Hyperreal

Hi,

I went to a Ceroc class for the first yesterday. I thought I would share my impressions.

First, some background. I don’t have any history of dancing - never been to any sort of classes since school. I’ve always enjoyed ceilidhs and such though.

I was persuaded to go by a friend who attends quite regularly, though she wasn’t at the class last night - I figured it would be less stressful if I wasn’t worried about making a fool of myself in front of anyone I know. She had filled me in on how things work though, so there wouldn’t be any big surprises.

When I got there I was surprised by a couple of things. First, “joining” Ceroc is very simple - I didn’t have to give any details at all about myself, not even my name. Second, I thought there would be a bigger fuss made of a new person, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there to do that.

Because I’d been fore-warned, I pretty much knew what was going to to happen during the beginners session, but I think I’d have been pretty lost otherwise - it can take me a bit of time to acclimatise. Fortunately, the partner I had first seemed to know the ropes and things went pretty smoothly.

So the moves we were learning that night looked very complicated. I’m really surprised that I managed to learn it at all. The partners I had varied in their skill and helpfulness, but I was quickly adopted by one of the taxi dancers, and she stuck with me the rest of the session. She was just brilliant and helped me a lot (when she wasn’t managing to confuse me. )

I don’t know what I did to receive her dedicated attention - there were maybe 4 or 5 other new people. Perhaps I just looked more lost than the others, or maybe she didn’t see them all when the teacher asked us to put our hands up. I’d like to think that she thought I was just cuter than the others.

So, I guess I’ve just revealed that I’m male, so I guess we can talk about that for a bit - what it’s like to be a guy beginner.

The good part: You get to stay put on the floor all the time.

The bad part: You are meant to be able to lead.

I was asked to dance during the “freestyle” bit after the beginner’s session by an intermediate. I didn’t have much of a clue. I did manage to do some of the stuff just taught to me, and my partner was a bit surprised but impressed that I had learnt such difficult moves for my first lesson.

I had tried to hide by making myself busy having some water and talking to the taxi dancer, but she had to go and arrange the revision bit and I was left alone and vulnerable.

Up to now I haven’t mentioned any names or the place, I probably won’t post this today, so it’s less obvious where I was. Although I don’t think I’ve said anything bad about anyone, I don’t think it’s appropriate to identify individuals unless they want to identify themselves. I guess some people might be able to work it out though. (I also tried to post this anonymously, but wasn’t able to… oh well.)

I’m now going to talk a little about the location which may also make it easier to figure out where I was.

Over-all the location was quite good. It’s a place I’m fairly familiar with anyway, which helped. There was really only one problem. When us beginners went elsewhere to practice our new moves with the taxi dancers, we found that there wasn’t a place for us to go to. We ended up dancing in a fairly cramped space, with a wet and sticky floor and the occasional passer-by having to walk through us. Not ideal.

The revision bit did help a lot though. In fact I learnt things that weren’t covered by the teacher - more general stuff that she wouldn’t have time to go through during the class. Very useful.

After that we went back to the main hall and watched the intermediates doing their routine. They broke up quite quickly though and it was back to freestyle dancing.

I hid by concentrating on the text I was sending to my friend to say how much I’d enjoyed it. I haven’t really said here how much I enjoyed the whole night. Ceroc dancing is remarkably easy and really good fun. During the lesson I couldn’t stop grinning I was having such a good time.

After sending the text, I made my escape before I was accosted again and asked to dance by anyone who would know any more steps than me, and would be confused by my feeble attempts to lead them.

And this is where we get to the big problem for me. The one thing that is putting me off going back is the pressure on the guy to lead. I don’t want to find myself asked by more experienced dancers to dance and then not know what to do. I don’t want to do the asking either. What chance does an absolute beginner guy have?

I’ve seen other discussions where people have talked about what is needed to persuade more guys to do Ceroc. One thing I noticed last night was that there seemed to be a different age profile between the guys and the girls - the average age of the guys seemed to be a bit higher, though I may have been mistaken - to tell the truth, I hardly noticed the guys anyway. (What do you expect?)

I guess the big thing is about perception. I’m not going to be telling all my friends that I went to a dance class last night. It’s just like in “Shall We Dance” if you’ve seen it. There’s a lot of stigma attached to the idea of guys wanting to actually learn how to dance. I guess as we mature that tends to diminish.

I’m not really sure how to combat this problem. I hesitate to mention this, but one thing I did enjoy last night was meeting so many girls so quickly. (Most of which were really nice, though there were a few we just won’t talk about.) I guess it’s a bit like speed dating, but with less talking and more spinning. Now maybe if this aspect was emphasised to guys more, it would get them through the door. After that they’re either going to get hooked on it or not, but at least they’ll have experienced it and be able to make an informed decision.

OK, I think I’ve written more than enough now. Anything else you want to know, just ask…

Before I go, I’d like to thank all the partners I had last night, the teacher and the taxi drivers for making my first time so much fun. I also want to thank my pal for making me go along.

Cheers!