Dancing Etiquette

Thelma Domenici, the sister of New Mexico's Senator Pete Domenici, in addition to her various fundraising duties for Thelma Domenici and Associates, also writes an etiquette column for the Albuquerque Tribune. Recently, she opined about dance etiquette:

Dear Thelma: I recently attended a fund-raising event that included a dinner and dance. The dance floor was small and sometimes very crowded. That didn't matter to a number of couples who seemed to believe they were auditioning for "Dancing with the Stars." Are my partner and I to make way for them or are they obliged to tone it down when the floor is crowded?

Answer: Common courtesy and common sense tell us that when the dance floor is crowded, everyone should make an effort to keep their dancing compact and their elbows in close. It may even require you to alter your style until more space is available or to move to a more open area if there is one. Respect those around you by doing so.

If you bump into someone or fling your partner into another couple, do apologize and take note of any alterations you need to make to avoid it happening again.

Of course, if a couple is oblivious to this need for dance-courtesy, give them room if only to protect yourself.

This sort of advice depends on circumstance. For exhibition, the style of dancing should not be altered, courtesy or not, even if the floor is crowded, except as a matter of self-preservation or preserving the integrity of the show, but it's fine advice for social dancing.

Social dancing! I remember the Seventies! A glorious decade!

Once, I was dancing in a discotheque, when someone stepped on my foot. I did not follow Thelma Domenici's generally-sound advice, and seek out the person and apologize. Instead, I merely surmised I was too close to this particular dancer, and started boogeying away across the dance floor, in order to find more space.

There was still a problem, though. My foot still hurt. Indeed, the pain seemed to be increasing as I continued to dance. What could it be? Finally, I looked down, and I was shocked: a high-heel shoe was affixed to my own. The stiletto heel had become firmly wedged between the outer surface of my foot and the inner surface of my shoe. I looked up, and I was shocked again: the owner of the shoe was frantically signalling for my attention. Apparently, I had wrenched the shoe off of her foot, and as I boogied across the floor seeking space, this elegant woman had been limping after me, desperately trying to catch up.

Yes, dance etiquette! Very important!

Next, bicycle etiquette, and the time I gregariously waved at a bicyclist apparently engaged in fantastic feats of off-road derring-do in the landscaping right next to the street, but only later realized that it had been a matter of self preservation - I had apparently forced him off the road....