Dance Club Ideas

[batikat]

There is a small chance my rink might be willing to get a dance club started. Unfortunately the slot for this is quite a late one 9.15pm - 10.30pm on a Wednesday but thought this may still appeal especially to adults.

I'm just wondering if anyone who goes to or runs a dance club coudl give me some info on how theirs is set up eg do you simply play a tape/CD of dance music - how long for? do you have any lessons / masterclasses before hand?

Do you use just ISU music or have you any ideas for other music that fits the tempos?


How often does your dance club run ( I think we woudl be limited to once a month)?

Do you have a pro/coach on hand - do you allow lessons or does the coach dance with participants (for a fee??)

Any and all ideas welcomed either on the board or via a PM
Any other considerations to be looked at?

many thanks.

[nja]

In our area, we have several USFSA clubs that sponsor social dance sessions on different days at different times during the week. Each session runs 1 1/2 hours. A CD which consists of a mixture of the different dances is played throughout the session, and the dancers who are skating to the music have right of way. There are a number of CDs available that have interesting mixes and are much more entertaining than the standard test CDs.

Most of the social sessions I have attended do not allow you to stop the music to play a specific dance. Once in a while they will allow this at the end of a session or for a very special situation (exhibition for competition for example). The emphasis on these sessions is the social aspect and it can be a little frustrating at times for serious skaters who may be required to yield to gossip clutches, etc. Depending on what you are looking for in your potential dance session you may need to decide if you will be a social session which usually consists of less skating and more socializing or a work session which is very much like a freestyle session where everyone works on their own thing and the music is by request. Depending on the number of people and personalities involved, believe me, it can be very difficult to combine the workers and socializers on the same group!

Several coaches attend each session and private lessons are allowed as long as they don't interfere with the other skaters. Private lessons are usually arranged prior to the session. There is no "session coach" but occasionally a coach who has a little free time does a dance or two for fun. I have never heard of a coach doing this for a fee, at least not on any of our sessions. Private lessons, of course, are charged at whatever rate the particular coach charges.

I have seen some sessions run a beginners' class prior to the dance session, but that is usually separate to the session itself. Most of these scenarios have the rink running the class while the club runs the social dance session. The rink and club will usually work together to provide the coaching for the class. The class members are then usually encouraged to attend the dance session for practice and to get acquainted with the other skaters.

Hope this helps!

[alhrayth]

Unfortunately the slot for this is quite a late one 9.15pm - 10.30pm on a Wednesday but thought this may still appeal especially to adults.


Bearing in mind that in Italy the concept of adult skating is veeery much lilited to the isolated efforts of small groups of passionate skaters, and that we don't have much of the spaces, classes, coaches, comps, etc that I keep reading about here, I can say that we have even worse hours!

With the dance club I joined this season we skate once a week, Friday night from 22.20 to 00.30... and we consider ourselves lucky to have these hours at all!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Batikat - did you get my e-mail about this? I was in a bit of a rush, so it may not have made much sense..... but do come over to Alexandra Palace, if you are able, who run something very like what you are proposing from 8.15 to 10.15 pm on the first Wednesday of each month. If you come over on the first Wednesday in November you can see how it works.

[batikat]

I did get your message thanks Annabel - just havent' had much time recently to think about this. Unfortunately can't make it on Wednesdays as we will be having the adult groups panto rehearsals on Wednesdays up til Christmas but at least I know to avoid the first Wednesday of the month for ours if we get one (3rd Wednesday woudl make sense I guess)

Any further info on how this session (or any others ) is run woudl be most helpful though.

Thanks