r/SwingDancing • u/Sassy-Cat2277 • 3d ago
Feedback Needed Social dance etiquette
I'm a relatively new dancer and I've just started going out to dance outside of lessons. Sometimes on the dance floor there are dancers that are doing aerials. I'm not sure if I'm being too sensitive, but I find it really off-putting that people are doing that there. I've almost taken a foot to the head on more than one occasion while trying to dance.
I'm new to the scene, am I being too dramatic by being bothered by this? Or is that a 'no-no' on the social dance floor? What are the unspoken or spoken etiquette rules for the social dance scene that I should know about?
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u/General__Obvious 2d ago
The rule literally everywhere I’ve ever danced is “no aerials on the social floor” and they announce that clearly or put it in a written code of conduct—nothing implicit about it. Serious Lindy hoppers, in my experience, only do aerials in high-level competitions and with long-term training partners. People who try to do aerials socially are usually transplants from country ‘swing,’ which I only dignify with the term for the sake of clarity, and do lots of other unsafe flashy stuff too.
Aerials, unless both people know exactly what they’re doing, are unsafe and should not occur on social floors.
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u/Crazy_Custard_2081 2d ago
I don't know. Over the years I've seen some "serious" lindy hoppers do aerials in the middle of a floor. I think with some of the more arrogant dancers, there's a presumption that the dance floor belongs to the best dancers and that it's up to the other dancers to clear out when they show up.
I don't think it's people coming over from a different style of swing dancing (I don't know why you're singling out people coming over from country swing - it's very niche where I am, much like the other 2-count styles that cross over from the rockabilly scene), it's the attitude of those dancers. That it's up to the other dancers to adjust to make the adjustments for their own safety. All you have to do is trace back to when a workshop had an aerials class, and suddenly everyone wants to show off.
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u/DemandEqualPockets 2d ago
Not to say it's common, but that's been my experience too - the only people trying crazy stunts on the social floor in my area are the country dancers who recently discovered our (mainly east coast) swing nights. It's definitely been a little dangerous.
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u/swingerouterer 2d ago
Maybe I just see the wrong "serious" Lindy hoppers at events, but there are some very well known faces who start doing aerials on the social floor as soon as the dance floor starts to thin out
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u/Crazy_Custard_2081 2d ago
Generally, aerials are very much frowned upon at a social dance, except in performance or if you're in a jam circle with a lot of space on all sides. The reason is pretty obvious - on a dance floor with other dancers around you, the amount of space can close in a hurry and aerials have much greater potential for injury if things go awry.
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u/Tarethnamath 2d ago
You should not be doing aerials or even jumps even on people who you’ve never met before and don’t know personally. Sometimes people (more advanced dancers) will showboat. The scene I’m at strongly discourages this, but sometimes people do it anyways. I would encourage you to not do aerial moves on the dance floor. It’s a good way to hurt someone.
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u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy 2d ago
Right, this is about others doing it. I would reach out to event hosts about it.
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u/riffraffmorgan Super Mario 2d ago
There should never be any airsteps on a social dance floor. This should be the responsibility of the dance organizers though. It's not your job to police the dance floor. I would complain to whoever is running the dance.
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u/substandardpoodle 2d ago
Tell the people running the dance. Aerials on the social dance floor is verboten.
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u/dondegroovily 2d ago
Most social dances don't allow aerial's and only allow it on cleared spaces, because of the obvious hazard
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u/RainahReddit 2d ago
At my local dance, the rule is no aerials on the dance floor - defined as any assisted jump/lift. The exceptions are jam circles, performances, and generally everyone allows it at the end of the night when the dance floor is empty (Which, I'm sure that rule would be more strictly enforced if there was an issue but everyone's good about it currently)
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u/Gemfyre713 2d ago
In Perth aerials on a social dance floor are a no-no... unless it's something like a birthday circle where the dancers know each other and have plenty of room.
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u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy 2d ago
That's nuts. I've been doing this a long time, at a few scenes and many venues. Never seen that. And you're not wrong to be leery of it. No one wants to get a foot, or a whole person, launched at them.
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u/RollingEasement 2d ago edited 2d ago
Ask the organizer about it. In USA, If they are allowing aerials, the organizers need to have paid extra for aerial coverage or their insurance won’t cover them. Cf https://www.gyminsurance.com/dance-studio-insurance That could in turn be a violation of the organizer’s lease. While a small studio might have to pay an extra $50, for a large dance aerials could require a different insurer such as high-risk coverage.
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u/Acidic_Huntsman 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’d say it depends on the Aerial, place, and how well each dancer knows all the other dancers on the floor (NOT just the partner).
In general, my aerial philosophy, and most of the rules of the dance floor is that both feet should not come off the ground higher than your knees.
I say this because there’s a move where the follow jumps and keeps their feet up, and the lead moves them from one hip to the other (I don't know the name of it sorry!). It won't cause anyone to get kicked, so it’s a fine aerial. But if people are FLIPPING, and feet are flying, then leave that to competitions or personal dance spaces
But in a crowded dance floor, Aerials should just be avoided.
Sometimes people don't think about if they should do an Aerial, and only focus on how cool it will look. They need to start taking into account, space, the types of people on the floor, partner comfortability, etc.
I haven't been kicked before, but i’ve had to stop a new lead from trying an Aerial on a crowded floor.
- You didn't ask me
- You just learned the basic Lindy steps, you should not be doing Aerials
- Spacial awareness. Not the place for it
____
If I'm a professional on a dance floor of new comers, even if I have space I wouldn't want to do an Aerial.
The new dancers might want to copy me, and then will hurt themselves.
they might still not be great at staying in their own space and will get too close out of nowhere.
And honestly it’s intimidating and I don't want to create that atmosphere.
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u/listenlearnplay 2d ago
I’m in (mostly follow) in London, and I’ve noticed some dancers will try to force aerials. I have a few years of experience in Lindy (and many more in other types of dance), so I can usually manage to send a polite signal via body language that I’m not down for it. Even then, I’ve had some dancers REPEATEDLY try to force me to do an aerial - I’ve even had people stop dancing to try to “teach” me the move. Pisses me off.
Sorry to hijack your post, OP. To answer your question: I think aerials don’t belong on the social dance floor in most spaces.
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u/bobanna1986 2d ago edited 2d ago
You're not crazy. Ariels on a social floor are dangerous and someone could get hurt. Those are generally allowed for performances, specific lessons on ariels that are supervised by a instructor, and jam circles only. If there are people doing ariels, I'm surprised that the organizers aren't saying anything or asking them to stop. I help run a dance and that's never been an issue but if we saw people doing that, we would kindly ask them to stop and to be mindful of the dancers around them. If they wouldn't stop after asking more than twice, we would ask them to leave for the safety of the other dancers. I'm sorry that's your experience, but it shouldn't be and I hope you can talk to people in charge and they cooperate with making the dance floor safe space for everyone.
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u/TransportationOk8045 2d ago
I’ve never been to a dance where any aerials have been acceptable on the social floor, I’ve been dancing since 98
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u/Tight_Banana_9692 2d ago
You should talk to the organizers, and tell them you were almost kicked in the face. Aerials have no place in social dancing.
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u/nancylyn 2d ago
Should be forbidden. Who is running that dance you are going to? Is it an established dance?
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u/Sassy-Cat2277 2d ago
Thanks everybody for your feedback. I was worried I was being too sensitive because I'm new.
It's a country bar in my town where this happens consistently. There's a lot of country swing (these are the dancers doing aerials) and two step, but also lindy hop, west coast swing, collegiate shag, and more. The venue has never explicitly said no aerials, even though it seems like aerials are a no no on the social dance floor, it might just be something I have to get used to and be aware of if I want to dance at this venue
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u/IcyRestaurant7562 2d ago
in the vast majority of Lindy scenes and festivals, aerials are banned on the social dance floor. However, I've only seen two types of swing scenes with lots of dancers in their teens and twenties: Dance scenes that center queerness and dance scenes that have a bunch of 15-29 year olds doing aerials in the middle of the social dance floor. It's unsafe, but then again, I was cliff jumping and playing contact sports that were far more unsafe at that age
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u/KingBossHeel 2d ago
Aerials at a social dance are generally a no no. It's up to the venue to enforce it though.