Essence of Social Dance

Dance events by USA Dance and its affiliates attract exhibition, competition, and studio dancers, but most of the attendees, and most dancers in other public venues, are social dancers. Though there are overlapping skills and competencies among these categories of dance, there are core competencies of the social dancer that are distinctly different from the others and, unfortunately, rarely taught, and not emphasized in traditional dance lessons. This article is about those intrinsic and indispensable competencies and characteristics of the successful and enjoyable social dancer.

Some equate learning social dance with learning steps; indeed, this is perhaps the most prevalent misconception among social dancers. When learning steps leaves one wanting, form and style are often added, but to little avail. Both contribute to exhibition and competition, or aspirations thereof, but they contribute little to social dance functionality. A bit of reflection might reveal the elusive components that have been lurking near the surface since that first lesson, where we all seemed to have missed the link between learning the content of the lesson, invariably prescriptive, and implementing the content, primarily improvisational.

How. Contrary to popular belief, for the social ballroom dancer, there is no mystery regarding how to step; simply step normally, forward, backward, or sideward.

When. For a given dance style, it is the music tempo and the cadence for the dance style that determine when to step.

Where. Line of Dance provides overarching guidelines as to where to step, with the specifics of where communicated via the dance frame. In addition to communicating where to step, the dance frame, and associated concepts of parallel and symmetric, keep the dancing couple spatially oriented.

The overlapping arms and associated pressure points are critical to effective lead/follow, and the extended arms more so, especially in open position. In American Style Ballroom, and many other American partner dances, couples spend considerable time in open position, and they depend on the extended arms and spatial orientation for communication. Further analysis of the physics of the frame reveals that the elbows are critical to functionality. Though free to move vertically, their horizontal movement should be minimal, and horizontal mobility of the upper arm should be flexibly firm. In addition, the elbow should rarely close to less than a right angle or open to a straight angle. There is certainly much more to a functional dance frame than the extended arm and elbow orientation, but attention to their functionality will reduce miscommunication in lead/follow and will add visual enhancement to the partnership. Almost any lead/follow error or loss of symmetry in open position can be traced to the neglect of upper arm position and elbow angle.

There is compelling evidence that prescriptive choreography is the primary reason that most social dancers have so little concept of the functionality of social dance; thus, even after years of participation and hundreds of lessons devoted to steps, many remain marginal dancers. There is also no question that neglect of incorporating the functionality and orientation of frame components when teaching variations has been a major detriment to the enjoyment of partner dance. One can never learn enough steps to compensate for an inferior frame, and a beginner with a predictable cadence and a good dance frame will be an enjoyable dance partner, repertoire of steps notwithstanding. The ability to use the frame and spatial concepts of parallel and symmetric as indicators as to where to step are requisites to successful social dance for both leaders and followers. It well past time that both teachers of social dance and organizations devoted to social dance devoted more of their attention to the promulgation of these requisites for the social dancer.

©JMNelson, 2011