Pet Hate

[Heather]

Why is it, that when some people reach a certain level of competency in Ceroc, they no longer feel that they should take part in the beginners class? Beginners need experienced dancers to help show them how to do the moves, otherwise it's like the blind leading the blind. Unfortunately, some people think that they are too good to dance with beginners or less experienced dancers and refuse to take part in the classes, preferring instead to sit at the side and try to conceal their boredom!!
When a teacher has a queue of ladies waiting to have a turn with a male partner, it's particularly annoying, that while some experienced ladies are having to dance as a "man", some experienced men are sitting the class out.
My message to these people is " Get up off your A***, and help out, where would you be if no-one had taken the time to dance with you when you were a beginner?(Now you know why I am called Miss Bossy!!!!!
What do others think?

[Graham]

I agree. I've often been in a class where there are 18 women extra, yet there are men sitting out. There is more to any class than learning new moves, which clearly more experienced dancers are not going to do in a beginners class. It gives you a chance to meet new people, and to practice your leading (for leaders) and style. Sitting on your a*** also shows a lack of consideration for the people having to sit out every second or third rotation.

[DavidB]

Unless I'm tired, or drunk, I will help out in a beginners class - either taking part if there are more followers, or dropping out if there are more leaders. If I don't want to take part, I just turn up late.
And if I'm by myself and it's somewhere I've never been before, I make a point of doing the beginners class - it is the easiest way to meet people.

Other pet hates :

• People standing or talking on the edge of the dance floor.
• People talking loudly in a class, when the teacher is trying to speak.
• Peanut Butter (nothing to do with dancing - I just hate the stuff)

And no - I don't just complain about dancing. So here's a list of my pet likes :

• The look on a beginner's face when they get addicted
• Hitting a break in a song I've never heard
• Leading someone through a step they've never seen
• Completely messing up a step, and the follower improvising so well you just want to do it again
• Finishing a routine without messing up
• Watching a good couple
• Harley-Davidsons

David

[Amanda]

Heather - you took the words right out of my mouth. What is it with men who arrive in time to take part in Beginners (and Intermediate) and yet choose to sit on the sidelines/prop up the bar watching a zillion 'extra women' sail by.... Don't they get it?!

Amanda

[Franck]

I agree with all of the above...
It can be very frustrating and sometimes off-putting for the people taking part, when you hear a group of by-standers laughing (probably at their own joke, but Beginners might think they are being laughed at

The odd thing is that taking part in the Beginners class does not have to be a selfless act for Intermediate dancers. I have practised and learnt most of my style points during the Beginners class, and after all Style workshops, I recommend to everyone they practise their new found style during the Beginners class. Mostly because it does not matter if you make mistakes, trip over your footwork and fall over in the Beginners class, as up to a point, this is expected.
On the other hand practising new footwork during Freestyle can be quite rude to your current partner (unless he / she wants to do the same).
The classes are for learning, and Freestyle is for dancing.

Of course, those who do not take part will do so for a variety of reasons, they might be tired and need a while to get into the swing of things, or simply they think they have reached the pinnacle of their dancing ability, and do not need any further effort...

Maybe this discussion will change a few minds...

Franck.

[Stuart M]

Yup, guys standing at the side in "I'm too good to do the beginner's class" mode is pretty poor form, and I'm guilty of it on occasion. However, if a woman asks I'll get up. One defence I can offer is that, for some reason, if I do the beginner's class, I find it harder to remember any of the intermediate class moves later. Don't know why, but it's true. OTOH, it is a good opportunity to practice style (I will eventually crack reverse cross-stepping Wendy, honest!)
My other defence is that I do Taxi once a fortnight, so surely I can be bad sometimes

My pet hates in ascending order are:
3. Big blokes who throw women around on the dance floor next to me.
2. Couples doing travelling moves on a crowded floor.
1. People who stand talking on the dance floor.

There are others, but I'm only counting those I can confidently say I never do!

A pet fave moment of mine in dancing is a little 'un: it's when your hand is in *exactly* the right place for a woman to take hold of when she comes out of a spin . Does anyone know what I mean here - just that feeling that it's all clicked into place?

[Jayne]

Stuart,

do you mean your hand is in *exactly* the right place, or in the 'technically correct' place..??

Just wondering...

Jayne

[Stuart M]

Originally posted by Jayne
Stuart,

do you mean your hand is in *exactly* the right place, or in the 'technically correct' place..??

Just wondering...

Jayne

Why, I'd say they're the same place, Jayne

[Jayne]

It was a grammatical point I was making, so you're right - they are the same.

J

[filthycute]

I have to agree completely with Heather. I've been dancing man myself recently....(ok,i wasn't on Wednesday for half the class) but thats cause we were blethering...about this thread funnily enough :p I had stopped dancing women in the beginners for a bit, but not because i thought i was past that class or too good for it, mainly because i thought when there are lots of women to go around, the last thing they need is another one...especially one who knows the moves already. So i guess you could look at it another way.....why are there so many already experienced ladies taking up the precious few men the beginners have? I know everyone has the right to do these classes but on the odd occassion when they are moving around 13 or so ladies, surely missing it once wouldn't kill.

After my sorry attempts at the intermediate class doing man i'm surprised any of the women stayed on the floor!! but i went up there and tried my bestest (cheers for the help John and Scot )....yeah Scot, i had noticed you were talking a little louder than usual....." Now raise the right arm and turn the lady.....the right arm......the right arm! hahahahahahaha cheers

filthycute x x

[Tiggerbabe]

O.K. here goes!

I agree with you all guys, its pretty bad form for blokes to sit out when there are loads of extra girls. I always dance the beginner's class as a man and have recently started doing the intermediate class as a man too. (Not just for unselfish reason's, I'm getting fed up leading the girls into the same moves all of the time so I'm looking to get better as a leader and make things more interesting for them.)
In the ladies' defence, while I agree with f.c. that the more experienced ladies could perhaps sit out, it is good for the beginner men to be able to dance with the better girls and not always be dancing with beginners. Sometimes I think the guys are more hesitant at asking better dancers to dance with them as they think they are not good enough - whereas the girl beginners can follow the better men even if they don't know the moves.

My PET HATE is - wait for it............................

people who go along to workshops and then only want to dance with each other.

ok, I can totally understand this if you are dancing blues (very personal!) Or doing arials (for obvious reasons!). BUT otherwise it cracks me up - everyone has paid the same money and if you want private tuition you should arrange it. Personally I think it is much better for everyone to rotate in the class as it makes the leader's have to lead and the followers have to follow.

2nd pet hate is workshops that have been arranged with no thought to balancing the numbers - haven't been to any recently but when I started dancing there were a few that seemed to have crammed people in with more attention to the £'s than anything else!

3rd pet hate is not having enough time to go to everything I want to - oh and peanut butter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:reallymad

[Franck]

Originally posted by Sheena
In the ladies' defence, while I agree with f.c. that the more experienced ladies could perhaps sit out, it is good for the beginner men to be able to dance with the better girls and not always be dancing with beginners. Sometimes I think the guys are more hesitant at asking better dancers to dance with them as they think they are not good enough - whereas the girl beginners can follow the better men even if they don't know the moves.

Eventhough it can be frustrating to have too many women waiting, you are right that most women should take part in the class, it does help, should be fun and helps you pick out the guys with (dancing) potential, so overall, I would not advocate women sitting out. There are times when the number of extra women is such that it might become necessary, but I have to say that recently, this has rarely been the case.

Originally posted by Sheena
My PET HATE is - wait for it............................

people who go along to workshops and then only want to dance with each other.

ok, I can totally understand this if you are dancing blues (very personal!) Or doing arials (for obvious reasons!). BUT otherwise it cracks me up - everyone has paid the same money and if you want private tuition you should arrange it. Personally I think it is much better for everyone to rotate in the class as it makes the leader's have to lead and the followers have to follow.

I agree with you on that one, though some people might be uncomfortable dancing with other people (when they are just starting, they might feel (wrongly) that they are not good enough to inflict themselves on others).
As you say though, they are losing out on a lot, as you cannot effectively learn to lead / follow properly unless you have practised with a variety of partners and successfully lead or followed most of them.
That used to be a common problem at regular classes, where people would stand outside the lines of couples to stay with the same partner, not realising that 2 beginners learning together is like the blind leading the blind...
On top of that, you are more likely to argue (and blame) your own partner :reallymad rather than a perfect stranger...

Originally posted by Sheena
2nd pet hate is workshops that have been arranged with no thought to balancing the numbers - haven't been to any recently but when I started dancing there were a few that seemed to have crammed people in with more attention to the £'s than anything else!

Well , from a perspective of having to organize workshops, I can assure you that most of the time, the priority is not to get more money out of a workshop. It is extremely difficult to balance numbers reliably. Typically women will book first and fill up all the available spaces. Men will then book at the last minute. Based on this, it is very difficult to decide when a workshop is viable or should be cancelled. However, once you have successfully managed to balance numbers, you then invariably get 1 or 2 people who do not turn up on the day, therefore completely ruining it for everyone else, mostly because they have good reasons (illness or emergency). Typically, we will have one or 2 taxi-dancers helping out to balance numbers, and this makes a big difference, but it is not always possible or sufficient...

As for peanut butter, I can't help (I like it myself)

Franck.

[Amanda Kremer]

I can't remember now who started this topic - it might be you Heather .. but I've had great fun reading all about what are people's pet hates and thought I would throw mine in for good measure.

Not dancing in time to the music! Why do people do that? How do people do that? They generally go too fast but I've had occasion when they've gone too slow and I really don't know which is worse.

Choosing the most crowded spot in the whole dance floor to dance with you in - why do they do that? I hate dancing "scrunched up" if you know what I mean .. I like space to express myself ...

A limp arm! This has got to be one of the worst .... when I get a limp arm with no lead I start really pulling and being rough trying to send the message ..but invariably this just doesn't work. Interestingly guys seem to think they can "lead" by just doing the moves ... some just don't seem to understand they need to "lead" the moves if you know what I mean. Please give us girls some tension in your arm. When I say this at Taxi night sessions I use the analogy of an elastic band - cos it's not just a rigid unmoveable tension we need - it needs to be elastic - and girls need to have it too for it to work. (Hope this makes sense).

Not looking at you. Someone else mentioned this and it's surprisingly common. I really don't understand it ... most of the fun is from the rapport between you and your partner and you're dancing with each other to the music ... that sounds obvious but it's surprising how many guys don't look at you.

I'm sure that there are others for this bitch and moan session which I've enjoyed enormously .. but I fear I'm running out of space .....

See you all on the dance floor, NOT doing any of the above of course!
Amanda

[filthycute]

Did i mention that when i suggested that the more experienced ladies sit out the beginners class, that i did mean on the odd occassion when there's more ladies than usual?

ok well i just didn't want a mad bunch of intermediate ladies after me for suggesting they sit out

filthycute x x

[John McAulay]

It may be just me but what bug me most when dancing with some women
Is when they come to dancing after applying fresh hand cream
Instead of dancing it like trying to catch a trout.
As ceroc dancing relies on the lightest of contact,
and not your long nails to impale your partner
Cut your nails and wash your hands first.
Keep all your grease for the skid pan.

[John S]

Originally posted by John McAulay

Instead of dancing it like trying to catch a trout.

I know what you mean, John, and I do agree about the hand cream.

However, to maintain the balance, we guys sometimes lead our partners into combs and such-like moves when our necks are not exactly cool and dry to the touch, which can't be much fun either.

[John McAulay]

One of my pet hates is :-
People who leave their mobile phones on in the cinema!
Then to my shock and horror
Last week in a class in Aberdeen a guy leaves his dance partner
Standing, waiting while he answers his mobile during class!
He should have set it on vibrate
At least it would give him some rhythm

regards

[Amanda]

:reallymad mobile phones.... :reallymad :reallymad :reallymad

[DavidB]

At a workshop I went to on holiday in the US, someone's phone went. The teacher rushed over, snatched the phone out of the man's hand, and then proceeded to answer the call. It went something like this:

Hello
...
Sorry xxx isn't here.
...
He is in a dance class at the moment.
...
This is Mario. I'm teaching the class. You are interrupting it...


Everyone then made sure their mobiles were off!

[Emma]

I was at a wedding the other day where the vicar told everyone at the beginning of the service that they had a policy that if a mobile went they confiscated it and donated it to Oxfam. Much bag fumbling ensued!