Dancing... Good and bad.

[Arlen]

Let me start with this picture. It was taken while I was helping with the audience participation dance at last year's Highland Games.
I think it shows just how fun and fancy or casual dancing can be.




Now, I LOVE dancing. I was so glad to get on the demo team and continued to do it and work hard to be good at it even after my injury in my first demo.
But I'm feeling very stressed out lately.
Our demo team is starting to get burned out. We all love to dance but we feel like we're dancing for an audience who just aren't interested. I mean, people come to see the Irish dancers. Some even get up and leave very loudly while we're dancing.
We're doing 2 square set dances this year and hopefully that'll get their interest a bit more, but what advice do you guys have for letting it glide over you and not getting burned out in spite of rude audiences and other dancers who have got to the point where they don't care?

[Panache]

Arlen,

There is a great little saying

Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.

You come to share the joy of dancing

Maybe you interest only a few

Maybe you only inspire one or two

But the important thing is that you danced

Perhaps it is time to add the "Reel of the 51st Division" into your repertoire.

The story would play well to a crowd and it's a fun dance to watch

Cheers

Jamie :ootd:

[sorcererdale]

I am not a good dancer, but have helped at Ren Faires, because our dancers are mostly college kids in dance classes, but sometimes they can't make it and I always help out. People are shy, and don't want to participate, but with a very heavy Scottish accent, and humor, we get them to dance. "how often can you dance with a guy in a skirt?" "Come with me and dance, so I don't have to go chasen rabbits for me stew!" Or to get a boyfriend or brother to come out, "You aren't going to let this beautiful young lady dance with a guy in a skirt, come join us!" We make it look like fun, because it is.

But as far as getting burnt out, like mentioned above, you are doing it because it is fun. I haven't seen people leave or leave rudely, but our leader explains what we are doing and ads a little humor too. I hope you get some other responses here too. Hope something helps you.

DALE.

[SFCRick]

Dance for yourself

[McMurdo]

Arlen
While I'm not at the Demo Team level, and if my back continues the way it has I'll never be. Every summer the RSCDS here in Toronto does Dancing in the park for 5 weeks, now in Toronto in the summer there are many many events that the public can go to, I think it has to do with the amount of time we have good weather for, however year after year we get a large crowd. People are free to come and go as they please, in fact it was at a Dancing in the Park 3 years ago that I got interested in doing it. The point is that whatever the public is doing is up to them, heck whatever the other dancers are doing is up to them to a large extent anyway, you can only tell someone to go left so many times. So really the only one you can control out there is you, so the question is have they all changed or have you changed? Are you still dancing for the joy of it? These are questions only you can answer for yourself. I do like what Jamie had to say though Dance as if no one was watching.

[Ancienne Alliance]

Traditional dancing is something unique.

We really enjoy it in our family.


Best,

Robert

[cessna152towser]

I'd agree with the suggestion you should dance as though no one is watching.
That way there is less pressure to be step perfect so you will be less stressed and will look happier. A happy looking dancer is more likely to achieve the empathy of the audience.

[MartinGrenoble]

I... A happy looking dancer is more likely to achieve the empathy of the audience.

Yes, indeed.
Unfortunately, the RSCDS has become so insistent on steps and technique, that putting on a show does become stressful, with the result that you see teams with expressionless faces executing the movements like machines. If you are not enjoying your dancing (and experssing something through the dance) how can you expect the audience to enjoy it.
The RSCDS often insist on standard dances, which are just too dull and repetitive for the onlooker. If no-one choregraphs the traditional figures into something worth watching, it is not surprising that we cannot get the audience interested.

I have often taken part, performing for an audience, but always told the dancers to relax and dance as they would in any friendly get-together. SCD is a social activity not a theatrical act or a spectator sport, and should be seen as such.

The success of Riverdance-style Irish dance shows is well deserved, but it has put Scottish in the shade, as country dances just cannot work up the excitement of Irish sep-dancing, climaxing with the pefect synchronized finish.

It must be very frustrating for you if your audiences walk out, and I'm sure I'd lose what little enthusiasm I have for demonstrations. Don't get me wrong; there's no-one keener than I am on social dancing -- even after 50 years! -- but demos, that's a different matter.

Martin

[Arlen]

Thanks for the great support and advice you guys. My dance group is affiliated but not completely RSCDS. You're right, though. I need to just enjoy the dancing and not worry about the politics.
This was just the boost I needed.

Thank you again.