Dance is play, not competition or therapy

When you dance, go ahead and step out of your regular life and be the deluxe version of you: playful, expressive, relaxed, creative. Dance is ready and willing to be your sweetheart for life, but dance is very sensitive about being mistreated. Don't treat dance like therapy, or an obstacle course, or worst of all a competitive sport. Dance is playtime; it's recess, not PE. Is anyone else old enough to remember recess?

When you come to dance with us, we invite you to leave your cares and worries behind - quite deliberately. Dance is no place to "work on your issues," or learn to "dance through life." Life has all kinds of dark things in it that nobody dances through; dance is not a good metaphor for life (duh), but it can sure lively you up! We invite you to approach dance as a time set aside, when you let yourself ignore all that and just have fun and play with other humans for an hour or two. Let dance be free of your worries and cares and issues so dance can work its magic on you.

We're double-dog dead-set against all kinds of things you'll find at other dances that we find pretty silly: being expected to dress up, complicated social rules, slavish imitation of some past era and especially dance competitions. Come to Waltz etcetera to play, to experiment, to goof up, to have a great time. Dress up in your very best you and come out to play.

Partner dance at its best and worst

Partner dance at its best is generous, humane, creative play; at its worst it's just more of the same old sad story. Here are some reflections on the best and worst.

• Play with your partner, experiment, have fun, goof up. Dancing isn't supposed to be serious. It's fun, it's play, it's recreation. Play and experiment with your partner. If you're not goofing up, something's wrong: you're too serious or you're stuck in a rut. Make stuff up, mix it up, try something new. If it doesn't work, enjoy whatever happens instead. If you manage to create a truly spectacular goof, laugh! If you're not having a blast - if anything about dancing is stressing you out or pissing you off - snap out of it! You're taking yourself way too seriously.
• Be casual; relax. Why dress up in monkey suits, gowns, and other uncomfortable getups? The idea of having a grand ball or recreating an Authentic Somethingorother from the Early Whatchamacallit Period sounds like such a colossal bore. There's a library next door if you want to study historical events; this is a dance. People come here to relax and have fun. We dress casually; dance is part of everyday life, not something to dress up for or fret about.
• Dance competitions are just sad. They take something so fine, so sweet - playful, creative connection between people - and turn it into just another arena, a place where competitors can defeat opponents with a plastic smile frozen on their faces and murder in their hearts; where they can feel superior to other dancers and get officially validated in their superiority by "judges." As if winning some kind of contest meant they were better dancers. What a load of crap; what a perversion.
• Rules, regulations, and governing bodies. The "official" dance organizations with their rules and syllabuses are for people who need that kind of thing to feel important, to feel validated. It's all about ego and making money. What a bore. If you like that kind of thing, go for it. Waltz etcetera is highly unofficial, uncertified, unsanctioned, and easygoing. Oh, and fun.

Why take dance classes?

We teach classes because it helps to have a starting point, a vocabulary in common with your partners. Once you reach a certain point, it's more fun to just play and experiment and make up your own moves as you go. To get to that point, we encourage dancers to:

• Take our classes, and also take classes from other teachers. Steer clear of any dance teacher who claims to be all you need, or discourages you from studying with other teachers; he's just after your dough, the slimeball.
• Learn the other part. Take classes as a lead once you've gotten down the basics of the follow part, and vice versa. Dancing in your partner's shoes will make you a better dancer; all your future partners will be grateful.
• Try something different, something unexpected. I learned to pivot by taking Scandinavian. Branch out a little - take a class in an unfamiliar dance, even a non-partner dance. I see a lot of great styling and skill that dancers bring to Waltz etcetera from jazz, hiphop, African, etcetera.

Waltz is our favorite dance

The dance
At Waltz etcetera, waltz is a lively, evolving, contemporary dance, full of creative play and experimentation. It's definitely not vintage or ballroom! We mostly teach cross-step waltz, and also turning waltz. Cross-step waltz is our favorite variety, and the core for most of what we teach; it's a swooping, playful step for slower waltzes (105-120 bpm). Cross-step makes it easy to create playful, inventive variations and special moves. Cross-step begins on the other foot than most partner dances: leads' right and follows' left. Versions of cross-step that don't embrace this other-footedness make the dance conflict with the music, which is kinda stupid. Other-footedness is important in cross-step; in turning waltz, you can start on either foot and make it work and fit with the music just fine.

Turning waltz is like Viennese waltz, only without the silly uncomfortable outfits and the over-the-top bombastic music. We generally turn slower than they do in Vienna. Other waltz variations you'll see at Waltz etcetera are swing waltz, Latin waltz, and shadow waltz. Shadow waltz (aka skaters' waltz) is danced side-by-side rather than face-to-face; fun for a change-up. Swing waltz is swing dance done to waltz music; Latin waltz is salsa done to waltz music. Both are great fun, but not really waltz. But who cares?

The music
As you may have gathered from the above, we're not big fans of Strauss. Oh sure, an occasional symphonic waltz is fine in the mix for a bit of comic relief, but one a night's plenty. We also don't think much of the sappy, painfully slow music typically played for American slow waltz. We waltz to music we really like instead. Most of our favorite waltzes come from contemporary (and classic) blues, R&B, folk, jazz, etcetera. We mostly play medium to slow (-ish) waltzes. For you dance music geeks, our favored speed range is about 105 - 150 bpm (35-50 mpm) with a few faster ones mixed in.

Be nice to the other dancers!

Dance etiquette is simple human courtesy plus common sense applied to a dance environment. Here are three reminders:

Keep the traveling lane open, but don't get bent outta shape if it's not

We try to keep a traveling lane open around the perimeter of our dance floor for most dances, so that people who want to cruise around the outside can move freely. Note that there are some dances, such as salsa and zydeco, that we dance mostly in place, and if you choose to do a traveling dance to these tunes, you may find the way less open, though our dancers will always make room for you once they know you're there. Most of our music has a common traveling form, e.g. we often foxtrot to swing tunes and dance traveling blues where someone else might do WCS. We educate new dancers, and remind old dancers, that not only is the outer lane the traveling lane, but that the outer outer lane is the passing lane, and anytime a couple catches up behind you, move towards the center to let 'em by. A lot of the time, our dance floor is more traveling lane than not. We like to cruise!

HOWEVER. There always are, and always will be, newcomers, inexperienced dancers, and people who should know better but are momentarily guilty of blocking the traveling lane. Some nights, the floor is crowded, and it's just not that easy to cruise. In those situations, we encourage dancers to speak up and claim the space: "Traveling lane, please" or "Excuse us, coming by."

It is never acceptable to bulldoze your way through a blocked traveling lane using physical or psychological intimidation. The following are absolutely unacceptable on our dance floor:

• Intentionally running into or brushing by another dancer. Dancers are expected to do everything possible to avoid a collision or near-collision.
• Staging a near-miss or other such heavy-handed stunt to intimidate another dancer.
• Asking people to move aside using harsh words or a harsh tone. This is a dance, it's for fun, and if you can't keep it light and friendly, go do something else to work off your aggression, and come back when you're feeling better.

Leave your attitudes at home

The dance world is full of exclusive cliques & ego trips. While there will always be some of that among us humans, our approach to dance is noncompetitive, relaxed, friendly, and inclusive. We do our best to promote attitude-free dancing at our classes and dances; please leave your attitudes at home.

Leave your fragrances at home, too

Some dancers are acutely sensitive to perfumes and fragrances, both natural and synthetic. For them, this can be a significant health issue; one perfumed person can make a whole roomful of air poisonous. A lot of the rest of us, me included, don't like dancing with perfumed partners and will turn you down if we can smell you coming. Please don't wear perfumes, colognes, aftershave, or scented body products at our dances.

More philosophy

For me, Zachariah, dance philosophy is part of my philosophy about spiritual development and life on earth. If you're curious, you can read more on my website Being pleasure - Finding your own way.

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