in the class and also considering dancers who are under 18.
I thought I would ask the question... Have you ever banned someone from your venue, and if so why?
My thoughts go back to a 13 year old dancer who came with her dad, danced for 8 weeks just with her dad (out of rotation) and then her dad asked me, if there was a posibility for her to join in "normal" rotation.
She then joined in normal rotation and other people danced with her in freestyle and I did not see an "un-happy face".
My corrolation with special needs and those under 18 being "it is outside the 'norm' ".
So back to banning - I have done it once...
A guy who would grab a girl hard and drag her onto the floor, bumping into whoever on the way.
Be rude to her on the dance floor and tell her all the mistakes she was making, tell her she was 'crap' and then move on...
He even bumped into me a few times and gave me "evil eyes"...
After 3 complaints that evening (from girls), I asked 5 other folowers what thier thoughts were...
I then refunded his money, and asked him not to return.
My demo was worried and said "but he came with 3 girls and now they have all left..."
Turns out, the 3 girls came back next week without the "banned man" + my class went from 80 to 120...
So yes, I would do my darndest to include those under 18, and also those with special needs... but I will not put up with "pure rudeness".
I've banned a few guys for being pervy and one guy for threatening the caretaker at one of our venues.
The first time I banned a pervy guy I told him why and he agued the toss saying that the women were just over-sensitive, etc. From then on I've simply asked them not to come back.
I think that the only thing harder than banning someone is not banning them. You're stuck with the proof of your indecision, week after week. Once you have decided that someone needs to go you should do it straight away - it's a great relief when you've actually done it.
There are many difficult conversations you have as an organiser. Most recently I've had to tell someone that they weren't good enough to do an advanced workshop. He's been "jiving" elsewhere for six or seven years, has discovered our classes and came on the last advanced workshop - he even dropped a woman! I offered to let him come on our "improvers" workshop, this is the first workshop for people to get the basics of technique. I told the guy that his problem was that he doesn't do Modern Jive, he does a dance that's a bit like Salsa - it's just that his partners are still expecting MJ timing. He told me that he's been learning salsa moves and has been using them in his MJ - thankfully I'd guessed right!
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