Simple dances for nondancers ?
mc...@vms.cis.pitt.edu
I'm going to be doing some dance for non-dancing adult and I need some more
simple dances than I have (the hat dance is wonderful, but I need others)
Any dances that involve a minimum of exercise and some kind of fun for adults
are welcomed!
Thanks in advance.
Michael Young
Pittsburgh, PA
Jonathan Sivier
>I know that this question has been asked before (I may have asked it myself).
>I'm going to be doing some dance for non-dancing adult and I need some more
>simple dances than I have (the hat dance is wonderful, but I need others)
>Any dances that involve a minimum of exercise and some kind of fun for adults
>are welcomed!
By the "hat dance" do you mean The Hatter? I don't think of that one
as requiring minimum exercise. If it is something else can you post it?
Here are some rules I use when putting together a program for a group of
novice dancers.
- Use dances that contain only figures that require no (or very little)
explanation. That is, figures where the name effectively tells you how
to do it, or ones that almost everyone knows even if they have never
danced before. Thus you have circles, stars, lines (forward and back
and down the hall), do-si-do's (it seems like almost everyone knows
how to do this) and allemandes (turn by the right/left hand). There
may be a few others that can be used, but with these you can do quite
a lot. If the evening goes extremely well I might throw in a dance or
two with a swing near the end of the evening.
- Have progression be obvious and require no thought by the dancers.
In whole set dances the top couple goes to the bottom of the set and
everyone moves up one place. In contra dances use dances where each
couple passes their neighbors by and automagically meets a new couple.
You usually get a good reaction from the crowd the first time this
happens and they realize what is going on.
- Use proper dances. More specifically use dances where you interact
with your partner and your neighbor, but it doesn't matter who are the
women and who are the men. Most proper dances fit this requirement.
This is especially helpful when teaching kids. They can just get a
friend as a partner and you don't need to worry about designating a
boys line and a girls line. Even with adults, not having to cross over
at the ends of contra dances is one less thing they have to know about
and remember.
Here are some dances I like to use:
Galopede
Cumberland Reel
Cumberland Square Dance
Sanita Hill Circle
Jefferson's Reel
Heel and Toe Polka
Those are the ones that I can think of at the moment. If you would like
a more complete list let me know and I can send it to you from home.
Jonathan
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mc...@vms.cis.pitt.edu
> mc...@vms.cis.pitt.edu writes:
>
>
>
>>Any dances that involve a minimum of exercise and some kind of fun for adults
>>are welcomed!
>
> By the "hat dance" do you mean The Hatter? I don't think of that one
> as requiring minimum exercise. If it is something else can you post it?
The Hat Dance
(don't know who wrote it , but I got it from here , I think from K
Missavage, )
Three chairs in front. lines in front of the outer two chaithe Someone with a
hat in the middle chair. One person from each line sits in the outer chairs.
The person with the hat puts the hat on one of the two people in an outer
chair and sashays down the middle with the other person . The person
with the hat now takes the middle chair...
More of a game than a dance. Most of the time the people and standing and
clapping. They seem to like that.
I think I need a few more dances like it: Very simple, lots of laughs, not too
much exercise, give the people a chance to mess up the band by clapping off
beat...
Everything the crowd seems to want in a dance.
>
> Here are some rules I use when putting together a program for a group of
> novice dancers.
>
> - Use dances that contain only figures that require no (or very little)
> explanation. That is, figures where the name effectively tells you how
> to do it, or ones that almost everyone knows even if they have never
> danced before. Thus you have circles, stars, lines (forward and back
> and down the hall), do-si-do's (it seems like almost everyone knows
> how to do this) and allemandes (turn by the right/left hand). There
> may be a few others that can be used, but with these you can do quite
> a lot. If the evening goes extremely well I might throw in a dance or
> two with a swing near the end of the evening.
Seems good.
>
> - Have progression be obvious and require no thought by the dancers.
> In whole set dances the top couple goes to the bottom of the set and
> everyone moves up one place. In contra dances use dances where each
> couple passes their neighbors by and automagically meets a new couple.
> You usually get a good reaction from the crowd the first time this
> happens and they realize what is going on.
I rarely use progression other than top couple goes to the bottom.
>
> - Use proper dances. More specifically use dances where you interact
> with your partner and your neighbor, but it doesn't matter who are the
> women and who are the men. Most proper dances fit this requirement.
> This is especially helpful when teaching kids. They can just get a
> friend as a partner and you don't need to worry about designating a
> boys line and a girls line. Even with adults, not having to cross over
> at the ends of contra dances is one less thing they have to know about
> and remember.
>
I rarely would even think of doing something as complicated as a contra.
YMMV.
> Here are some dances I like to use:
>
> Galopede
> Cumberland Reel
> Cumberland Square Dance
> Sanita Hill Circle
> Jefferson's Reel
> Heel and Toe Polka
These are probably good, but I can't really judge from the titles.
I really need descriptions.
I was hoping, for example, to find some kind of "Heel and Toe Square" that has
one active couple and the rest watching and clapping.
Last adults I called for got really worn out by circling left, circling right
and swinging your neighbor 4 times to get back home in a square. I'm looking
for less physically demanding dances. I'm doing a 50th BD party.
Thanks,
Michael
>
>
> Jonathan
>
Mario Herger
some really easy austrian and german dances ones available (you need realplayer
for seeing the videos.)
Servus
Mario
Shawn Banta
people on either side and sashayed with the other one. Lots of laughs. To a
polka tune, and the dance was called "the kissing polka".
--Shawn
KMsSavage
asked it myself)....
You bet. It's too hot to type; suggest you do a Deja search on dances for
beginners, families, etc. (What was that--June, or May?)
--Karen M.
someday I'll put 'em on my web page!
David Smukler
>
> I was hoping, for example, to find some kind of "Heel and Toe Square" that has
> one active couple and the rest watching and clapping.
>
> Last adults I called for got really worn out by circling left, circling right
> and swinging your neighbor 4 times to get back home in a square. I'm looking
> for less physically demanding dances. I'm doing a 50th BD party.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael
Hi Michael,
Lots of the standard Southern visiting squares will do this for you.
First cpl out to the right and...
(choose one:)
-round that cpl & take a little peek; back to ctr & sw your sweet; round
the cpl & peek once more; back to ctr & sw all 4
-duck for the oyster; dig for the clam; shoot thru the hole to the
promised land
-birdie in the cage & 6 hands round; bird hop out & crow fly in
-2 gents elbow swing; elbow swing opp; gents again; elbow swing ptr
on to the next...
repeat for each couple in turn
everybody home and sw and promenade
There's lots of variations, some of which you probably remember yourself
from somewhere or other.
These work best with southern music.
I've also had luck with:
Un Deux Trois Poussez! (longways set, gender unimportant in mixed age
groups)
A1- for & back
R elbow turn
A2- L elbow turn
dos-a-dos ptr 1 1/2, ending with backs in contact
B1- Say, "Un deux trois, poussez!" and as you say "poussez," bow so that
you push off one another's bottoms
Sw ptr
B2- Top cpl to bottom as others clap and move up toward music 1 place
La Bastringue
circle mixer
A1- Into ctr & back 2x
A2- Circle L & R
B1- Dos-a-dos corner & sw
B2- Promenade same
A bit adulterated perhaps, but works well with non-dancing groups to ad
that dsd in B1. You can also fool around with who goes into the ctr and
back, as follows:
just the ladies, just the gents
under 40, over 40
sexy people, everyone else
cell phone owners, everyone else
if you're rich, others
or whatever
I also love the "Hat" Dance.
Hope this helps,
David Smukler
Paul Kosowsky
>
> I know that this question has been asked before (I may have asked it myself).
>
> I'm going to be doing some dance for non-dancing adult and I need some more
> simple dances than I have (the hat dance is wonderful, but I need others)
>
> are welcomed!
>
>
> Michael Young
> Pittsburgh, PA
share the bunch of Israeli FOlk Dances that weither I or a friend have
taught at events in my area, all of which included people from a very
wide age range. Mayim Mayim works well, Zemer Atik is good- and many
people who've gone to a lot of bar/bat miztvahs, Jewish weddings, etc,
will practically know it already. I'd also suggest Debka Kurdit, but
the music is, I'm told, rather hard to find. They all might be a touch
harder than your hat dance, since everyone is always dancing, but it's
all in one circle, so... Hope that's of some use. I guess you could
use any of them as a bit of an "exotic" change from teh rest of your
square dance sort of stuff. OK, just pushing for more variety
online... Ignore me if it's obnoxious.
Maya
Bob Archer
mc...@vms.cis.pitt.edu says...
> I know that this question has been asked before (I may have asked it myself).
>
> I'm going to be doing some dance for non-dancing adult and I need some more
> simple dances than I have (the hat dance is wonderful, but I need others)
>
> Any dances that involve a minimum of exercise and some kind of fun for adults
> are welcomed!
I'd suggest having a look at the English ceilidh / barn dance repertoire.
A good start would be Thomas Green's pages at:
http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~thomas.green/BarnDances/
Good luck with your event.
Bob
Neal Rhodes
> Lots of the standard Southern visiting squares will do this for you.
> First cpl out to the right and...
>
> (choose one:)
> -round that cpl & take a little peek; back to ctr & sw your sweet; round
> the cpl & peek once more; back to ctr & sw all 4
> -duck for the oyster; dig for the clam; shoot thru the hole to the
> promised land
Southern squares are fun, but I'd not do the "shoot the hole" move;
too much chance for twisted wrists, bent backs, and general
disorientation. "Shoot the owl", lady 'round lady, there are
plenty of moves which won't have you bending over.
Ya, they both seem to work for me.
>
> A bit adulterated perhaps, but works well with non-dancing groups to ad
> that dsd in B1. You can also fool around with who goes into the ctr and
> back, as follows:
> just the ladies, just the gents
> under 40, over 40
> sexy people, everyone else
> cell phone owners, everyone else
> if you're rich, others
> or whatever
>
> I also love the "Hat" Dance.
>
> Hope this helps,
> David Smukler
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Dr. David Cottle
Someone else suggested La Bastringue (sp?). I've found that very good to
start with a complete novice group. You can start them just walking to the
music, then show them the quick, quick, slow step, then in and out, left and
right, have them do an "arm" swing. You can have a large group dancing with
very little explanation.