You’ve seen him at weddings and company Christmas parties, the guy who’s so afraid to be seen dancing in public that he digs in his heels and there’s just no way his wife can get him out on the dance floor. While Decatur Area Arts Council is helping to bring social ballroom dancing back to Decatur, Mt. Zion and Forsyth, we know it’ll take more than just making classes and social dance events available for some people to come out and join the fun.
The hurdle of growing a social dance community in a town that hasn’t had one.
Some people jump at the chance to take a ballroom dance
class the minute they see it’s available and convenient, happening in
their own town, and affordable. Our monthly sampler class right here
at the Arts Council ticks those boxes perfectly!
Meanwhile, plenty of others have awareness of the new class,
they notice it on Facebook, they might even get the email sharing that this
class now exists, but they won’t budge an inch. The combination of anxieties –
feeling embarrassed about their awkward dancing, plus the added anxiety
of going into a new social environment where they feel like they won’t know
anyone in the room, this overwhelmingly impedes their participation even while
others are having a wonderful time and laughing through their beginner foibles
in the safe and welcoming environment that a beginner ballroom dance class
provides. What can be done to get these people dancing?
The four types of new ballroom dancers
1.
You’re a doctor (or you
recently saw your doctor)
People who are aware of the health benefits of ballroom dance are often early
adopters when a class becomes available. They know it’s a great low-impact
exercise for adults that will gently challenge their bodies as well as their
minds, so they go for it seeking those known benefits to all the aspects of the
human ageing process. Doctors will tell you, take a ballroom dance class BEFORE
you hit retirement age to receive maximum long-term benefits.
2.
You’ve always wanted to
learn how to Ballroom Dance!
This accounts for fans of "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance", people who sigh at dance
movies; all those people who always wanted to learn how to dance but just never
had the opportunity because a class didn’t exist, or they didn’t have the time
in their overscheduled lives. Couples often get the chance to take a dance
class once kids have gone off to college, for example. These people show no
fear!
3. You’re married to HER
Many gentlemen out there are smart enough to join in a ballroom dancing class
with their wife or girlfriend knowing that the lady in your life wants to learn
how to dance because she wants to dance with YOU, and you’re smart enough to do
the class with her because it’s sure to make her happy! Local social dance
communities are full of nice people focused on having a good time, making
friends, and dancing together. Ballroom dance is about adults looking for a social activity they can
do together to have some fun among other active adults while connecting with
each other in a new and different way, if one of you is more eager than the
other, it’s normal for the instructor in an entry-level ballroom dance class to
provide enough light-hearted humor and fun that even the reluctant hubby can
have a good time participating alongside his more eager better half.
4.
The Late Adopters
The guy glued to his seat while
everyone else is dancing, the people who skip the company Christmas party
entirely just to avoid dancing; it takes more than Ballroom Dance becoming
available locally to get them to move and groove. So, what does work?
When they experience their
friends and coworkers, normal people just like them, talking and laughing about
the fun they’re having in a dance class, when you share how you’re enjoying
getting into it, even overcoming how awkward you used to feel about your two
left feet, or how you’re not the best dancer yet but you can tell you’re
getting better at it, how your wife loves it and it’s good for your marriage,
how you’re having more fun than you expected; many people only get into
ballroom dance after a good number of the people they know have already gotten
started and they have a sense of social support if they join the class.
For the Late Adopters, dance
teachers recognize them in class the minute they arrive (with their friend who
has already taken the class, of course), and teachers take special care to help
the anxious new student both have a good time and gain core skills that show them
that dancing IS something they can learn and do, gradually overcoming the emotional
barriers that prevent perfectly normal people from dancing and enjoying
themselves.
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Decatur Area Arts Council offers an affordable monthly beginner ballroom dance class with rotating focus topics to help local people get dancing either with a quick one-month hop through our class just to see what ballroom dance is like or return month after month to grow your skills until you feel comfortable heading out to local social dances across the Central Illinois region!
