Very crowded floors

[elisedance]

"would you please breath in in the toilets, we have to get another 30 women in there"

[QPO]

it is a shame....though.....we need to use crowded floors to our advantage. turn it into a positive.

[Ginger]

Oh, trust me, I do

[elisedance]

[drj]

It's ok to talk about dropping back to American Bronze on a crowded floor, but what do you do when it's not fun any more, because the floor is just too crowded? Go home?

[Lioness]

Pretty much. A while ago my studio had a free Christmas night, and there were over 100 people in a floor meant for 50. We used a lot of floorcraft, danced really small, and stayed out of the way of freak couples as much as we could.

Alternatively, you could just dance the more unpopular dances, where less people are likely to be on the floor. Here we might get 100 for a waltz, but only 5 or so for a Viennese.

But yeah, if you are finding the crowdedness boring, probably go home, or find somewhere less crowded.

[elisedance]

It's ok to talk about dropping back to American Bronze on a crowded floor, but what do you do when it's not fun any more, because the floor is just too crowded? Go home?

dance in the corridor

[cdnsalsanut]

One of the things I like about our serious ballroom venues in Toronto is...not too many dancers.  One, the 30 Up club (that's 60 Up club to you, Rugby!) actually has decided as a club how many people can dance comfortably on the floor and limit the intake to that.  I respect them for that.

Most of the local salsa venues are packed, but salsero's mostly slot dance (LA STYLE), which they stole from WCS.  That way you can dance right next door to couples on each side and as long as you don't come off the "rails" you won't hit anyone. Additionally you can pull your arms in and do close merengue, which is a great way to handle a packed floor, albeit boring after the 2nd dance or so.

Over time I've actually picked places I go based on there being not too many people there, ie: Westway on Wed, Famee on Fri etc. I do like to stretch out and lengthen my steps as I'm being taught and I need a half full floor of ballroom dancers who know how to move around the floor in order to do that.

Some places also appoint floor monitors to kindly ask people to adhere to floor etiquette, ie don't practice on the floor, don't stop in the middle of the floor, move tot he side if you want to talk, that type of thing. The downside is they can become a bother if they take themselves too seriously.  They get security guard syndrome ie keeping people off the grass becomes very important to them.

Here in England the social dances seem to be just that, social. People don't really step out on anything, lots of shuffling and arms down to the sides dancing going on to accomodate not knocking someone out on every other turn.  LOL. So I'm sticking to the dane studio's for serious practice and just going with the flow at the social dances.

[elisedance]

Timing is also important - a club that is saturated with dancers at 9 pm may be virtually empty at 7 when they open - you can often even get the DJ to play your selections.

BTW - I believe 80-and-up limits couples not just (at all??) because of floor space but due to fire regulations.

[Dancerette]

Ugh, just tried to attend a "free dance" night this weekend. So crowded we felt lucky to be able to maneuver through the crowd with changes steps. Even then, we had to be sharp, as couples would tend to reverse out of no where causing a domino effect of "watch out!" reactions.

This is the same dance venue that's been struggling to get a minimum of 20 couples; throw on a free night and at least 50 couples were there. We'll see what happens at the same venue next week when people have to pay to get in 

Can't say it's the best time I've ever had dancing, but we made the best of it.

[elisedance]

You kind of have to look at the evening differently - perhaps catch up on some socialising and showing the organizers that you are supporting them.  Sort of the getting lemons and making lemonade.....
that said it would drive me crazy!

[QPO]

Ugh, just tried to attend a "free dance" night this weekend. So crowded we felt lucky to be able to maneuver through the crowd with changes steps. Even then, we had to be sharp, as couples would tend to reverse out of no where causing a domino effect of "watch out!" reactions.

This is the same dance venue that's been struggling to get a minimum of 20 couples; throw on a free night and at least 50 couples were there. We'll see what happens at the same venue next week when people have to pay to get in 

Can't say it's the best time I've ever had dancing, but we made the best of it.

I wonder what happend when everyone had to pay?

[QPO]

I so dont enjoy crowded floors, if I go to a venue now and there are too many people  I think my face drops cant not show my disappointment. It would be great if they could then say we will do every dance twice and half the patrons first time and then the other half second time. I am sure people would enjoy it.

[elisedance]

I so dont enjoy crowded floors, if I go to a venue now and there are too many people  I think my face drops cant not show my disappointment. It would be great if they could then say we will do every dance twice and half the patrons first time and then the other half second time. I am sure people would enjoy it.

Nice in theory - but try to organize it. 80% of the patrons would dance twice anyway.
('cept in canada where you would get 45% in each - 10% would not dance at all out of fear thay were in the wrong half ...)

[samina]

hmm... i've had some lovely dances with extremely crowded floors. it's a matter of adjusting one's expectations... another "life=dance" moment. how much fun & connection can one experience in the space allotted? small spaces can be very cozy, y'know... heh, heh, heh...

(a lovely standard foxtrot with a seasoned amateur champ dancer comes to mind, when i was yet quite a newb. but following him, staying connected, while he improvised every little turn, reverse direction, and accommodation of frame so as to keep both of us safe was... highly pleasurable. dancing's so way more than "being in good frame and moving big"... )