The motto of Man+Woman is FOR A BEAUTIFUL CULTURE OF RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN. Among the various strategies that could be employed to achieve this objective, one of the most important is The Community Dance.
Building a Culture, Building a Community
Western societies today are characterised by a significant loss of community. This has affected every area of life and among the most important are those that affect the relations between the sexes. I don’t intend to catalogue all the ways this is affecting people’s happiness and well-being but simply draw attention to the crucial loss of local community life and its associated culture.
I believe we need to foster the building of a vibrant local community life with an important place for the wholehearted celebration of the attractive complementarity of the sexes.
The loss of this over the last couple of generations has left a vacuum that has filled with much disorder and unhappiness. This won’t be solved by occasional initiatives or short-lived campaigns. It requires a concerted, long term effort to rebuild community life. It cannot be done in the virtual world, but must happen in the flesh and blood reality of friends and neighbours coming together in common action.
I believe a core strategy needs to be the community dance.
The community dance needs to become again a tradition comprising a normal part of any local community. It is a flexible form that can range from barn dance to ballroom, from traditional to contemporary styles, and with contributions from many cultures. It is meant to include everyone, from children to teens, from young adults to married couples of all ages from young to elderly, and with a place for singles of all ages.
What Are the Characteristics of A Community Dance?
Communal, not Commercial
A community dance is not essentially a commercial operation, but is built on volunteer efforts.
This does not mean that no money is involved; after all you might have to cover various costs such as hire of a hall and a band, decorations, drinks and so on. Those attending would normally expect to pay an entry fee to cover such expenses. Importantly, it is not like a commercial nightclub where the entire event is put on and directed by paid staff, where participants simply turn up as individuals having no other stake in the operation.
It is communal in the important sense that it is run under the auspices of a community body such as a church, school or volunteer association of some kind.
It arises from the collective efforts of many people who believe in its intrinsic importance and are prepared to put their own time and effort into making it happen. This is not only in the practical tasks but also in the leadership which is not just functional but which sets the standards and the direction, and works to foster the building and sustaining of community ties.
Amateur, Not Professional
A community dance is predominantly an event for amateurs. It is not a dance studio where the focus is on training people to become more skilled dancers.
It does not exclude the involvement of such people but it is important that it be a broadly based communal event for people of much or little skill, including those with no particular interest in learning specialised dance forms.
For All Ages
Some community dances might be for all ages, and some for different age groups or categories of people.
Some might be for particular age groups, such as children, teenagers, or young adults. Some might be for married couples. And so on. It would be ideal to have a range of such events so as to draw in as many as possible, with special encouragement for whole families to come.
For a Community, not an Aggregate
A community dance intentionally fosters social interaction; it is not just an aggregate of strangers bopping around with only incidental connections.
Integral to a community dance is the intention to actively foster social interaction, and not to allow it to merely drift such as would leave people just as much strangers at the end as at the beginning. Care is taken in the planning to work out various ways to encourage participants to meet new people and to get to know others better. It aims to be uplifting and enjoyable so that everyone feels like a valued member of a real community. It does not leave this to chance but makes it an intentional priority.
Form Fosters Interaction
A community dance makes use of a range of different dance forms and arrangements to open up possibilities for more interaction and a greater variety of interactions.
Some of the characteristics of a community dance would be familiar to some people, especially those who are now a bit older. Such dances have a timeless form, but have been through a period of neglect in the last few decades. This does not in any sense mean that they are old fashioned, rather they have what could be considered a classic form.
To give just one example, there is the progressive dance where at a certain cue the partners change, such that the lady moves on to the next man and spends the next cycle of the dance with him, then the pattern is repeated multiple times so that many of the participants get to dance for a short time with different partners. Then there is the ladies’ choice dance where each lady gets to ask a man to dance instead of the other way round.
There are many ways in which the dance can be arranged and led so as to increase the number and kind of interactions that occur. The dance is not allowed to merely drift along but is led intentionally by the dance caller, guided by the prior plan developed by the leadership group.
Fostering Leadership Development
A community dance needs to foster the development of leadership among those who are regular participants. It has a strong overall leadership group as well as leadership groups for different ages.
Organisational Leadership
The kind of leadership most likely to spring to mind is the organisational leadership that deals with the practical matters needed to make the dance happen at all. These are things like choosing a time and place, arranging for music, drinks, decorations, advertising and so on.
Dance Leadership
If starting from scratch there might be a need to hold some dance practice gatherings so that a good number of people are prepared to lead the way at the dance so that others less familiar can watch and learn, as well as partner with someone more adept. There is the dance caller who coordinates with the band, or other music director, to organise the sequence of dances, and ‘calls’ the dance by telling the dancers when a new dance is about to begin, or to signal a change of partners, and so on.
Peer Leadership
In dances that included teens and young singles it is desirable to identify and form young leaders who have the responsibility to ensure that everyone gets opportunities to dance, and not be left out.
This is a very important part of the experience and it is essential that those who are more confident and outgoing are encouraged and challenged to set aside part of their evening to dance with others who might otherwise be left out.
This is not only for those who are less confident but as an important way to encourage the ‘strong’ to set aside their own preferences for some of the time.
It is very easy at that age to be preoccupied with trying to get the attentions of the girl or guy one is most attracted to and think only of oneself.
Community Leadership
This is the overall leadership group in the community that sponsors the dance. They have the responsibility for the overall program of dances, clarifying the objectives, shaping the culture, determining the standards of dress and behaviour required, the overall tone of the dances, and if necessary the safety of all those involved.
Formational Leadership
This is closely related to the Community Leadership and Peer Leadership functions, but it goes further and focuses on the personal development of the peer leaders and regular participants. It looks to organise a program of small group based mentoring to help participants grow in understanding of themselves and the opposite sex.
This would normally be organised in separate female and male groups so as to allow the different issues that shape the different sex’s experiences to be addressed.
This topic of The Community Dance will be an ongoing one here at Man+Woman. It is so important that it needs to be one of the core strategies of the effort to foster a beautiful culture of relations between men and women.
You are also encouraged to read The Original ‘Speed Dating’.