[Callers] What to do with a really bad new dancer?

[Linda Leslie via Callers]

A while back, we had the same sort of challenge at one of the local dances.  About a dozen of us from the dance community got together to problem solve. The group decided that if one of us made sure that the challenged dancer had a partner for each dance, that it would be good for the entire dance. The less-than-satisfying dance experience would only last for 10 minutes or so, but improve the experience for the rest of folks in the set. Our reward: the continuous smile on the challenged dancer’s face more than made up for any perceived loss of “quality” dance time.  This gesture made a lot of difference, making the dance more pleasurable for all involved. 

As for the techniques used to help the dancer be on time: asking directly for permission to help, and how best to help might show the dancer that you care enough about his feelings and experience to ask. 

Warm wishes for happy problem solving for your dance community, Linda

On Mar 6, 2017, at 3:13 PM, Marie-Michèle Fournier via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>    Lately a new dancer has started coming to our dance and he is bad enough that he will often make the set break if the dance is moderately challenging. He seems to have some kind of impairment and walks very stiffly which means he will often not be on time for a figure and also often does not remember what is coming next.
>   We want to be inclusive but at the same time his presence negatively impacts other dancers in his set and while some of the experienced dancers will take one for the team and dance with him, it is an unpleasant experience to be his partner. Unfortunately, we always have many new dancers and having one couple not be where they should be can really throw them off in some dances so I feel like I have to push and pull him around to be on time, despite the fact that it's a little rude.
>    A recent caller to our dance called him a "speed bump" which was quite accurate. I'm sure other dances have had experience with similar troubles, does anyone have advice on how to deal with this so that other dancers still have a good time yet we are nice to this problematic dancer?
> Thank you
> Marie
> ContraMontreal
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net