Poll
Question:
So what dances would you like to be taught for the 2011 Black and White Ball?
Option 1: Waltz (Slow Waltz)
Option 2: Vienneze Waltz
Option 3: Tango
Option 4: Argentine Tango
Option 5: Salsa
Option 6: Rumba
Option 7: Cha Cha
Option 8: Hustle
Option 9: East Coast Swing
Option 10: West Coast Swing
Option 11: Night Club Two Step
Option 12: Merengue
Option 13: Bolero
Option 14: Samba
Option 15: Foxtrot
Option 16: Quickstep
Hello,
I am just taking a poll to see what dances people would like to learn for FanimeCon 2011. This gives you an opportunity to vote for three (3) of the dances you would like to see taught at FanimeCon for next year. This way, we can start planning for these dance lessons. Please do remember though, these classes are going to be geared more toward beginning lessons than intermediate or advanced. Thanks!
- Jim
BWBall Head 2010
I demand Samba to be put on the list >:|
perhaps another historical type movie (like Gone With the Wind or something else with the viennese waltz in it) will come out and people will be like "oh my goodness, doesn't Viennese waltzing look fun?" and then it will be all popular and stuff.
personally, i like the polka. Like in The King and I ("Shall We Dance" song where Anna teaches the king to dance). Heck, we could at least use that song. It's a great song.
Quote from: NekoMiki on June 09, 2010, 02:26:40 PM
I demand Samba to be put on the list >:|
Done. ;)
Quote from: michiko nakano on June 09, 2010, 02:44:49 PM
perhaps another historical type movie (like Gone With the Wind or something else with the viennese waltz in it) will come out and people will be like "oh my goodness, doesn't Viennese waltzing look fun?" and then it will be all popular and stuff.
personally, i like the polka. Like in The King and I ("Shall We Dance" song where Anna teaches the king to dance). Heck, we could at least use that song. It's a great song.
Viannese Waltz is a popular dance and most of the waltz song suggestions from this past year were for Viennese Waltz, the only problem we are running into is having students pick up on the dance (it is one of the hardest dances to teach), having an instructor to teach the dance, and floor control during the dance because there are people who remain stationary or start a group dance so people dancing a traveling dance like V. Waltz will run into them. We will see what we can do about it for next year. But keep the votes coming. :)
- Jim
as for the traveling problem, what if you cleared the floor and let the traveling couples have the first half of the song, then let everyone else filter on for the rest of the song? it would be sooooo magical to have a waltzing circle...
I personally only chose dances that I went to the classes for but had a lot of fun with the others as well.
Waltz - because most people seemed willing to actually try and do this dance and for me it seemed the easiest to learn. Plus, it's slow which people like.
East Coast Swing - Really really fun dance and there were a lot of songs for this and West Coast swing. (currently taking a west coast swing class with my husband and it is soo difficult. lol)
Argentinian tango - I had the most fun and felt the most comfortable with this dance after the class. Despite the amount of people on the floor too, with an experienced lead it was quite easy to get around. Plus I felt that the moves were more easily changed up from this style.. like the pace. I don't know if that makes sense.
I always like the Waltz, I think it's romantic esp with good music!
that's the thing, waltzes are so classique and romantic that everyone's gonna get out on the floor and waltz, even if they don't know how to. if we had a class, more and more of those people would have an even more special time because they'd actually know the steps.
Quote from: michiko nakano on June 18, 2010, 10:13:56 AM
that's the thing, waltzes are so classique and romantic that everyone's gonna get out on the floor and waltz, even if they don't know how to. if we had a class, more and more of those people would have an even more special time because they'd actually know the steps.
The waltz is seen as a romantic dance and people do like the feel of having the Waltz as part of the Ball. We offered two lessons this year along with private lessons where people were able to brush up on their Waltz steps. Still, there are people who don't go to the lessons who just jump on the dance floor and do what they see on television. There are a couple of things to consider when having a Waltz though. Most people see the Vianesse Waltz on t.v. or in the movies and that is the one they try to emulate on the dance floor. The only thing is, V. Waltz is very hard to teach and learn and it requires couples to move around the dance floor while turning. We focused on teaching slow waltz because it was easier for people to pick up the steps and people could still move around the dance floor. Another concern was that no matter how much crowd control staff did and no matter how many announcements we made, people were still standing on the dance floor or doing their own thing in the path of the dancers.
We are not against the V. Waltz and will take a look at what we can do to maybe incorporate the dance in for next year (provided we have instructors who can teach it and come up with a way to ensure the safety of all the dancers). But if you really want to make sure that you get the dance in there, vote for the dances you want to see taught next year. :)
the thing is, i know there are people there who actually know how to do the viennese waltz... myself included... but i can't really think of a way to make it so those people could have a "waltzing circle" or whatever. the only thing i can think of is if they did it after the ball ended, since everyone clears the floor and starts to leave... but that doesn't seem like it would really work either. curses.
my partner and just made a tiny circle of our own (like five feet in diameter) and though it was a bit awkward we still had a lot of fun :3
I figured this Black and white ball would be more classy and romantic than raves and dances where people just go wild.
I voted for Tango and Slow Waltz.
Ah, the tango is so lovely <3
I know of some quality teachers for Salsa and East Coast Swing, as I am deeply involved in those communities of the bay area. So, if those dances rank high enough I know the right people to book.
And this is my first post on the fanime forums. Hello everyone!
Quote from: GoodAsianDriver on June 29, 2010, 10:36:05 PM
I know of some quality teachers for Salsa and East Coast Swing, as I am deeply involved in those communities of the bay area. So, if those dances rank high enough I know the right people to book.
And this is my first post on the fanime forums. Hello everyone!
Well let me be the first to welcome you to the forums. :) Thank you for your input on the dances that you would like to see for next year's ball. We are always looking for any interested instructors or assistants for the lessons. If you, or someone you know, is interested in teaching please feel free to drop us a line at
[email protected]. Many of the instructors that we had on staff this year are instructors at their own respective studios also. :) Again thank you for your post and hope to hear from you soon.
- Jim
BWBall Head 2010
And some of us are just really avid hobby dancers :P.
Please add Fox Trot to the list. It's a great beginner dance :)
Quote from: ININ on July 08, 2010, 04:12:21 PM
Please add Fox Trot to the list. It's a great beginner dance :)
I did not realize I had left that out. Thanks for catching that.
how about lindy hop? and if you need any teachers I'd love to help teach it!
Quote from: PrincessCake on October 15, 2010, 12:50:38 PM
how about lindy hop? and if you need any teachers I'd love to help teach it!
eeeeee.........
From my experience learning Lindy hop from my swing dance class. I don't think Lindy hop is appropriate to teach most attendees because I felt like the learning curve is tricky. I'm still learning Lindy Hop from my Swing dance and takes much longer to get the hang over if you don't learn the basics of EC Swing.
aww man its just so fun though...
but i would love to assist in west coast!
How about Quickstep? It shouldn't be more dangerous than Viennese Waltz, which is on the list.
Quote from: gftgy on December 27, 2010, 04:12:43 PM
How about Quickstep? It shouldn't be more dangerous than Viennese Waltz, which is on the list.
IMO
I just don't think V Waltz is that dangerous if you focus on the basic than being more technical or exact like the Ballroom scene from what I've seen at the Gaskell Ball and Dickens fair.
I prefer teaching/dancing quickstep than v.waltz. People tend to go crazy because v.waltz is what they see in movies and stuff. In addition, quickstep is easier to navigate on the dance floor especially with basics and lock steps.
Quote from: lil_koala on December 30, 2010, 10:54:40 PM
I prefer teaching/dancing quickstep than v.waltz. People tend to go crazy because v.waltz is what they see in movies and stuff. In addition, quickstep is easier to navigate on the dance floor especially with basics and lock steps.
Its all about crowd control if you don't want people to go all crazy and stuff unless they know what they're doing. Plus from the poll says alots of people want V Waltz is one of the most requested one and sadly quickstep is not mentioned nor brought up on the emails i'm receiving regarding the upcoming B&W Ball. We just have to figure out how we're suppose to control the crowd and teach the most safest and give ground rules towards learning dance.
You just have to check out Dickens Fair because they there is no dance lessons to learn V Waltz. Just alots of people who helps out from the Fezziwig group giving assistance and teach the people who's never gone out there how to do it. From most of the time there, I rarely see people go crazy out there. Just people going with the flow in rotary traffic. And at Gaskell Ball they taught as how they do the most basic V Waltz and I thought it is very convenient and set ground rules about the dance floors.
I voted for both waltzes and the fox trot. :3
Quote from: michiko nakano on June 09, 2010, 02:44:49 PM
personally, i like the polka. Like in The King and I ("Shall We Dance" song where Anna teaches the king to dance). Heck, we could at least use that song. It's a great song.
I agree, we should include polka. It's SOOOOOOOO much fun XD
Quote from: lady_tomoko on February 22, 2011, 01:00:42 PM
Quote from: michiko nakano on June 09, 2010, 02:44:49 PM
personally, i like the polka. Like in The King and I ("Shall We Dance" song where Anna teaches the king to dance). Heck, we could at least use that song. It's a great song.
I agree, we should include polka. It's SOOOOOOOO much fun XD
Yeah I know Polka is fun since I've done that in Dickens Fair, PEERS event, and Gaskell Ball. But damn! That dance is far more dangerous to perform at the dance floor if you don't have enough space. That dance is more dangerous than people claiming V Waltz if not taught correctly and plus its probably most tiring than most of the dance we're teaching and assisting. I'm gonna have to say no for that one since its not safe to teach people and do that around on the dance floor.
No polka! The number of potential accidents makes me shudder.
Quote from: OniCourseMusha on November 10, 2010, 12:11:59 AM
Quote from: PrincessCake on October 15, 2010, 12:50:38 PM
how about lindy hop? and if you need any teachers I'd love to help teach it!
eeeeee.........
From my experience learning Lindy hop from my swing dance class. I don't think Lindy hop is appropriate to teach most attendees because I felt like the learning curve is tricky. I'm still learning Lindy Hop from my Swing dance and takes much longer to get the hang over if you don't learn the basics of EC Swing.
Lindy Hop *Is* East Coast swing. Though many newbies to East Coast Swing tend to stick with a 6 count as opposed to the typical 8 count. What East Coast Swing, can still mean, however, different things to different people based on where you are geographically, and there are a few different styles within east coast swing itself.
As far as dances go everything looks stellar.
And as a member of the PEERS/Friday Night Waltz crowd I'm more of a fan of rotary waltz
Rather than dance classes, I would like to see a general 'free/practice hour class'
One of the best classes that I went to last year was the one near the end of the second day, where you just brought in everyone, took request on what people wanted to learn, and split into private lessons in groups of 4~8. The small numbers and direct instruction helped the most.
Maybe we could have a small 'mini-ball' some time before the big B&W. Just a 1hr mixed-bag set list to let people practice in a ballroom setting before the ravers take it over?
There might be private lessons Friday night and Saturday night.
There are private lessons:
http://www.fanime.com/parties-mixers-get-togethers/dance-schedule
Any chance of learning a set choreographed dance like the Congress of Vienna or the Sir Roger De Cloverly.
Quote from: tanntrum on May 04, 2011, 10:51:32 PM
Any chance of learning a set choreographed dance like the Congress of Vienna or the Sir Roger De Cloverly.
Sadly to say no since what you see in the dance schedule is what we can offer. But the good news is whenever I have the time I can teach you the Congress of Vienna since I attended many Dickens fair, PEERS events and Gaskell Ball.