strathspey@strathspey.org:27873

mlbrown

Re: Pre-Booking

Oct. 13, 2001, 12:57 p.m. (Message 27873, in reply to message 27865)

Whilst at a dance anyone has the right to dance with whoever they like, mass
pre-booking does seem to me to cause more problems than it solves.
It does ensure that the keen dancers get to dance those dances that they
want to dance (they have already got their partners booked) - but it can
mean that the other people who do not pre-book but who would also like to do
the dance get left on the sidelines because everyone else is paired off!

As a non-booker (I don't write things down at a dance because I lose the
piece of paper, and I cannot remember which dance I have pre-booked / who I
have pre-booked it with - last Saturday I actually pre-booked the following
dance because someone already had a partner for the next one, and I really
struggled to remember who I had made this arrangement with), I usually look
around for someone who looks as if they would like to dance. People standing
together chatting on a on-to-one basis are assumed to have paired off for
the next dance, which can cause problems if they are left over from the last
dance!

One of the things which appealed to me about Scottish dancing when I started
was that the ladies one asked always accepted (in those days only a broken
leg or "sorry, I already have a partner" were the only acceptable excuses);
this was a definite improvement on the normal ballroom dance where the men
asked, the ladies looked you up and down, and then made a real choice
depending on whether or not they fancied you.  Nowadays at Scottish dances a
few more excuses seem to be acceptable, such as exhaustion, but I'm not too
happy with the "I don't know the dance" - if I didn't think I could get them
through the dance I wouldn't have asked them! (Of course in this case I
assume that the rest of the set are competent - if they aren't then all bets
are off!)

Why can't we spend a bit more time at dances when we are standing as
supporting couples to look around, see who is sitting out, and then make an
effort to ensure that they have a partner for the next dance, (by asking
them)?

Malcolm

PS
I have a vision of men lining up down one side of the room in single file,
with women on the other side. When the next dance is announced the bottom
man takes the bottom lady up to the top of the room and so on, so that it is
only when they meet that they find out who their partner is! Providing their
are slightly different numbers of men and women you should always get a
different partner - if there were more people present than could fit on the
dance floor then those not dancing would be next in line for the next
dance - as well as ensuring different partners it would mean people dancing
in different parts of the room; With multiple lines the first couple would
go to the top of one line / the next couple to the top of the next and so
on. If people wanted a rest they would just not join the line. I'm not too
clear whether we would a) let women join the men's line or b) let them
change sex during the evening if we did? I can see problems in making it
work, but I wonder if they are insurmountable.