Tips for New Dancers

Dancing the different dances from other countries is a lot of fun and is a good workout. If you are new to international folk dancing, don't worry. Beginners are always welcome; just keep learning, and you’ll become an experienced dancer. Here are a few pointers to follow.

  1. Dress casual so you can move freely.
  2. Wear clean, comfortable, non-marking shoes so the wooden dance floor isn't scuffed up. (Seperate dance shoes prefered!)
  3. Bring a water bottle.
  4. Arrive at 7:30pm to take advantage of teaching (see A Typical Friday Night below).
  5. During open dancing, get behind the dancers, and try to follow along. Don't worry about getting the whole dance, but at least see the steps involved.
  6. When following along, get behind the more experienced dancers.
  7. If you need assistance, ask someone to show you the step.
  8. You don't need to bring a partner.

A Typical Friday Night

7:30pm - 8:30pm: Teaching

We usually teach two dances per evening, an easier dance first, followed by a more challenging one. We will often teach these dances for two weeks in a row to help you learn and remember them. These dances are also quickly reviewed at around 9:40pm (after announcements) of the nights that they're taught.

We teach both line and couple dances, but if you don't have a partner, don't worry. Most people just dance with whomever is available.

If there is a particular dance that you are interested in learning, just talk to the current teaching chair in person, or send us a message via the contact us section, and we will try to accommodate!

8:30pm: Open Dancing

After teaching, at 8:30pm the evening goes to open dancing. The dances are put on by the evening's programmer and are taken from the request list and programmer's preferences. Our programmers are volunteers from our dance group as well and their programming styles vary as much as they do. Generally, there is a mix of dances from around the world: easy to advanced, couple, line, and other groupings. The music is recorded and played from our computer, but on special occasions live musicians play for us.

You are welcome to request any dance on our dance repertoire list. Copies of the list are at the tape table, and are available from the home page. Most requests will be played but there are no guarantees.

At 9:30pm, we have announcements. We try to keep them brief and related to dance.

Following announcements we review the dances taught that evening, dance them, and then return to open dancing until 11:00pm. The last dance is generally an easy line dance that everyone is encouraged to dance.