Club dancing with your ballroom partner?

[Ginger]

In a lot of places like Elise describes (we live in such a place of puckery, too), you're damnedi if you do, damned if you don't. HotBritches wants so badly to ask other ladies to dance, but he's scared that someone will think he's The Creepy Guy All The Women Recall in conversation at parties. There's always ONE guy who can come around and make women leery of dancing with unfamiliar fellas, and that wrecks it for all the goodies like the Boy.

On the flipside, if my fellas *don't* ask anyone to dance, our whole table, wherever we go, is viewed as "aloof" and "stuck-up".

A lot of people misinterpret "social" dancing versus "competitive" dancing. Social dancing to me is going to a venue and dancing, either with the same partners all night, OR different ones, but others think social dancing is ONLY dancing with different people, and the 'only with your partner' is reserved for 'competitive' dancers.

In short, people are just nuckin' futs.

[elisedance]

IN comparision to that, we're about as modern as the steam train....

[Lioness]

This is interesting, because in Australia (at least in Adelaide) it is quite the norm for people with partners to only dance the night with them, and maybe a few other close friends.

[elisedance]

So you are the same as us then...  I wonder if that is an English tradition? 

[phoenix13]

Oy!  There are so many different things in ths thread! 

A couple responses.

1)  Never heard of the Nutbush until today and, when I googled it, Australia automatically came up in the search field.
2) What exactly is the point of learning how to dance, if you don't occasionally take your dance skills out for a spin?  I understand that there are cultural implications, but I still don't get it.

[phoenix13]

This thread reminded me of the ending credits for Take the Lead -- a fine example of (what I think is) the fact that not all club dancing is bump and grind.  It's perfectly possible,IMV, to dance real ballroom dances to a lot of pop music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxQzIDsN0oo

[elisedance]

This thread reminded me of the ending credits for Take the Lead -- a fine example of (what I think is) the fact that not all club dancing is bump and grind.  It's perfectly possible,IMV, to dance real ballroom dances to a lot of pop music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxQzIDsN0oo

... you better get third party insurance first tho...

[phoenix13]

lol.  Not really. I think the OP wa sabout dancing with your competitive partner, so the answer,for me, is no.  But I have done a fair bit of ballroom dancing in clubs.  The usual reaction from other club dancers is "Wow.People who can really dance!" Nothing negative or dangerous.

[elisedance]

I guess it depends on what dance.  Someone doing a dynamite rhumba or swing is seen as a possible movie star.  Someone doing a dynamite QS is seen as an incoming scud missile  - with homing...

[phoenix13]

lol.  Good point.     That's where knowing a few less formal dances comes in handy -- stuff like hustle and NC2S, for example.  If you know a little hustle, NC2S, swing, waltz, cha, rumba, you can make it through a club dance evening with hardly any injuries.  

[phoenix13]

I suppose I should add that what type of dance can depend on what type of club.  For a typical bar/club that happens to have a dance floor, the dances I mentioned about are usually about it.  Tangos and QSs are few and far between.  But, if you go to a jazz/supper club, you're likely to come across quite a few foxtrots.

[elisedance]

... and try to find a good mazurka, they never play a good mazurka..

[phoenix13]

lol!

Thanks to Michael Buble, they DO play foxtrots again,for now, at least.