Monthly Archive for October, 2006

 First of all, when I mean 'performance', I do not mean it in the performance = choreography way. I mean it in the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose - in this case dance ability. Now, I might not be an expert at managing a dance team, however, I have a good background in business. There is no reason you should not take concepts from other fields and apply them to your own (yes, double negative). 

So, I was dancing with a wonderful dancer named Maribel (shout out to her if she reads the site). Now, I give her credit because what she said after I danced with her was what caused me to have this train of thought. Now, if you don't know how I think - this will sound very weird, but for those of you know, then you'll understand.

After I danced with her, she said "You did a very good job" - or something like that (actually it was a little longer, but same effect). What she said was very encouraging and supportive - compared to the usual 'thank you' and moving on to the next person like a person at a fast food line. Anyway, I consider that positive reinforcement. You do something right, you get rewarded. Which then reminded me of how we teach dogs new tricks. When we show a dog how to sit, and it sits, you give him a treat or you pet him/her. That teaches the dog the trick and most likely open him up to learn new tricks because he knows he will get rewarded. There is no reason to go to work, unless you are getting some type of satisfaction (monitary or personal). So, those encouraging words reminded me of petting my late dog when he used to do something good. (he was an Akita if you were wondering.).

 Anyway, the problem with that is that a treat is only temporary reward or satisfaction. It does not actually build upon anything. So taking my investment skillset, I decided to think of a way to make the reward something that would have a type of return on investment (ROI for those finance folks)….

Dancers are not your most important asset on a team. The right dancers are. Giving your best dancers more room to grow, will help grow your dance team in return. So, what can we do. We understand that everyone joins a dance team to get better at dance, perform and meet hot girls interesting new people. Well, lets say you have a 'dancer of the month' - similar to an employee of the month. What should be the reward? Well, lets start simple - how about a free private lesson from an instructor of their choosing thats belongs in the dance company. Thats not hard.. but some of you might say - well, I'm loosing $75 and 1 hour if I give it for free… - you might think of it that way, but you are not being a director/manager.. and here is my reasoning.. sacrificing 1 hour and $75 a month gives you this:

If you tell people that if they win "Dance of the Month" award - they get a free private lesson with the instructor of their choosing (so they can build on the style they like with their favorite instructor). This alone will boost the morale of the team, and make them want to work harder to become better dancers so that they can win the award. This is perfect because you will be increasing the practice time of most team members striving for that goal. Second, you will also see a better segregation of the students in your dance team - of the ones who are really trying to become better dancers, from those who are just in the team - possibly languishing in mediocrity (sorry to put it so sadly). Third, most likely the entire team will start practicing the routine that you have given them so that they can show YOU that they are improving - which makes the routine much more cleaner and presentable when you actually have to perform it. Last, but not least - the big ROI is in the reward. Because you are rewarding a dancer every month with a private lesson, you are giving them something that is not perishable. Its an investment into themselves. Taking that free private lesson will make them better dancers - and by helping them become better dancers - your dance team becomes a better dance team - which in turn makes your dance company have a better 'quality' appeal to it when they perform their choreography. This brings out what is called a flywheel effect - a synergetic effect which causes things to build off of one another. By improving your dancers, you improve the performance, which in turn improves the 'brand appeal' of the dance company, which in turn attracts more quality dancers to your company, which then helps all those quality dancers become even better and so on and so forth… like a flywheel building momentum upon itself.

 Now, this is not THE solution - but a simple solution nevertheless. This solution is mainly for large teams - however you can find your fit for smaller teams in order for the overall team to grow. It provides you with an idea on how you can improve the performance (ability) of a dance team in order to improve people's dance ability. You might have a different reward system - or rewards for that matter. However, always remember that the best rewards are investments into one own self. Those are the types that last the longest.

 [UPDATED] I love the posters from Despair Inc. I think they are funnier than the actual positive ones.

Now, Halloween is coming up, and there are a lot of Halloween Salsa parties this weekend. I thought I might touch on a kind-of-salsa type of subject that might also be used for other events where the event usually takes into account having a specific costume (which assumes it is more than your regular salsa gear). I will assume that while you would be wearing a halloween costume, and that you actually plan to dance at these parties (not just sit around with your costume). With this in mind, these are my tips for helping you choose the correct 'outfit' so you can have a good time on the dancefloor (and less people get injured).

Minimize the wearing of possible projectiles

Now, I think this one is for mainly the ladies, but it can apply to gentlement too. Sometimes,  most costumes will have parts that maybe dangling of your side, on your feet, maybe on your head, or it can be a witche's hair. Whatever it is, try and not have items that if you spin, will cause to spin with you that might act like a heavy whip and hit someone on the dancefloor (or potentially  the follow or lead). I have also seen situations where the object might strike your lead and then go flying off across the floor. Additionally, if you have a pony tail, you might want to make the length of the pony tail shorter so that if you do multiple spins (fast), the pony tail will not stretch longer than the length of your head to one of your shoulders. That way, its easier for the guy to concentrate on dancing, while not worrying about getting hit with pony tails in his eyes (trust me - it happens). I've even been hit by sexy cat tails (which I didn't mind… ).

Minimize the body paint on your hands or forearms.

This sometimes seems like common sense, but sometimes we forget (or you plan to enter a contest while you are at the party). Now, I didn't say "don't" wear any - because it depends on the type. You will be dancing, and you will be sweating. What you might not want to happen is for that body makeup to be rubbing off on the leads hands and possibly all of HIS costume. If you do wear the body paint stuff, try to get the type that doesn't rub off easily or 'waterproof' - in order to have some collateral damage control. I've seen women start out as pretty princesses, and by the end of the night look like one of those sad clown faces with tears in them.

Wear flexible clothing and change your style.

In some cases,  you can determine what type of material you can wear for your costume. You should wear something breatheable and flexible so you can still dance without worrying too much about your outfit (especially if the ladies wear something too sexy that.. well.. might cause something to rip or 'pop-out'). Additionally, as a LEAD, you will be dancing with different ladies with different outfits. You should understand that you want to be simple, and easy and change what combinations you use for the different ladies depending on the costume. #1 rule is let the lady have fun. #2 rule is not to damage anything thats not yours.

Bring your regular clothes with you (just in case).

In some cases, people bring costumes for a specific competition. You might want to bring your regular dance clothes for after the costume competition, so you can just switch back to your regular clothes and have a much more relaxed time (without the obstruction of a complicated costume).

And now, just because I like the way one of my favorite dancers moves, here is from that unquestionable great halloween music video of all time: Thriller, by Michael Jackson (which is funny it was one of the first Vinyl records I ever heard - yes, I grew up in the era of Vinyl…. I'm that old). I really admire zombies that wear dance shoes to kill people .