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Hello All,
If you are going to rotate partners, you must have clear rules. Otherwise you are going to have battles.
You do not have to use my rules, but you must have rules that everyone who rotates agrees to follow. The big rules you must address
are:
A. Are women to follow the men or not. (My rule is follow.)
B. Use of force or no force. (My rule is no force.)
Anyone who is unwilling to follow your rules should not be rotating. The teacher needs to enforce your rules to avoid conflict
between dance partners.
Last night I ran a small Israeli Partner Dance session in someone's house. We had five couples, gender balanced. The session went
real well.
Here is the experience makeup.
- Myself : experienced IPD
- One woman, Erin : experienced IPD
- One woman : intermediate Israeli circle dancing
- One man : beginner Israeli circle dancing
- Other six : beginner to intermediate Contra dancers and some other stuff, minimal or no Israeli dancing
All but one person had been to at least one of my Swing or Israeli classes, so they knew my style.
We took our time and taught three easy dances, taking about a half hour per dance. Here are some things I think were important that
worked well for us.
1. Partner rotation was optional. Everyone choose to rotate, even one couple that does not usually rotate.
2. When we got started, I clearly explained the rule that the choreography was for the men. The woman were to follow their man. It
was invaluable to have Erin there, who completely supports this approach. When a woman asked a question about the choreography,
before I could answer, Erin jumped in and said, "whatever your man leads". I told her the choreography, of course, but also
reinforced that she is to do what her man leads.
3. The first and most important reason for the woman to follow the man is to help the man through the dance. When the woman follows
the man, he can focus on the teacher. He feels less pressure, because he does not have to worry that his partner thinks he is
messing up.
When she does not follow, she distracts him. In our experience this overloads his brain and makes it difficult for him to
concentrate. He also feels pressure from his partner to perform at a level he is not ready for. I believe that if the women were not
following, all the men would have quit after the first dance. I would not try partner rotation without the requirement that women
are to follow.
Only once did I notice a woman looking around and I nicely told her to pay attention to her partner.
4. The second important reason for women to follow is make the couple dance as one.
As the women learn the dances, there is a tendency for them to take the step they know that is coming before the man intiates it.
Even when they wait for the step to be intiated, they may complete the step before the man settles his weight and completes his
step. Although these things may not be obvious to someone looking on, they are unmistakable to a partner. When I noticed this
happening, I reinforced to the women that their role is to take each step with their partner.
I also pointed out to the women how much they have to work on irrespective of the choreography, such as balance, a lovely posture,
walking beautifully, gesturing, and expressing themselves through their movement. There is a lifetime of things for them to improve.
5. Since almost everyone had been to my classes, they knew enough not to use force. People still pull and push a little out of habit
and get tense, so I frequently reinforced the need for them to maintain their own balance, relax and have soft hands and arms.
6. Sprinkled throughout the teaching of the choreography, I slipped in tips on communication and technique.
7. During the teaching, I started by calling out every step, so they learn the exact choreography. When the music is playing, I
mainly only called parts, like in a contra dance, so they know where to go. I want them to listen to the music. I would rather take
more time during teaching so I do not need to call as much when the music is playing. Remember the calls are for the men. For
example, in Stav Lavan part 1b, with music I might say "Forward, back, men behind," whereas during teaching it might have been
"Forward, two, three, back, two, three, men behind, two, three, men behind, two, three".
With regular Israeli dancers, during the music, I call much less, often not at all, because I want them to learn to follow visually,
rely on their balance and listening the music.
8. We rotated partners pretty much every time I taught a new element (roughly one to four measures of music). Mostly we rotated at
least three times for each element. We grouped elements into sub-parts (ie. part 1a) and did those with at least three different
partners. When we had enough material, we practiced with the music, again with at least three partners. When we finished teaching a
dance, we did the dance to music twice, rotating partners. Later on, we did the dance again, with yet another partner. The point
being we switched partners a lot, about as often as possible, and it worked well.
Am sure lots of other methods would work too.
Conclusion: As long as you give people clear rules, most people are happy and partner rotation should not be a big deal.
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