We’ve never tried something like this at an actual meetup, but contra dancing has become kind of a thing among Boston-area LWers. Two of us were avid dancers to start with, a few more had tried it in the past, and one recently got into it. So now I see a couple of LWers at dances at least once a month.
Advantages: easy to learn, no dance skills needed beyond ability to walk on-beat. The caller tells you what move to do next, so you don’t have to improvise if you don’t want to. Live music, reasonable cost for an evening (~$7). Lots of eye contact and opportunities for flirting, but not an overtly sexual atmosphere. Find dances near you.
Which is a good thing for people who dislike completely improvved dance forms like club dancing. There’s room for adding your own style once you want to.
I’ve also gotten a handful of the local LW types into swing dancing. Not exactly a “synchrony” dance (big group all doing the same thing), but a similar effect MAY hold for partner dances (at least towards the people you partner with).
There’s a swing dance called “The Big Apple” that’s a big group all doing the same thing. At least, for the first 2/3rds of the song. The last part of the song everyone breaks into normal partner dancing.
I dance tango a bit and there’s definitely people you have affinity for dancing with and not. There’s a fair correlation to whom you actually like hanging out with.
We’ve never tried something like this at an actual meetup, but contra dancing has become kind of a thing among Boston-area LWers. Two of us were avid dancers to start with, a few more had tried it in the past, and one recently got into it. So now I see a couple of LWers at dances at least once a month.
Advantages: easy to learn, no dance skills needed beyond ability to walk on-beat. The caller tells you what move to do next, so you don’t have to improvise if you don’t want to. Live music, reasonable cost for an evening (~$7). Lots of eye contact and opportunities for flirting, but not an overtly sexual atmosphere. Find dances near you.
Contradancing: it’s like dancing but it has rules!
Which is a good thing for people who dislike completely improvved dance forms like club dancing. There’s room for adding your own style once you want to.
As a contra dancer who later become a LWer, I’m heavily in favor of this.
I’ve also gotten a handful of the local LW types into swing dancing. Not exactly a “synchrony” dance (big group all doing the same thing), but a similar effect MAY hold for partner dances (at least towards the people you partner with).
There’s a swing dance called “The Big Apple” that’s a big group all doing the same thing. At least, for the first 2/3rds of the song. The last part of the song everyone breaks into normal partner dancing.
I dance tango a bit and there’s definitely people you have affinity for dancing with and not. There’s a fair correlation to whom you actually like hanging out with.