Thanks for representing! I never took the rejections as specifially being an Asian thing. However, the only people who were so obvious in their disdain for beginners happened to be Asian. As they say in the commercials, "your experience may vary." Now that my skills have improved I, too, save a few dances for partners with comparable skills. I strive never to be rude to beginners, though. It's just common courtesy to at least finish the song with them (unless they're brutalizing you!). As I mentioned to Samara in a separate discussion, I've had to deal with the odd looks from the Pro Tan Russian girls who can't seem to believe that I do Viennese Waltz. I've been lucky though, to get encouragement from persons of all races. The advanced level classes tend to have more Asians and they seem tickled pink after they get over the shock of seeing me in an International Standard class (the first year I only did Latin and the Hustle). So much for generalizations about what somebody's "thing" is!
To Everyone: I got an e-mail from an instructor in Barbados. She saw our discussion about Blacks in Ballroom and she's interested in getting some black dancers and/or coaches to come down to Barbados to coach and do a showcase for their Ballroom Association. If anyone's is interested she'd appreciate talking to you as e-pals. I wish I had a partner, I'd love to try something like that! I'm also interested in networking with black dancers, with a view to finding a partner and possibly organizing a showcase next year.
The most American of all dances, swing, was invented and popularized by blacks and it is indeed a crying shame that so few of them do this dance any longer. The ranks of skilled ballroom dancers would be no doubt enriched by the participation of blacks but it will probably be a while coming.
To illustrate my point, there was a young black man who danced at a local dance venue. He was very good and spent a lot of time working on his dancing skills. He was always energetic and cheerful and I enjoyed watching him dance.
One night, he entered a jack-and-jill contest at this venue, as he had done before, and all the men were first lined up on the floor and women's names were called to pair with them. This young man was last in line and when the lady's name was called to be his partner no one came forward.
Coincidence perhap? Maybe the lady had gone home? I doubt it. There was an uncomfortable silence and the young man was obviously embarassed about the situation. Fortunately one of the other regulars quickly volunteered to be his partner and they won the contest. I haven't seen this young man recently and it is heartbreaking to think that this incident may have killed his desire for dance. But this is the sort of thing that blacks venturing into the white and asian dominated ballroom scene will eventually encounter. The swing and country/western dance communities are no different in this regard so it is little wonder that one sees so few blacks in the dance world.
George Deliz
[This message has been edited by Dahl (edited 11-02-2000).]
quote:
Originally posted by David:
Asian dancers tend to be too technical in their dancing, so they have no training or natural ability when it comes to social dancing. Western music is not their thing, with the exception of the undanceable type.
Excuse you... but what the f--- (edited by me for content)
So I am an asian male who loves ballroom dancing and I will admit I love the technical parts of dancing because I am a scientist and it is a language that I understand.
I won't say that I am the best social dancer in the world but my partners and I always have fun on the dance floor. Being a good social dancer takes many skills.
1) Being Sociable
2) Good Floorcraft
3) Practice
4) Creativity
5) Good Technique..... (how can you dance well with no technique)
I can say with little or bad technique you can get used to one partner but to social dance you need technique... so you are basically not draging and shoving your partner on the floor...
I never heard of someone say that they are good dancers but they are too technical... They may say they need more creativity or more feeling but never less of a good thing.
And who has this "natural" ability or gets training to social dance... Hmm as I remember when I went to dances at highschool.. most people were afraid to dance and it was a struggle to just change weight with each other.... It was fun but "natural" ability???
If you doubt the social abilty of this Asian dancer then please come to the SF bay area and watch me...
Richie Hom