Not bad for a new girl

heheh.. I was thinking about a dance with a stranger that I had recently. He was a proper stranger, not someone I had not danced with before, someone I had never even met before. He asked me to dance without even knowing my name, or me his, but I did not mind, that's living on the edge people.. wooo! So it took a little bit for me to feel his mojo, we had different ideas about where 1 was in the music, and I had to turn all my senses onto over drive to feel for his leading, they were moves I did not know, from a guy I had only just met, let me tell you, it was hard!! I felt like we got it together pretty quickly, and I thought we had a great time until... Until the song finished and I asked for another dance and was denied. That's ok, not everyone wants a second dance, but this guy gave me one of the worst reasons ever he said, "No thank you, I don't usually dance with beginners".

I was stunned, did he think I was such a bad dancer that he would not dance with me again, and did he think he was such a good dancer he could exclude all those that were "below him"? I could do nothing but blush and thank him for the dance we had. As I began to walk away, he changed his mind, and said "ok, one more, you did pretty well for a new girl". Was I supposed to feel flattered or worse? My heart was not in the next dance, it was more of a spite three and a half mins than anything else, I pulled out all my stops and tried to be as fancy pants as possible, I even got a "nice variation" out of the guy, I think i sparked his interest because at the end of our second dance he said to me, "oh that one was better by the way, how long have you been swing dancing for?".

I wanted to say, oh a while - been teaching for a few years now, how bout you loooooosseerr?? But I refrained.. I said, "a little while, but keen to keep learning!" to which I got a "cool, keep at it, you will get there!!".

OH boy, I cant begin to spell out how wrong that whole situation was. Its not that I'm a teacher and he should have known and should have so blown a whole heap of wind up my skirt.

Its just wrong to deny dances to people you think are lesser dancers than you. Its wrong have two whole dances with someone and not even ask their name. Its wrong to comment on someones dancing if you have not checked if you can give feedback, or if they have not asked, and if you do give feedback, perhaps something a little nicer than "you did well for a new girl" could be said.

For all I know this guy thought I was a bad dancer (hell I may be a bad dancer) but if you have nothing nice to say, perhaps say nothing at all. At a guess, I would say he was a level 1 dancer, I very subtly asked around and no one seemed to know who he was. I guess at level 1 cos there were one or two tries at swing outs, but mostly six count. I guess level one cos there was still all that enthusiasm of a newish student, but potentially not so much of the refinement? At any rate, it does not matter, no matter how high up the food chain you are, no one you dance with deserves to walk away feeling bad about wasting your time.

I should mention just in case its not obvious, this did not happen in Hobart, this was not a Tasswing Student - but there will be big smacks if ever I hear a Tasswing student talk to another dancer the way this guy spoke to me!

Anyway, Im actually looking forward to seeing that guy again, and maybe having another dance with him, because I am keeping with it, and i will get there one day!!