English Country Dancing is, first and foremost, social dancing. This implies that the
idea is to have fun and to interact sociably with the rest of the dancers, the dance instructor, and
the musicians. To that end, we have evolved some simple rules that let everyone know what to
expect.
- Longways dances are formed from the top of the hall, with partners facing each other. Dancers
joining a set should join at the bottom of the set. If there is room, it is generally a good idea
to have more shorter sets than one or two long ones.
- We dance with different partners throughout the evening, usually changing partners after every
dance. This means that, after thanking your partner for a dance, you should feel free to ask
someone else. It does not matter if a lady or a gentleman makes the inquiry. (Those who behave like
neither ladies nor gentlemen will, naturally, be asked to leave the dance 😊.)
- Every dance is taught before we dance it. Since this dancing is social, some amount of visiting
with partners and neighbors between dances is OK. But when the dance instructor is trying to teach
a new dance, it does not help if dancers are talking about what they wore yesterday, or discussing
other topics. We will all get to dance more if the instruction can proceed uninterrupted.
- Several members of our dance community are extremely sensitive to various chemicals found in
fragrances, after-shave, deodorants, colognes, etc. We strongly encourage the use of unscented
versions of these products (unscented cologne, of course, is an oxymoron.)
Last updated September 23, 2008 Webmaster
