Bumping - avoidance, etiquette, best strategy

[cdnsalsanut]

We're doing wonderfully on the dancefloor, gliding gracefully around following our routine and all of a sudden, wham! A jolt from behind as another couple collides with us while trying to dance through us. Then the few seconds it takes to gather ourselves and an inelegant stumble back into the routine. Amid the disbelieving wince of the judges, who now all lift their pens and scribble our numbers, no doubt.

So, information is solicited. How best to avoid a collision and most importantly, how to handle a bump gracefully. What is the best strategy?

[SwingWaltz]

I was at a social doing the foxtrot, bumped into this other couple so hard they nearly fell over. I just kept on dancing, but at the end of the song I went around to find them and said "Sorry about that" That was the end of that! We're completely cool with eachother.

[cdnsalsanut]

Ahhh so it was YOU! hahaha

My partner and I are both big and strong. Yet we keep giving way to other couples, which I don't like. A part of me wants to just keep dancing and let the other couple avoid US for a change. But my partner is gracious and I don't want to be a bully. Yet each time we have to stop or take evasive action it puts us off and I'm sure it doesn't look good.

What to do? I notice we are one of the few couples who actually stop to avoid collisions and we're dancing with couples who are all championship level. What do they know that we don't?

My teacher says the answer is a twist turn. Presumably we can do that in all dances to avoid collision, I guess I have to practice the variations in other than tango...

[elisedance]

Ahhh so it was YOU! hahaha

My partner and I are both big and strong. Yet we keep giving way to other couples, which I don't like. A part of me wants to just keep dancing and let the other couple avoid US for a change. But my partner is gracious and I don't want to be a bully. Yet each time we have to stop or take evasive action it puts us off and I'm sure it doesn't look good.

What to do? I notice we are one of the few couples who actually stop to avoid collisions and we're dancing with couples who are all championship level. What do they know that we don't?

My teacher says the answer is a twist turn. Presumably we can do that in all dances to avoid collision, I guess I have to practice the variations in other than tango...

This gets into dance strategy - maybe we should have a topic on it in the comp area.  Its a major problem for tall couples - a short couple runs straight into you and then starts limping aroud - who gets blamed?  Bambi or goodzilla?  Sometimes I feel like you that one may as well clobber them and get scratched for something that was worth it .  But seriously flolks....

We've discussed this a lot and DP's strategy now is to be polite and careful but to also maintain the right of way.  One can become timid on the floor if you are always avoiding so perhaps some collisions are an inevitable part of ballroom.  OTOH you just about never see pros colliding - they seem to develop a 6th sense to avoid the situation - or probably more likely to ensure they are always in an empty part of the floor....

[cdnsalsanut]

In talking more with my teacher she suggests we dance BIG and command our space. That when other couples see that they will see where we are dancing and avoid us.

My DP asked what "our space" meant and I suggested it means line of dance.

[Some guy]

Even more irritating is when the pin-ball couple on the dance floor that has hit everything on the floor goes on to win.  There was a couple like that at my last comp.  What was even more disgusting was that he kept using his lady as a shield 10% of the time and a battering ram the other 90%.  She had to fix her hair between heats.  I wondered if she had padding or a helmut concealed under her hair.  Even in the final, with just 6 couples on the floor, he was able to hit at least one couple in each of his dances.  He placed in the top two. 

When judges condone that kind of behaviour, it's not hard to see why other dancers believe it's the way to do it.  I was much bigger than him, and I could've easily knocked him off the floor altogether, but somewhere down the line, I was taught that ballroom dancing was not a roller derby. 

[cdnsalsanut]

We do simulated competitions at my studio every Monday night. Although we mainly dance in heats, often the teacher throws everyone on the floor and then assesses fines for bumping.

The hard part is avoiding the ankle biters who appear from nowhere under your armpit. And not only are they short, they're fast too!

[Some guy]

So we've got "Pin-Balls" and "Ankle-Biters".  We need to develop a lexicon!

[SwingWaltz]

LOL I love it when I see a short couple go through under the arm of a tall couple. 

[cornutt]

So we've got "Pin-Balls" and "Ankle-Biters".  We need to develop a lexicon!

There used to be a couple on the local dancing circuit that we referred to as the "unguided missile".   

[elisedance]

So we've got "Pin-Balls" and "Ankle-Biters".  We need to develop a lexicon!

There used to be a couple on the local dancing circuit that we referred to as the "unguided missile".   

eventually thjey run into the 'unmovable object' and the two self destruct..

[Some guy]

What happens when an unstoppable force hits and immovable object?! 

[elisedance]

don't really know - but its sure not pretty...

actually I suppose the right answer is that the force goes right through without moving the object (now whether they are the same force and same object after is another question..)

[SwingWaltz]

What happens when an unstoppable force hits and immovable object?! 

[SwingWaltz]

What happens when an unstoppable force hits and immovable object?! 

Kaboom!