May 11, 2006, 2:41 p.m. (Message 45238)
>From the audience's point of view, a head bobbing out of sync is much more noticeable than smiles (or lack of). And if they're observant, they will see that the 'smiles' are pasted on. We dancers have been so conditioned to 'smile,' that you can see a phony one a mile away. It's not a smile at all, it's just a showing of teeth. And when you're dancing on a field or in an auditorium, from a distance anyone can spot a body out of sync a lot easier than they can see whether the person is smiling! And, BTW, I'm not describing beginners. We can forgive their flaws. I am speaking of people 'experienced' enough to be on a demonstration team. Margaret Sarna Michigan
May 11, 2006, 7:08 p.m. (Message 45241, in reply to message 45238)
I guess it all depends on the purpose of your demo group. Our dance group does demos for various events, usually at no charge, or for a donation. Our purpose is to share our love of the dancing and interest others to join us. We don't have a "team" as such, but we encourage all our members to join in the practice and performance, if they wish to participate. Some are excellent dancers, some intermediate, some relatively new. All are welcome to take part. We do try to preform well, but sharing our pleasure in the music and the dancing, as well as showing people that they, too, can do this is of utmost importance to us. If there are mistakes made (and we all make them from time to time), we smile and go on. You wouldn't believe the number of people that come up to us and say, "You all look like you're having so much fun. I think maybe I could do that." We had a lady see our group at Tartan Day this year, get some information on our classes, and join us last week. She announced that she had the proverbial two left feet, but it looked like so much fun that she just had to give it a try. She thoroughly enjoyed the evening finding her way through things as a total newcomer, and while sitting out Trip to Bavaria to catch her breath, said we were all amazing! She's coming back and bringing her husband. Believe me, we weren't all amazing, but there were lots of smiles, and she left feeling like she was already a dancer. Donna Ferguson Kimbolton, OH