Busy dance floor

Offbeat said:
Some followers don't realise that the leader is trying to dance small on a crowded floor. It is my pet peeve!
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Aaargh! you hit the nail on the head! I had such a tough night on Sun that I was disheartened and thinking of quitting salsa altogether. I had just had enough. Thinking back, this was the main theme of the evening. Didn't matter what count, what music, what size of lead, the vast majority of followers were making massive steps and making floorcraft really hard. The floor wasn't even that crowded. Even when I let girls go for shining they seemed to just move backwards into the neighboring couples. One of them I literally pointed behind her and beckoned her to come closer and she refused!

Ho hum, I feel better for that rant...
 
KP-salsa said:
Sorry, but I find this kind of behaviour extremely selfish. Usually when I feel a push on my back from a leader doing exactly this, I'm already in at least as tight as space as they are and - to be honest - it actually encourages me to dance bigger and move into their space just because the arrogance that their space is more important than mine annoys me.
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I'm with you on that one. If it's crowded you need give and take. I only deliberately make contact with drunk muggles - I had one a couple of weeks ago. I'd already moved to avoid him once, and when he entered our space again I gave him a firm bump with my backside. He staggered, assumed it was his fault (he was well out of it) and apologised. The woman I was dancing with was most amused.
 
himji said:
Any tips for keeping a clearish area on the dance floor? I had a particular dance today and more people kept coming on pushing us right into a corner, it was pretty crap and it was very hard to keep me and my partner from getting knocked :/
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When busy I like to pick an area of the floor that's in a corner of the room or right on the edge of the floor or, if the room has pillars, dancing between them. That way you are not surrounded by other couples so have less sides to worry about.

Learn to dance small and keep your partner close to you (there are old threads on this topic). Also, know which moves require more space (both in terms of the length and width of your slot) and which moves are likely to make your partner travel. When the floor's busy, I only ask guys I can rely on not to take up huge space and catapult me into other people - be one of them.

Don't pick a spot next to leaders who are known to be big space hoggesr who can't keep to their slot.

I don't think trying to nudge people to move away from you is a good idea, but if you sense that a couple next to you is not aware of how close they are to you, you could try a gentle bump or even touch on their back mid-move just so they realise you are there.

There are times when the floor is so busy the best way to protect yourself and your partner is *not* to dance... the other day I ended up spending 3/4 hour sitting and watching the mayhem until people started leaving to catch the last train. It's frustrating, but dancing on an overcrowded floor is just as frustrating (and more painful).
 
Tom said:
I'm with you on that one. If it's crowded you need give and take. I only deliberately make contact with drunk muggles - I had one a couple of weeks ago. I'd already moved to avoid him once, and when he entered our space again I gave him a firm bump with my backside. He staggered, assumed it was his fault (he was well out of it) and apologised. The woman I was dancing with was most amused.
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There's give and take but there's also communication. Gentle contact sort of "brings the subject up" and can help, IMO. There's sense in give and take, but no sense in give and give and give until you can't move. Especially if there are huge empty spaces elsewhere on the floor.
 
sweavo said:
There's give and take but there's also communication. Gentle contact sort of "brings the subject up" and can help, IMO. There's sense in give and take, but no sense in give and give and give until you can't move. Especially if there are huge empty spaces elsewhere on the floor.
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Agreed, I was really referring to situations where nobody has any space.
 
Well talk about extremes. Last night in bar salsa, the place was absolutely rammed! As it is the dance floor is very small. then you have droves of people standing around on the sides and moving between the dancers, then you find that the limited space you do have ends up with another two couples crammed into it. Interesting experience to say the least. I think we had a very few accidents, the worst of it was with the non-dancers trying to get to the other side of the bar bumping into you or worse still your partner. I was constantly looking around for space, lot;s of concentration (and basic)
 
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