What to do when you elbow or get elbowed on the dance floor
Quick post about dance etiquette.
A fellow dancer, Bernadette, recently posted about an elbowing incident. She had been watching a guy all night long, finally asked him to dance - convincing the guy to abandon his cookie along the way- and then elbowed him on the mouth.
This is the comment I left on her blog:
“I’ve received my share of elbows in the chest/chin/mouth over the years. And my glasses have flown to the ground a few times as well.
However, when something like this happens, the hitter usually feels worse than the person who got hit.
So when I do get hit, I make it a point to keep on dancing with the person if I can.
If I can’t right away (ex: the case where I get hit on the nose and there’s a chance of nosebleed) I make sure I’m okay and then I ask her to dance again.”
It just so happens that last month I received an elbow on the nose during Swing and the City, and honestly, I was more concerned about making the girl feel better than tending to my nose. It was obvious that she felt embarassed. I just didn’t want it to prevent her from enjoying the rest of the evening.
I did feel the nose bleed coming, so I found something cold (towel and cold water), made sure I was okay, and then went to ask her to dance again.
Whoever says chivalry is dead is wrong. And I don’t mean that in a macho kind of way. Lindy Hop, and by extension social dancing, is a great way to tap into your positive energy and to share it with others.
So be kind and generous on the dance floor. We’re all here to have fun.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
That is so true. The majority of the times I have collided with another dancer, whoever was in the wrong seems to feel just horrible and go out of their way apologizing, while the victim usually says it’s no big deal and keeps on dancing. It’s when they have to stop dancing that you feel really bad. Only victims who are drama queens/kings are going to make a big deal about it even if it doesn’t really hurt.
One exception to this is that I’ve noticed that when ladies crunch someone else’s toes with their heel (usually another wearing open-toes shoes, of course), they seem to be completely oblivious to what they have done. Having been on both the giving and receiving end of that, I can tell you it’s one of the things that hurts the most, and you can feel the difference when your heel makes contact with something soft rather than with the floor (and you shouldn’t even be putting your heels down to begin with)