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Hi everyone,

I am glad to have come back for this year's Black and White Ball as an Instructor and Assistant and hope to come back next year. I was pretty satisfied with this year's B&W Ball. But from a volunteer's perspective, I would like to give some feedback:

- At the door,there was some inconsistencies about whether people should be able to come back into the room after going to the bathroom. One person I worked with stated that people could go back, another person said that this was not okay. I believe that attendees should be allowed bathroom breaks due to the duration of the Ball and how hot the room got due to so many people in the room at once. Perhaps we could make laminated bathroom passes or offer some other solution to this issue?
- Also at the door, in order to make enforcing the "no stiletto rule" easier, I suggest that we have a ruler on hand. I found it difficult to keep track of who was going in and trying to check everyone's shoes and clothing at the same time.
- I thought the demos were great and gave people a chance to rest and hydrate.
- I'm praying that we get a bigger room next year.
- For those who did not care for this year's music, please suggest songs that you would want to be played at next year's B&W Ball.

Constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated. :)

-Elizabeth 

anyways, i really don't see whats wrong with not everyone knowing how to ballroom dance. you can't expect everyone to know to to dance formally there. i had a lot of fun with my friends dancing normally. if people what to do ballroom dancing maybe they should just have some sort of ball room dancing event just for them instead of trying to make everyone else dance like them. the conga line was fun and people have only themselves to blame if they don't know how to get out of the way.

I can see the point that is being made. However, I believe the topic is being misunderstood.  First of all,we do not expect everyone to know how to dance; that is what the lessons are for. The lessons are there to help people learn various types of ballroom dance. We want to share our knowledge and get people to appreciate ballroom dance. Second,we also DO NOT expect or force ANYONE to dance like us. The playlist on the projector was given so that guests could practice the moves learned in class if they wanted to. Guests had the option of following the playlist or dancing on their own, which was perfectly fine and added some variety and entertainment to the event.
The reason we mentioned the conga lines is because at the ball, while conga lines did look cool and seem fun to participate in, they got too big at times(one line took up the entire floor space) and were blocking the way of experienced AND non-experienced dancers alike. Thus, along with the dysfunctional floor(was sticky and fell apart during the ball, which can be a hazard to a lady wearing high heels because twisted ankles can occur), the take home message was to consider others at the ball and definitely put safety first! Not to mention, even for the most experienced dancer(even a professional), dancing through a conga line and/or a crowd of standing guests is very difficult and the dancer should not be solely blamed just because he/she couldn't get out of the way when there was little or no way out(Big group of standing people+big conga line+other dancers in place+other traveling dancers=A very difficult floor to navigate). Usually, multiple parties(this can include an experienced dancer, it happens all the time at competitions) are at fault for a bump or crash.
As for seperating experienced and non-experienced dancers, this would have been counter-productive and would reduce the number of potential dance partners by a huge number. Non-experienced dancers gain a lot of skill from dancing with an experienced dancer and vice versa. Believe it or not, teaching is a great way to improve dancing skills and helps one understand how the movements are done. Heck, we even got some people who didn't come to the lessons who wanted to learn a dance or two at the ball! We then gave them a one-on-one lesson in the dance that they wanted to learn. Now, if we had seperated those who had experience and those who had little experience, the instructors/assistants would have not have had the pleasure of dancing with new people and learning more each other and themselves and vice versa. Not to mention, there would have been no resources for guests to go to if they had any questions about patterns learned in classes.

Thank you,
Elizabeth

I would like to see more intermediate dance lessons next year. I have learned the basic steps to the majority of the dances, but when I only know the basic step, a quarter turn and maybe a promenade, and not even an underarm turn, that isn't much for a 4 minute dance. (Props to our excellent dance instructors though since I realize there was time limit.)  I think there was only intermediate lessons for east coast swing, disco hustle, foxtrot, and salsa, and all those were offered at the same time so you had to choose which one you wanted.

I am happy to hear that people are interested in more intermediate lessons since the beginner patterns can get old pretty fast. Dan and I would be more than happy to teach more intermediate lessons. The only problem is where to fit them in since people seemed open to learning many different dances throughout the day. One option would be instead of having the "introduction to dance" lesson, we could have short video clips on the internet or at the con of what the dances look like and give a preview of what patterns would be taught.
Another point, with a class of 30 or more people(one East Coast Swing class had 118 students while a Waltz class had 92 students!), getting most of the class to understand the basic step of a dance is more difficult than one would think since everyone learns at a different pace(the lack of assistants at times didn't help either). Therefore, we really tried to get in as many moves as we could with the time given. If there was more time however, we would have been more than happy to teach more patterns to everyone :).

By reading the recent comments posted, I agree with most of them and can see their points of views. However, we have seemed to have forgotten to put safety first.

The arguments I have seen used most consistently is that of dancers of any level standing on the floor doing nothing being acceptable, conga lines being acceptable at any time, and people charging across the room being okay as long as they are having fun.

I understand that people come here to have a good time, meet new people,hang out with friends, and much more. But we REALLY need to put the safety of others first before saying "It's okay, they just want to have fun." when injuries could potentially happen.

Having a sticky and seperating floor did nothing to help the situation and made the fear of crashing into people who were and weren't dancing even worse.

Yes, injuries can happen when people get carefree on the dance floor and stop thinking about the others around them on a crowded dance floor.
People standing around on the floor who are not dancing are a bit of a hazard because they are at risk of being crashed into and may not know it since their backs may be facing a good portion of the people who are dancing.
People who are in a long conga line can be hazardous because they have the highest risk of crashing into people who are dancing in place, traveling, or not dancing at all on the floor.
People who are charging across the floor in their own fashion are hazardous because most of these people are going in the opposite direction. Because of this, the probability of crashing is much higher. Not to mention, because of the crowded floor itself, the chances of feet being stepped on are significantly higher and having one's feet stepped on by high heels or any heel on a dress shoe REALLY hurts! I know this because this has happened to me in the past!
Therefore, my take home message to everyone is: have a blast at the ball; but remember, we all need to remember that safety comes first!

Please feel free to make any more suggestions that you have concerning safety at the B&W Ball.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

I definitely agree that there should be no age limit to come to the Ball because anyone at any age can dance. Plus, people at all levels dancing together on one floor is perfectly fine with me, as long as the conga lines, people standing on the floor in large groups, and people charging around the room (which is rather dangerous to experienced and non-experienced dancers alike) does not get out of control. 
As for making a rule that one must take a lesson before the ball, this is something that we could "highly recommend" rather than enforce this rule upon guests at Fanime. Enforcing a rule like this would probably intimidate people rather than welcome them to this event.
For the mixers, perhaps there should have been a demonstration by instructors/assistants of what a mixer should look like and then let guests participate. I understand that Jim did this at a lesson, but not everyone who went to the Ball went to the lessons.
Other than that, I believe others have said what has needed to be said. That is all I have for now.
Thanks,
Elizabeth

This is Elizabeth, one of the instructors. I forgot to mention that in my last post :P.

First of all, thank you to those who came to the lessons! My partner Dan and I were really excited to be here and eager to teach everyone how to dance Cha-Cha, Rumba, Salsa, and more(however, cha-cha and rumba,the latin dances, happen to be our specialty). The lessons this year seem like a HUGE improvement from last year. While I wasn't there, I heard the lessons didn't go so well.

For those who thought that the classes seemed a bit short: they were short because some classes went over time and other classes were made shorter because of this(having a clock in the room definitely would have helped.Also, on day 2, Ballroom J was unlocked later than usual causing us to go off schedule). Also, at most of the lessons, there were at least 30-40 people at one lesson. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to teach this many people who have little or no dance experience the basic step, an underarm turn, and another move of our choice(the basic and underarm turn were required to be taught) because not everybody catches on to one dance at a fast pace. As instructors, it is our job to get the basic steps and more to as many people as we can with the time constraints given. But hey, it could be that people were having so much fun that time passed by faster than usual.

As for the music, since I have heard some songs were not suitable for a formal dance, perhaps there could be a mix of formal and modern music at the ball that fits each dance. I believe the reason the modern music was there was to appeal to the younger crowd and keep them entertained to songs that were familiar to them. Not to mention, a lot of modern music works beautifully with the dances taught at the lessons.

About having a lesson or two on day zero: this sounds like a great idea. While Dan and I were there on day zero, without any notification, there was no way people were going to be able to figure out that instructors were there to help. So, for next year, perhaps we could have an open floor on day zero so people can meet the instructors/assistants and ask any questions about the B&W Ball and maybe get a lesson or two.
I understand someone mentioned having a refresher course on the dances taught before the ball. I would suggest that more people come to the open floor sessions if they had any questions regarding any dances taught. Perhaps we could have instructors/assistants not teaching beginner/intermediate lessons at this time be available to answer questions.
Please feel free to give more suggestions on how this event could be improved.
Thanks,
Elizabeth

Overall, I thought the Black and White Ball was good; but, there were a LOT of improvments that should be made for next year. I will try not to put too much on one subject since many people have already commented on the topics.

1. The Floor
The Floor was by far the biggest issue concerning injuries to guests at the Black and White Ball. The floor seperating during the dance was extremely dangerous to those who were wearing high heels. I almost got injured on the floor while doing a salsa when my heel almost got stuck in one of the gaps on the floor. Plus, at least half of the floor was sticky and unacceptable for those who were trying to dance the dances shown on the projector. Furthermore, the sticky floor caused much residue to build up on my dance shoes, which were not cheap to start off with. Overall, I agree mostly with everyone's comments on this topic. Not to mention, since the floor is not meant for dancing, many of the instructors/assistant's bodies were sore after days of working and being at the B&W Ball.

2. Music

The music playlist needs to be revised by all instructors and assistants ASAP!!! Many of the songs played during the Ball were mismatched to what was on the playlist. For example, Samba songs were being played as Salsa songs(Samba timing is a-1-a-2-a-3-a-4 while Salsa timing is 1,2,3,5,6,7, two completely different dances).For those who believe that songs are "open to interpretation", this is NOT always true. You cannot just pull a random heavy metal or rock song out of your butt and call it a Foxtrot. There are specific tempos for each dance that need to be followed. As an experienced ballroom dancer and competitor, I understand that some Tango songs can work for a Cha-Cha(the tempos can work together with some songs); but two dances with completely different tempos and timing(ex: Viennese Waltz and Rumba) CANNOT be danced to the same music! Plus, there are two songs from anime movies that would have worked beautifully as waltzes("Waltz of Chihiro" from "Spirited Away" and "The Wizard's Waltz" from "Howl's Moving Castle"), yet they were not played at the Ball. Also, why were dances such as Mambo on the playlist when it wasn't taught at the lessons? About the Rumba songs, they were WAY TOO slow. The tempos played for Rumba were either International Rumba(very different from it's American counterpart taught at the lessons) or a Bolero(an intermediate dance that takes much technique and control to master). Faster songs needed to be played because trying to do an American Rumba to an extremely slow song is painful for the beginning dancer who has not yet developed control of his/her movements.

3. Instructors/Assistants at B&W Ball and Lessons
Since not everyone at the Black and White Ball went to the lessons, an announcement should have been made that anyone with a white arm band was an instructor/assistant and could dance with anyone who did not have a partner. Also, some instructors/assistants did NOT show up for their assigned lessons! This resulted in other instructors/assistants taking over lessons and working more hours than needed! For those who did not show up, it is one matter to say that you want to assist/instruct at B&W Ball and another matter of actually being at the lessons. But if you do not show up, then please tell Eugene, Jim, or anyone else instructing/assisting that you cannot make it! Fortunately, there was one instructor who had the courtesy of notifying the staff about not being able to come to a lesson. To that person, thank you so much!

4. Food

No comment, because that is how dissapointed I was about this topic.

5. The Dancing

First of all, there were people on the inner portion AND the edge of the floor who were standing around in circles and talking to one another or going against line of dance.This is hazardous and dangerous to those who were trying to follow the line of dance. Because of this, those dancing in line of dance had to tell people to watch out or to get out of the way when dancing(Yes, people dancing in line of dance have the right-of-way over those standing there or not dancing in line of dance). Furthermore, as an experienced dancer, I felt insulted when people who didn't know the Tango tried their Hollywood interpretation of the dance(also known as charging across the room in a disorderly fashion and laughing at the same time) when there was an excellent Tango lesson taught on Sunday in the morning. Please, if you don't know how to do the dance, please do not make fun of it and ruin it for those who do know the dance and are trying to move across the room via line of dance. Tango is a dance that requires technique and much practice to master and is much more that charging across the room in a futile attempt to do what is called "The Promenade".

That is all I have to say about this topic in general. I hope that many improvements are made so that this event can get even better than it is now.