Are you comfortable dancing drops with

[Donna]

Yeah, I quite get off on that thrill of sheer terror as I see the floor hurtling up towards my skull.

I know exactly what you mean!! It's quite frightening at first especially with someone you have never done aerials or drops with before. There are only two guys up here I can trust when doing aerials because I've seen them do it over and over and they definately know what they are doing... and they are sooo good at them. One who I love doing drops/aerials with (gosh haven't seen him in ages!) is very tall, and he used to lift me right above his head and at the same time, spin round rapidly and roll me down from that height right down to the floor until my face was just a few inches away!! Loved it though!! (Think it's called a ribbon? but done slightly differently)

[RogerR]

Its hard to determine who likes to dance dips and drops! You cannot ask a stranger as they may call the same move by a different name. and you cannot ask your best friends because you know them and have rehearsed (ie mirrors mats and teacher) several lifts drops etc so they become repertoire moves with them. Trying to get onto someone's dips and drops list demands a HUGE and MUTUAL trust and confidence.

Best plan for me is: If the NVC is good for the first two dances with someone then break, ask about moves and progress discussion from there then both parties have dance-met and know how safe they feel together, and know how warmed-up they are. I've successfully introduced drops into dances after knowing my partner for 10 minutes but in all cases they had probably pro dance training first.

[Ghost]

Its hard to determine who likes to dance dips and drops!

One of the main reasons for my making this poll public was as an easy reference for what Forumites (particularly female ones and Martin) were happy doing. So I can go drop Wayaay Bird without asking , but not Cruella . I can try and drop Martin as much as I want but I should leave Jazz Shoes in peace

Be Well,
Christopher

[Ghost]

The converse is also true. There was some debate as to whose responsiblity it was regarding whether it was down to the guy to ask "Do you mind if I do drops?" or the lady to say "I don't want to be dropped" before the dance starts.

So if a lady Forumite is asked to dance by Andreas, Gary, Lee, Lounge Lizard, Stu, or timbp, who are on the poll as
"I'm comfortable dancing drops with someone I don’t know, without asking"

then they would be well advised to say at the beginning of the dance if they don't want to be dropped.

Be Well,
Christopher

[KatieR]

Its strange how my after the 12 months I spent in London last year, my entire attitude to dips and drops has changed.

I used to be a dip/drop maniac (obviously after learning in Australia, what else could I be??) but after learning how to truly dance well and with style and technique and musicality, unless they are coreographed into a routine, they just dont fit and I hate them.

There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a beautiful song, only to be thrown at the floor for no apparent reason. It breaks the whole thread and story of the dance.

[Juju]

This is odd. I don't remember ever being asked. Not once. (Unless I'm getting drops confused with dips. At what point does a dip become a drop??)

Having said that, I don't remember ever having a bad time of it either, even though total strangers have done drops on me, quite often now I think about it. It's never worried me or made me feel unsafe because they always seem to know what they're doing, and it possibly helps that I'm quite small and so relatively easy to manouvre. In fact the only dodgy times I can remember have been during lessons (which I hardly ever do) when a drop is in the process of being learned, in which case it can get a bit messy.

However, at Southport I did get my hair caught up in a bloke's wrist watch during a drop, which was hardly "comfortable" - but once it had all ripped out on the way up again I was fine.

[straycat]

However, at Southport I did get my hair caught up in a bloke's wrist watch during a drop, which was hardly "comfortable" - but once it had all ripped out on the way up again I was fine.

I don't do drops at all, and haven't for over ten years (I notice I'm something of a minority according to this poll) - the very occasional seducer is as far as I'll go.

This does remind me slightly of back when I did do them (with a few select people, in this case someone who was teaching them to me) - mid drop, I shifted my feet slightly, and without realising it trod on my partner's hair. Which went unnoticed until I lifted her up again... leaving a very large clump of it on the floor

Said incident, of course, has nothing at all to do with why I don't do drops
(ok - maybe a teensy bit to do with it)

[Blueshoes]

mid drop, I shifted my feet slightly, and without realising it trod on my partner's hair. Which went unnoticed until I lifted her up again... leaving a very large clump of it on the floor

!
Ouch.......

[Blueshoes]

I'm very confident in my own ability in doing drops but unless I know my partner very well I'll ask her first and if she says no I respect that, bearing in mind there is always the possibility she likes doing them but is injured or has a bad back. Sometimes the answer is "I've never done them" so the follow up question is "would you like to try a simple one".

By the time all this negotiation has been completed the dance is usually over anyway!

[Martin]

The converse is also true. There was some debate as to whose responsiblity it was regarding whether it was down to the guy to ask "Do you mind if I do drops?" or the lady to say "I don't want to be dropped" before the dance starts.

So if a lady Forumite is asked to dance by Andreas, Gary, Lee, Lounge Lizard, Stu, or timbp, who are on the poll as
"I'm comfortable dancing drops with someone I don’t know, without asking"

then they would be well advised to say at the beginning of the dance if they don't want to be dropped.

Be Well,
Christopher

Add me into the above list then, as I am just about to vote the same.
I rarely do drops socially, but if the mood takes me and the music suggests, I will drop, as long as I have first assesed the level of dancer whilst dancing to that track (even if we have never danced before) and one or 2 "leans" were cleanly executed.
The drop IMHO will be 100% safe and ergonomicly correct for the body and I have never caused injury.
Of course room on the dance floor, and awareness of all those around you, normally facing girl away from others, dancing on the edge of the floor, are all things considered beforehand.

Flame away Christopher.

[Martin]

Now as an addition, worse than drops, I would NEVER do a back bend unless I asked first. Coz you never know if they have a back problem

[Minnie M]

.........I would NEVER do a back bend unless I asked first. Coz you never know if they have a back problem

You can end up with a back problem even if you didn't have one in the first place

This must be the worst executed move of all time - (sorry about the bad English)

[Jazz_Shoes (Ash)]

I had a look at this thread again and think I answered wrongly, to be honest I don't like dancing drops at all. On the couple of times I have been asked to i've said no, i'm just a big wuss because the last time when I learned one in a class I got dropped on the floor and now my confidence is shot to hell.End of. Respect to those who do though

[LemonCake]

This is an interesting thread to have found, as I am currently in Sydney experiencing the Australian obsession with drops (and relative lack of musicality). I do think they have their place and can be fantastically effective, especially in breaks etc, but here they're wedged in regardless of appropriateness for music - it's more about being flashy. That's just personal taste though.

I have in the past had the 'trodden on hair' experience - yowch! It made me learn to either dance with hair tied back or once down do a quick sweep with a free hand to make sure it isn't in range of his feet!

At home there are relatively few leads who dance drops (maybe because I'm tall leads don't risk it with me, I don't know) but of those that do, I'm quite happy to be dipped/dropped. Only one I know dances 'scary' drops but does it with such control and panache that it's thrilling scary not terrified-I'm-going-to-hit-the-floor scary.

Here they're crazy. The very first lesson I went to after arriving included a dip in the beginners class. It left me very uncomfortable, because there were leads who were clearly not confident with basic movement & balance of their own without adding the issue of my balance. Interestingly two weeks later (same venue, different teacher) I learned the lead side in an intermediate class which included a dip (my first as lead) and the girls didn't know NOT to launch themselves backwards over my arm - even the rather larger ones, and the teacher didn't say it. I ended up explaining it repeatedly rather than risk injuring myself trying to catch them.

In freestyle it's further confused by the fact that there are signals for different dips/drops - I don't know these, but because I am a reasonably confident dancer leads seem to assume I will. Fortunately the worst it has lead to is a clumsy hiccup in the dance where I keep very firm control of my own balance and say 'sorry, I don't know that signal'. Without meaning to derail onto the subject of other threads, it's one of the best reasons I can see for not having signals in freestyle, and every teacher ought to tell their class NOT to rely on a partner recognising a signal unless they KNOW it for a fact (i.e. saw that person in that class). Safe rule of thumb - if you can't lead it without a signal, don't.

From that please don't take it that I don't like dips/drops - I do, and I even like them with people I've never danced with before and who don't ask. My first ever dance with PretzelMeister included the thrilling/scary drop/stepover/up thing (don't know its name) and a few more besides - but he's a brilliant lead and where necessary gives instructions (e.g. 'feet together'). It was a fantastic dance - hard work to follow as someone new to all that, but worth it. And look where it ended up )

Anyway, sermon over. I should be dancing tonight but I'm not feeling well so I'm home on the sofa with this as my focus instead!