How Much Space Can I Use?

Social dancing happens on a floor with other people dancing on it also. As more people get on the dance floor, the possibility of collision increases. The question of how much space a dancing couple can occupy while being fair to the other couples on the same floor may arise.

A line of dance is more like a donut than a line. On a rectangular dance floor, the line of dance is a rectangular donut (http://www.beadazzled.net/products/1263919825EEH6T.jpg). Divide this donut along the line of dance by the number of dancing couples on it and each donut fragment is the fair amount of dancing space for each dancing couple (“couple space” from now on).

If you and your partner enter a floor, the couple space of the floor will be reduced. Before entering a floor, do a rough estimation on the couple space after you and your partner have entered. If the result is too small (for you and your partner and/or for the people on the floor), estimate for the second lane. If still too small, estimate for the next lane, and so on. Leader/man, when you find a lane you and your partner can use, join the lane, asking with an eye contact an incoming leader/man to stop so that you and your partner can join or pass a lane, if necessary.

If there is no lane that has big enough couple space, consider not joining the floor for the tanda. Leader/man, if you are already dancing and guess that there is no room for more couples, you don’t have to yield to the couples who want to join the floor. Stopping your progression so that a couple can join is not only your doing the favor to them but also your doing so on behalf of all the couples behind you. If you let couples in to the point of overcrowding, you are doing harm to the couples who are already on the floor.

If you are a follower/woman, move inside your couple space. Do your boleo inside it and do your molinete inside it, for example.