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Thread: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

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    Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    I’ve had mixed experiences when dancing in public. I’d be interested to hear what kind of a reception other people have had.

    Here's a few of mine to get the ball rolling:

    City centre club/bar with a DJ
    Danced some MJ fairly early on in the evening at a time when most people hadn’t drunk very much alcohol and the dancefloor was still completely empty. The spectators were mainly young people; some of the women made pleasant comments and asked if we were pros as we passed them on the way out, the men were stony faced and said nothing.

    Large pub in a fairly rural town
    We had a pub dinner on a Friday night during a weekend away from home; there were some posters up advertising live music later on, so we decided to hang around and see if anything danceable would be played (although neither of us had our dance shoes with us). An hour later they cleared some tables and chairs and rolled up the large rug. The live music turned out to be a female singer with a karaoke setup. After a few tracks the singer invited everyone to get up and ‘dance with her’. We let a few more tracks pass to see if any muggles would accept the invitation. Nobody did, so we decided to dip our toes in with some MJ to a danceable track. Lots of drinkers were having a good look at us and those that were facing the wrong way swivelled their heads. About halfway through the track the singer started complaining, in between singing her lyrics, that we were 'showing her up'. We finished the track but didn't stay long after that. The locals eye-balled us through the pub windows as we walked away down the street.

    City centre bar with live band
    There wasn’t much room in the main dance area. We managed to find a quieter corner and had some good dances to challenging music, switching between Lindyhop and MJ in the same track, which is always good fun. We received some lovely comments from the people close by that were watching us.

    Dancing at a festival in front of the music tent:
    It was a terrible surface to dance on (brick paving). A photographer, appeared from somewhere and started snapping away, no idea if we ever made it into print. I had some conversations with people who were interested in learning after watching us.

    I’m sure plenty of other forumites have more entertaining stories, so let’s hear them, and discuss public reaction to our dancing.

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    Registered User daveb9000's Avatar
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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    City Centre club with live music
    I was at the club with my wife and a female friend so I was dancing with both ladies and the ladies were sometimes dancing together as both can also lead. Towards then end of the night, a man who had been watching us from the upstairs gallery approached me and shook my hand saying that he thought we were amazing and the best dancing he had seen. While I realise that we didn't have much in the way of competition with the 'stand and step from side to side' dancers, and I know my dancing isn't 'amazing', I did appreciate that he took the time to tell me that he had enjoyed watching it.

    City Centre night club with disco
    We were out celebrating my wife's birthday and there was a mix of dancers and non-dancers. There was a group of 20-somethings who sat and watched in awe as the dancers among us not only danced with each other, but got all the non-dancers up and doing MJ as well! They didn't say anything, but the look on their faces was enough of a compliment.

    Night out at a friend's social club
    My wife and I had been dancing together most of the night, while my wife was on a trip to the Ladies, a lady who had been watching us complimented my wife on our dancing and asked her, "Do you take lessons?", to which my wife replied "Yes, we do Ceroc classes". The lady then asked, "Really, where do you teach them?". Needless to say, a huge confidence boost for my wife

    The main thing I'm glad of though is that Ceroc has given me the confidence to dance in public, something I was never comfortable with before.

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Ok - here's one from the mildly entertaining™ JiveLad blog of yore....(see http://ceroc.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html)

    Re-reading it now,I notice it says there is no significant social dancing scene in Stockholm. Well - there is social dancing - just not on the scale you get here - and you have to search a bit to find it.

    Apart from this (and weddings) the only other time was an after Watford Moonglow freestyle Sat Night - pub-club type dance floor with 4 of us Ceroc-ing away to Motown grooves to bemused, smiling onlookers - lots of fun.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ceroc Mad Jive Lad blog - 2006

    Attachment 10459

    Top 10 of 2006 - Number 5

    Number 5 - Dancing with a stranger in Stockholm

    I've spent about 30% of the last 12 years in Stockholm - and it is my favourite European city - however, there is no significant social dancing scene such as Ceroc/MJ in the UK.

    It was June when I found myself, in Kungsträdgården (= Kings-Tree-Garden) - the square in central Stockholm where I was drawn to the sound of a live swing band. On closer inspection, this was (of course) a well organised Swedish event: dance floor in front of the stage and seating all around.

    I watched for a while - and then I plucked up courage and asked a lady standing near to me to dance. I think she was suprised to be asked - however I led her to the floor and we danced to a 1940's era (?) tune - can't remember which. I just kept it simple and it worked really well. It was a bit odd because there was an audience watching (not '000s - but quite a few!). Anyway we finished dancing and went our separate ways - and I could see she was so delighted and happy and smiling, it really made my day.

    PS - The lady in the picture is not the woman I danced with (maybe her daughter) - in fact she is 'Leana' who had a hit with 'Dance with a stranger' and she is dressed in the Swedish flag in case you didn't notice. (Nice).
    Last edited by JiveLad; 3rd-August-2010 at 03:15 PM.

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Not a particularly interesting story, (& slightly vague as i had had a few to drink) but anyway, - a friend and I were in a local pub having a chat & getting through quite a few drinks, - later on in the eve, a dance space was cleared, DJ set up and proceeded to play pop/dance music very loud, - there was probably only about 15-20 people in the pub, - for a while not a single person got up and danced, - but then my friend decided to, - on her own, have a boogie, - a bit later she persuaded & dragged me up & we had a little MJ dance, - God knows if anyone was watching or not, - I couldnt bear to look (!) (I just pretended no-one else was there!).

    After one track we sat back down, this bloke came over to us and starts praising us like you wouldnt believe and tells us that he organises different events in puts, salsa/poker nights etc, he reckoned when we were dancing the whole pub couldnt take there eyes off us (yeah, for what reason, I asked myself). He then tells us some landlord who owns a string of pubs is going to be here soon, and he wants us to strut our stuff when he arrives! I was a little drunk, but from what he was babbling on about, this guy seemed to have visions of organising dance nights in these pubs, with us two teaching the punters!

    He hardly left us alone for the rest of evening, babbling on & on about all these plans he had, - he went over to other groups of people on different tables telling them that if they brought us a drink we'd teach them how to dance! And when this pub landlord bloke arrived he was like a man possessed "if you're going to do it, you've got to do it NOW! Get up there!! Show him what you can do!".

    I had too much to drink by this stage to make much sense of it all, - we had a bit of a mess around dance & shortly left aftwards!


    I think its very easy to forget how impressive MJ can look to normal civilians, - as much of the time it can look like a dogs dinner to us.

    I remember when I first walked into a Ceroc club, - I was mega impressed with everyone - completely amazed! One particular bloke that springs to mind - I remember thinking that he looked really, really good.. - I see him now and his dancing makes me shiver with the cringes!!

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Yeah, it can be weird. Went to the Bournemouth Black Ball last year which was a good laugh and the wife and I thought we would have a dance or two to a live band (Blues brothers), never MJ to a live band before. A minute or two after we had started people were taking pictures and a video. Very strange, freaked the wifey out a bit - we gave up after two dances so we switched to just the shuffle steps that most of the others were doing instead.

    If it was Val, Rocky or Vince I could understand the attention, but it was just me and wifey. Although she is a pretty lass

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by daveb9000 View Post
    Towards then end of the night, a man.....snip..... shook my hand saying that he thought we were amazing and the best dancing he had seen.
    That happened to my partner and I a few times

    Quote Originally Posted by daveb9000 View Post
    The main thing I'm glad of though is that Ceroc has given me the confidence to dance in public, something I was never comfortable with before.
    But the funny thing is; now I can dance MJ, Salsa, and Lindyhop, I feel really self conscious and ridiculous doing muggles dancing, so although I've gained a fantastic pastime I've lost something else.

    Quote Originally Posted by JiveLad View Post
    and then I plucked up courage and asked a lady standing near to me to dance.
    That takes a lot of bottle when you're asking a muggle in a muggle venue!

    Quote Originally Posted by Phil_dB View Post
    I think its very easy to forget how impressive MJ can look to normal civilians, - as much of the time it can look like a dogs dinner to us.

    I remember when I first walked into a Ceroc club, - I was mega impressed with everyone - completely amazed! One particular bloke that springs to mind - I remember thinking that he looked really, really good.. - I see him now and his dancing makes me shiver with the cringes!!
    I was the same when I first went to classes. When you don't know how it all fits together it's easy to be in awe that two people can dance so seamlessly for 3.5 minutes. Later on you get to the point where all the little mistakes become evident, even though it all still looks perfect to muggles.

    Quote Originally Posted by rtwwpad View Post
    A minute or two after we had started people were taking pictures and a video.
    Most people have that capability on their phones now so it's gonna happen.........


    Here's a couple more of my experiences:

    Retro disco night in a large town centre venue:
    So I dance with my partner all night. Nobody says anything until right at the end, the slow, end-of-the-night-smooch-track comes on. We didn't bother with blues so we just sat down. A guy leans over and says, 'Wow; for two people that aren't lovers you two really dance well together'

    And that's something that muggles just don't get. That two people who dance all night together might not actually be involved with each other. And that dancers don't mind when their lover dances with someone else.


    Live music bar in city centre
    So we're dancing Charleston, I look round momentarily and I'm greeted by the sight of 3-4 young ladies, drink in one hand, trying to copy our Charleston basic. All the Lindyhop teachers I've had always said the kick should be kept quite close to the floor and have a 'pumping-action', rather like pressing the clutch pedal. Unfortunately their version turned out like a cross between Charleston, Cancan, and Goosestepping.

    It's generally the people that are most drunk that try to copy. Typically they'll do a lot of returns, the leader turning their partner like they're stirring a huge pudding. They'll also do baskets and a few other moves, quite often they'll get into some situation where they can't work out how to get out of it without stopping and letting go. I'm never seen anyone crash to the floor but I'm sure it will happen eventually.

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Busking in Asda - we did 3 stores for a Valentine's Day promotion 2 years ago. There were a few 'sets' of us, I was lucky enough to be partnered with drathzel and we did 3 sessions of 1 hour, alternating between dancing and handing out leaflets. There wasn't a huge amount of attention although some people did stop and watch us for a bit. I think one guy took a video on his phone at one point.

    Work night out last Christmas - one of the girls who knew I did ceroc came over and said "right, come on, let's have a dance!" She'd never been and was a little worse for wear at the time, but I did lots of armjives and travelling returns and it seemed to work ok. Then got asked to dance by a random girl who'd been watching from the side, and got some compliments from guys in the loos afterwards (!). Then one of the other girls from work wanted a go, but said "you're not allowed to spin me cos I'll be sick..."

    Cousin's wedding a few weeks ago - they put on Candyman so Mrs CRM and I got up and danced, only for the floor to clear and everyone start watching us! We got a round of applause afterwards though

    Friend's wedding last year - got up and danced only for everyone else to leave the floor. We left it shortly afterwards but we'd effectively killed the disco by that point.

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    thats the worst thing ...when you want to dance so you dance near the edge, only for everyone else to leave the floor and watch you with rapt attention. Not being the most egotistical person, I find that a complete torture. To be honest though, thats not all that common, most of the time people carry on involved in their own dancing.

    Did get stuck doing an aerial once in London on oxford street/regent street (cant remember which one - London is such a silly place) but it was in front of the Jive Aces who were playing outside a scientology thing. Didn't mind getting a crowd then, as it was a choice and we wanted people to stop to listen to the aces.

    (another year i still didnt get a yellow suit for christmas )

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by CheesyRobMan View Post
    ... got up and danced only for everyone else to leave the floor. We left it shortly afterwards but we'd effectively killed the disco by that point.
    Been there .... and only doing beginner moves with a muggle ...

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    once a week, a group of us used to meet and dance to a live blues band in a Bristol Pub,
    there would be 10- 20 of us including a few local "hot shots " after one particularly good evening, a young thing came up to us and said

    " you lot are amazing,.............

    .. and you are all so old"

    unfortunately the band have now disbanded
    Last edited by philsmove; 13th-February-2010 at 12:02 PM.

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    I've gotten used to it now as we dance at Trad Jazz events at venues around Bristol where we're the only couple dancing most of the time - mostly alternating between Lindy & Balboa but throwing in a bit of bluesy WCS made up stuff for the really slow tracks. The first few tracks we danced to were a bit scarey as we knew EVERYONE was watching, but the band leader was really encouraging so that helped us.

    It seems to be universally appreciated by the audiences, many of whom approach us to chat about what we do & where we learn (or teach or compete!). At last night's event I was even asked how much we were paid by the organiser

    I think it helps that we are extrovert in the way we dance to Jazz - there are just so many opportunities to show off that it would be rude not to!

    We are careful to check at new venues how they feel about us dancing though - so far we haven't had anything but enthusiasm from organisers and bands but I suspect that we may eventually get someone who doesn't like it - C'est La Vie

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    Re: Dancing in public - Share and discuss your experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by clevedonboy View Post
    ... Trad Jazz events at venues around Bristol ...
    Jealous! Bristol was one of my fave contracts, loved the Trad at a dockside pub and dropping in on Big Band rehearsals.

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