(From the book Partnership Dancing™)
Preface
First learn to dance.
~ Sheldon Weitzen
Welcome to Partnership Dancing™.
Congratulations on your willingness to explore
your dance experience in this uniquely, original way.
Partnership Dancing™ is the first and only method to clearly
define how to unambiguously communicate in social dancing.
You will learn how to communicate every step in every social dance.
You will learn how to make every dance a pleasure for you and your partner.
And, it is easy. Anyone that can walk can learn Partnership Dancing™.
Learn to Dance
Dancing is a lot like life.
Much of what works in one, works in the other.
When I was in high school, my dad asked me if I was
going to a dance at the school. I said, "No,
I do not like to dance."
He laughed at me and said,
"You have no idea what it is like to dance.
You can say you do not know how to dance,
but you cannot say you do not like to dance."
He finished, "First learn to dance,
then you can say you do not like it."
For the last three decades I have been learning to dance.
After a fling with disco in college, which I have not gotten over,
my first organized dancing was Israeli folk dancing.
The first thing I learned was to enjoy the company, enjoy the music,
get some exercise and have fun. Was that four things?
Choreography Is Not the Answer
Next I tried salsa and the antecedents of this book were born.
I made an attempt to document the complex choreography, but the book stalled.
How we grow and change.
I like to think my intuition rightly understood choreography was not the answer.
This book is the antithesis of rote choreography.
Dance Teachers
Along my way I have found dance teachers to be excellent.
Dance teachers are suprisingly consistent, regardless of the dance they are teaching.
This consistency reflects universal truths about how two people move together
to music.
However, this consistency includes being surprisingly vague about communicating with a partner.
Until this book, there was no set of rules defining precisely what signals there are
and how to communicate them.
Problems with Imprecise Communication
When people do not know how to communicate accurately,
a whole bunch of problems manifest themselves.
Problems include slow progress, frustration, conflict,
development of bad habits and drop outs.
Communication Instead of Choreography
When I found myself taking on a leadership role in both Israeli and swing dancing,
I focused on communication rather than choreography.
In organizing the mass of information I had accumulated,
a logical method emerged.
I saw that communicating with a dance partner followed
a few simple principles, easily learned by anyone, even novice dancers.
I have codified these principles into the method I call Partnership Dancing™.
Subconcious Communication
Dancing happens too fast for conscious thought.
People communicate using subconcious clues.
Partnership Dancing™ elucidates these subconscious clues
into an easy to understand language.
The extraordinary effectiveness of Partnership Dancing™
is a testament to the accuracy of the language.
Once you understand the body language of Partnership Dancing™,
you will be able to train yourself to
communicate as effortlessly in dancing as you speak in every day life.
Important Insights Explained
Partnership Dancing™ owes its origins to
the wonderful teachers and social dancers all over the world,
with their incredible wealth of knowledge.
Different people will speak to you differently at different times in your life.
On your dance journey, seek enlightenment everywhere.
Relying on the wisdom of others, Partnership Dancing™ attempts to
provide an original, comprehensive explanation of how to dance with a partner
in the hope that these ideas will speak to you when the time is right.
Some of the principles you will learn include these.
- Definition of social dancing
- Ten foundational principles
- Three Laws™ of social dancing
- Three direction signals
- Examination of the Law of Balance
- Examination of horizontal movement
- Examination of pressure and tension
- Explanation of why the man can communicate the woman's choreography
- Explanation of why the woman cannot communicate the man's choreography
- Definition of man and woman responsibilities
- Definition of signals in relation to movement and stillness
- Definition of signals in relation to horizontal and vertical planes
- Definition of Woman's Line of Dance
- Definition of only two positions
- Definition of orientations
- Precise rules for when the woman follows the man
- Precise rules for when the man waits for the woman
- Precise rules of when the woman stops her motion
- Precise rules for when to maintain, disassociate and break frame
- Precise rules for closing the position and releasing from closed position
- Procedure for how to step for effective communication
- How to communicate rhythm changes
- How to communicate unambiguously blindfolded
- How to communicate unambiguously visually
- How to communicate unambiguously in choreographed dances
- Guidelines for navigating the dance floor
- Guidelines for etiquette in the social dance setting
How To Use This Book
Partnership Dancing™ is quite simple,
using only a few laws and signals that anyone can understand,
which you can find on the
Rules Sheet
in the Appendix.
The method of Partnership Dancing™ is summarized in the
Overview
and again in the
Summary.
This book presents Partnership Dancing™
in the order in which the ideas logically build on one another.
Read the chapters in order so you understand why
Partnership Dancing™ works.
-
Introduction
- explains what Partnership Dancing™ is for.
-
Overview
- explains the language of Partnership Dancing™ so you
understand how the pieces fit together before delving into details.
-
A for Attitude
- establishes the foundational principles for Partnership Dancing™.
-
B for Balance
- helps you to understand your balance,
the most important skill in dancing.
You learn the Law of Balance and its profound implications for
how you dance with a partner.
You learn how to move your body to communicate with your partner.
-
C for Connection
- examines how you connect both physically
and emotionally, with your partner, the music and your community.
You learn the Law of Connection.
You learn how to use the connection to communicate with your partner.
-
D for Direction
- covers how to communicate what the woman is do.
You learn the Law of Direction and the three direction signals.
You learn the precise rules for when to maintain, break and disassociate your frame.
-
Summary
- summarizes the most important elements,
putting all the pieces together to show
you how to put Partnership Dancing™ to work for you.
-
Appendix
- contains reference information.
Partnership Dancing™ makes extensive use of basic principles
to help you understand the reasons behind what you are doing.
Pay attention to the principles.
They will guide you when you have questions.
You can find a complete list in the Appendix under
Principles.
At the end of each chapter is a list of points to remember.
Make sure you understand these before proceeding.
Certain nouns are capitalized when they refer to a technical term
for Partnership Dancing™.
These terms are defined in the Appendix under
Terminology.
Companion Workbook
The
Companion Workbook
presents exercises to help you understand Partnership Dancing™
and to develop your skills.
The workbook is essential to your putting Partnership Dancing™ into use.
The Companion Workbook gives you the practical implementation of
the theory discussed in the book Partnership Dancing™.
Read Partnership Dancing™ More than Once
Partnership Dancing™ is meant to be read more than once.
Each time you read the book, as your dancing progresses,
you will have new insights.
If you do not understand something, wait.
When you are ready, what you missed will make sense.
Learning to Dance is Only a Matter of Time
Enjoy the process. Everyone who shows up learns to dance.
By following the principles of Partnership Dancing™,
you can be confident that each time you dance you will
develop good habits and get better.
Small Groups
If you want to learn faster,
seek out small groups where you get personal attention from the instructor.
The fastest way to improve is with personal feedback.
Group Leaders Need Feedback Too
Support your teachers.
They need feedback too.
Let them know what they can do to make the dance sessions better for you.
Do the Simple Things Well
The steadiest way to improve is to build your foundation one brick at a time.
Work on your fundamentals and you will be well rewarded.
Destroy Your Bad Habits and Reform at a Higher Level
After dancing for years, I felt like I could
do anything on the dance floor, until I saw myself on video.
To my embarrassment, I looked like a big block of wood.
"How", I wondered, "did that happen?".
I felt so fluid.
You may be comfortable in your bad habits, but they are holding you back.
You have to intentionally seek out change,
otherwise you will do what you have always done.
In a sense, you have to destroy your self to reform at a higher level.
Find Something that is Hard for You to Do
The adding up of small advancements is how we improve our skills.
At some point, we maximize a skill and there is not much room for improvement.
If what you are learning is easy, you are only refining something you already know how to do.
To get to a new level you have to find something that is hard for you to do.
Author's Note
Think for yourself.
Learn from everyone.
People have a tendency to overestimate what they know, including me.
I have not done a scientific research study.
My evidence is anecdotal.
My claims are speculation.
Still, Partnership Dancing™ is astoundingly effective.
Take the ideas of Partnership Dancing™ on their own merit.
Understand them.
See how they can work for you.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the people that make social dancing possible,
organizers, teachers, dancers and musicians.
If you have ever thought that you wanted to make
this world a better place, you have succeeded.
Much appreciation to the small group of people attending my classes
for their willingness to explore my unconventional ideas.
Meaning comes from relationships.
Dancing gives us the opportunity to develop relationships.
I have used quotes and stories to honor some of the teachers and fellow dancers
who have added meaning to my life.
The use of quotes is not an endorsement by any person of Partnership Dancing™.
The quotes are from my recollection, or possibly my wishful thinking, and have not
be confirmed by those attributed.
This book is dedicated to my parents Sheldon and Edith Weitzen.
May you always enjoy your dancing and be a pleasure to dance with,
Andrew Weitzen
Points To Remember
- Learn to dance before you say you do not like it.
- Communicating with a dance partner
follows a few simple principles, easily learned by anyone, even novice dancers.
- Partnership Dancing™ elucidates the subconscious clues
dancers use to communicate.
- This book presents the principles of Partnership Dancing™.
- Do the exercises in the Companion Workbook
to understand the principles of Partnership Dancing™
and develop your skill.
- Learning to dance is only a matter of time.
- Seek out small groups to get personal attention.
- Support your instructor.
- Do the simple things well.
- Intentionally seek out change.
- To get to a new level, find something that is hard for you to do.
- Think for yourself.
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