USA Dance of North Central New Mexico Chapter #5047 Board of Directors wanted to remind the USA Dance community of a few rules and best practices to keep us all safe on the dance floor.
Dance floor safety
Partner dancing is tons of fun and it’s great for physical and mental health! But it can also lead to injuries if dancers ignore basic precautions. We’d like to remind our USA Dancers of a few rules and best practices that will keep us all safe without diminishing our fun.
Let It Flow. Traveling dances (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Quickstep, Two-Step, etc.) move counter-clockwise around the floor. Faster dancers should stay on the outside of the loop, and slower dancers one lane in.
Couples doing a spot dance (like Swing during a Foxtrot) should dance near the center of the floor and leave the outside lanes clear for traveling dancers.
This illustration is a great guide to traffic flow on the dance floor.
(Don’t) Take It to the Limit. Viennese Waltz and Quickstep are fast — and dangerous for inexperienced dancers. Please don’t attempt them without previous training.
Don’t Worry Be Happy. Please respect our short list of other ”don’ts“:
- Don’t do lifts (where both of a partner’s feet leave the floor) or drops (where one partner relies entirely on the other to be lowered, or “dropped,” below waist level).
- Don’t dance in socks or bare feet if you are fond of your toes.
- Don’t wear jewelry that can snag or cut (like big hoop earrings that can tear an earlobe).
- Don’t wear loose-fitting clothes that can catch a heel or a hand.
Be safe, and have a blast on the dance floor!
From their website — A little about North Central New Mexico Chapter #5047.
USA Dance of North Central New Mexico was founded in October 2005, when our chapter pioneers founded the original steering committee: Ben Porter, Shawna Hollen, Ed Jonas-Morrison, Sally Semm, Caren Waters, and Anna Watkins (chapter coordinator). Our first membership roster included all of eight names.
Our official birthday is Feb. 28, 2006, the day we were certified as USA Dance Chapter #5047. We have grown significantly from the original eight members and one dance per month!
Now we host parties twice a month, have an email list of some 800 people, and attract dancers from Albuquerque, Socorro, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and beyond. We invite you to become one of them.
In addition to our twice-monthly dances, our USA Dance chapter has actively promoted ballroom dancing in the community. We worked with local dance instructors to offer “Ballroom 101” courses, designed to teach beginning dancers confidence along with basic skills. We‘ve sent groups out into the community — a deli, a gym, a grocery store — to break out into spontaneous dancing to demonstrate the fun of ballroom dancing.
We fielded a Dance Formation Team for more than five years that performed for several community organizations — primarily senior centers.
One of our most enjoyable ventures was “Dancing@Work,” where we partnered with Intel and Presbyterian Healthcare Services to teach ballroom dance classes to their employees in the workplace.
With a grant from the Seidman Family Foundation, we awarded $300 in scholarships to eight chapter applicants, enabling them to take dance lessons.
Some of our members have competed at USA Dance-sponsored competitions around the country, including USA Dance Nationals, the premiere event for Amateur couples.
Chapter Board of Directors.
President – Annie Irizari
Vice President – Rosie Harper
Secretary – Tom Fanning
Treasurer – John Cilke
Directors at Large –
- Laurel Fanning
- Ruth Horowitz
- Perry Pedersen
- Debra Williams
