Prior practice explains some of the relative perfection. Otherwise, the lack of walk-thoughs causes me to think of balls as really scary events. Driving in a NASCAR race when one is still trying to learn how to not pop the clutch, per se.
If you enjoy the dances (even in theory), I hope you'll stick with it long enough to make the crossover to experienced dancing. I think that happened for me after about six months. I started dancing in May of 2001, and by the time my first Playford Ball came along in October I was still really dependent on practicing the ball dances via walk-throughs. I enjoyed dancing and was reasonably competent, but I really had to think about it, and I had to be taught each dance.
But by the time of the New Year's Eve dance just two months later, I was able to pick up the new dances just from having them described and then called for the first couple of rounds. So somewhere between mid-October and Dec 31 I crossed over.
In the first stage, you're still trying to learn the steps. (It took me some time before someone finally explained the concept underlying a hey in terms that made intuitive sense to me.) In the second stage, you know the underlying steps, but the way they're put together keeps coming as a surprise - so you're always a beat behind the caller, hurrying to keep up and do the next thing. The third stage comes when you start to anticipate the ways in which steps are likely to fit together, so that you can sort of feel how one move sets you up for the next.
I don't know of any way to get there but practice. :-) It also helps me to listen to CDs of English Country Dance music.
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Date: 2003-10-19 08:08 pm (UTC)If you enjoy the dances (even in theory), I hope you'll stick with it long enough to make the crossover to experienced dancing. I think that happened for me after about six months. I started dancing in May of 2001, and by the time my first Playford Ball came along in October I was still really dependent on practicing the ball dances via walk-throughs. I enjoyed dancing and was reasonably competent, but I really had to think about it, and I had to be taught each dance.
But by the time of the New Year's Eve dance just two months later, I was able to pick up the new dances just from having them described and then called for the first couple of rounds. So somewhere between mid-October and Dec 31 I crossed over.
In the first stage, you're still trying to learn the steps. (It took me some time before someone finally explained the concept underlying a hey in terms that made intuitive sense to me.) In the second stage, you know the underlying steps, but the way they're put together keeps coming as a surprise - so you're always a beat behind the caller, hurrying to keep up and do the next thing. The third stage comes when you start to anticipate the ways in which steps are likely to fit together, so that you can sort of feel how one move sets you up for the next.
I don't know of any way to get there but practice. :-) It also helps me to listen to CDs of English Country Dance music.