[Sportsandrec] dance lessons

[Cervenka, Stacy (Brownback)]

Ashley asked:

My concern is the pace.  If someone explains it that takes longer to learn than just seeing it and imitating the move.  So wouldn't that take away from my partner's time to practice?  

Ashley, you're assuming that sighted people just see a dance move and then imitate it flawlessly. This may be true for some gifted visual learners, but most people will need to do a move themselves several times before they really get it. Explaining the move to you may even actually help your partners break it down in their own minds easier than they otherwise would.

After an instructor demonstrates a new step sequence, most couples will be talking to each other anway, saying things like, "Okay, so was it left, right, and then do I turn right or left?" or "Wait, how do we start the spin?" 

In fact, the last time I went to Nick's Nightclub and took the two stepping class offered at the beginning of the evening, I went with another blind guy along with my best friend and her husband, both of whom are fully sighted. Everyone did well, had fun, and said they wanted to come back, but Greg and I actually got several of the turns figured out before Tom and Christina did. They could both see th instructor perfectly, but they still got confused at first about which was the inside turn and which was the outside turn. Did Greg and I have some moments where we had no idea what the instructor was doing? Absolutely! Did we need to ask questions of our friends, our other partners, and occasionally speak up to the instructor? You bet!  But, we used the problem solving skills we always use as blind people and we figured it out and made it work. 

It's completely understandable and we've all done it, but I think you're over-thinking this. It will almost always be harder for a blind person to join a sighted recreation class of any sort. You're always going to have moments when you don't get what's going on and need to find alternative ways of learning things. If you're looking for a class where that will never happen, I'm afraid you're out of luck. As many people have said, though, ballroom dance classes are generally among the blind friendliest classes you can take. If you want to learn to dance, I think you should take what you've learned from the people on this list and just sign up and dive in.
Good luck!

Stacy
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