Talk:Social dancing

Scope and development

The article now has a very Western focus, as I don't know much about the dance scene elsewhere. Please complement with descriptions on dancing elsewhere, both as it comes to Western genres, such as ballroom dances, swing and disco, and entirely different traditions. Can you dance ballroom dances with locals in Singapore or Bangkok? If so, what kind of locals, what dances?

I think the focus should be on how a traveller interested in dancing in general and in finding out about the local traditions could go about doing it. Can you just show up? Where? Is it difficult to learn enough to be accepted by your fellow local dancers? To what extent are dances (of their variants) you know from home useful? I have tried to sort out some of those issues for one genre in Finland#Social dancing. If what I wrote there makes sense, similar descriptions could be included here (to the extent it applies to many places) and in country or region articles.

Many visitors to Greece seem to appreciate the local folk dances. Are those similar to the Faroese and Kurdish traditions already in the article? Are such dances common elsewhere? What about other folk dances that visitors could pic up quickly enough that they can join during a reasonably short visit?

–LPfi (talk) 10:28, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

@Sdkb: I note that you took the photo that I cropped for banner of this page. You might perhaps want to comment on the article, if so, I would appreciate it. –LPfi (talk) 19:50, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the ping, LPfi! I'm really glad to see this new page, as I think exploring social dance scenes is a great part of travelling. My familiarity is mainly in Lindy Hop and contra dance, so I can't help much with the Western focus. But I've found that content tends to follow sectioning, so by adjusting the sectioning a bit, we might be able to signal that we aim for a global scope and help encourage others fill in content over time.

I'll also do what I can to build on what's there currently. Cheers, Sdkb (talk) 22:28, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

One note, for visuals, wherever possible, it'd be nice to have videos rather than just photos, as I think they communicate a lot more. Sdkb (talk) 00:27, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments and edits. For videos: yes they tell more than images, but they don't look as nice in the article. Perhaps we should create a Commons' gallery, where videos could be included for those who have the bandwidth etc. –LPfi (talk) 06:55, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

For Western, I don't know how to handle the Western as in US context contra Western in global context. I have tried to write European when that makes sense, but e.g. ballroom dances aren't just a European concept, but it is a Western one. –LPfi (talk) 07:33, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Bet yes, it would be very nice to get some Asian or African editors to help with the bias. –LPfi (talk) 07:39, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

It seems all images are about white middle-class people (with a few perhaps representing also upper class). Thus, it is biased even regarding western culture. Could we at least find a Latin American image for the Latin dances? What about social dancing in the African-American communities? –LPfi (talk) 11:15, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Swing

I think it'd be helpful to split the swing section into Lindy Hop (what the section seems to be about) and West Coast Swing, given that they are two entirely different styles. Sdkb (talk) 00:11, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

As is e.g. bugg and perhaps any number of swing dances I don't know. Feel free to split it up, but as we cannot cover all commons dances, I think we should describe them as groups when that makes sense. If the cultures at venues where you dance them differ significantly, people will frown upon your dancing the other one, you cannot easily learn them based on each other, and most anything would have to be told separately, then a common section may make little sense. –LPfi (talk) 07:30, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

I assume you should write a bit on the character of the swing dances you know, and the surrounding culture. We can always break it up (in subsections or otherwise) later. I would hesitate creating main subsections for the individual swing dances, as they still have more in common than with, say, schottische or syrtos. We don't want dozens of subsections at the main level. I think we should have 7±2 main groups of styles, perhaps with one page on each of those and a short paragraph or a few on the main individual dances or dance cultures. –LPfi (talk) 14:14, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

As an overall framework, I definitely agree that we should be grouping dances where possible. E.g. all Latin dances can be covered together. (Part of the rationale for that is that we want to stick to summary descriptions/focus on travel aspects rather than having the page become bloated trying to fully explain everything about every dance style.) But Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing share basically nothing in common except the name — Lindy (what the section seems to be about right now) is an energetic bouncy dance done to jazz music, whereas WCS is a smooth dance done to modern music. The dance communities for them (at least where I am) and learning process are fully separate. Sdkb (talk) 15:40, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks. I am really a bit confused about the swing dances. I haven't been to clubs specialised in them, and I cannot really connect the descriptions found e.g. at Wikipedia to my local experiences. At the dance pavilions over here, jive is mostly danced to classic rock pieces and the two other widely danced swing dances (single swing and bugg) to a wide variety of pieces. Jazz isn't really played by the dance orchestras that play at the pavilions. I suppose you see more jazz at dance restaurants, but those I know are quite lame dance-wise. Several of my acquaintances love Lindy Hop, but I have no personal experience of it. –LPfi (talk) 06:17, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Finland

I added a section on Finland, mostly copied from the country article, as suggested on its talk page. I suppose it can serve as an example, especially if the scene on main venues is similar in some other countries. Parts that apply more widely can be moved to the general sections. Comments appreciated. –LPfi (talk) 15:10, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

I fear that the added material is of undue length here, too, in that this article would be way too long if every country with a social dance scene had a section of that length. I also fear that introducing a "by country" could create some organizational murkiness with the existing "style" section given that some styles are closely associated with a particular country. Perhaps a separate spinoff Social dancing in Finland page is needed? Sdkb ^talk 16:35, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. Yes, that was my worry too. Is there something there that could be salvaged here as more general advice? I suppose the separate article wouldn't harm. I'm moving the section there for the time being. –LPfi (talk) 16:51, 25 June 2024 (UTC)