Hi Tom,

I believe by this you may also be partly reacting to what I said in my post on Zouk technique – that the second Zouk beginners course in Ireland started this Tuesday. (From what you said there I understand you also ran some Zouk courses where you live. So this would not be the second one in Ireland … however little it matters really.)

I said there what I was told by the teachers and as I haven’t come across any other sign of Zouk in Ireland I didn’t have any reason not to believe that. In the end I believe they may also honestly not be aware of existence of any other Zoukers in Ireland. How can you know unless you come across someone?

I am not Irish; I come from a small town – though now I live in Dublin and I’ve lived here only for a couple of years, so I have not acquired any degree of ‘Dubs vs. outside-of-Dubliners’ attitude. Of course, there may be people with this attitude, however the real cause of this for me and probably many others is simply lack of exchange of information here.

The following is my experience from ballroom / DanceSport in Ireland. When I moved here I spent plenty of time looking for any DanceSport schools here without success. Existence of any other dance schools, dance clubs or groups of dancers than the one you may be lucky enough to come across by accident is mostly an actively protected secret. When I managed to find a dance school here in Dublin, the other people there could see that I didn’t really belong there. That I should be in a dance school with higher standard of teaching. Stilll, afraid of their teacher they took me aside to exchange a note on a paper quickly – times and address of another place to dance. Going through this chain of ‘exchange of secret notes’ I finally got to know a few places to dance in Dublin over a longer period of time of searching. Still, I am finding there are various other places with completely separated groups of dancers from others even just within Dublin. What chance or in the end even interest does one have if they were to try to find about other dancers, dance schools or dance clubs outside of Dublin, when it is so difficult even just inside Dublin …

Situation in salsa, Zouk, bachata, etc. is not that bad in this sense because it is not that much about preparing for competitions – competition character of it and people doing these styles are in majority not as willing to ‘devote all to it’ (including a lot of money) as people doing DanceSport. However, even if it is not ‘forbidden to get to know about other dance schools’, without exchange of information no one will find about others. I don’t know what the historical causes of this could be but for some reason Irish people don’t seem to organize themselves in larger structures that would help in exchange of information over longer distances or ‘cross the bridges between isolated islands’ as much as some other nations in Europe do.

It would be great if you post something about what’s going on in salsa and other dance styles in your area so people from other regions can get an idea and will not think there is nothing outside of Dublin .

Dublin?  Where's that - is it somewhere outside of Cork?

OMG! I thought I was talking to adult people here!

- Edited by mdancer on 13/05/2010 at 13:47

Sorry, couldn't help myself

Seriously though - I don't have much experience of the Dublin scene myself, but from what I have seen it certainly has more to offer in terms of sheer volume and variety of experience than any one other town or city in Ireland, so it's understandable that quite a few people wouldn't see the need to travel when there's so much on their own doorstep.

That said, there's a distinction to be made between not travelling for the sake of convenience and not travelling because one believes that there's nothing out there worth seeing - while I'll happily admit that the collective standard in Dublin is the highest I've come across in this country, there are some fantastic dancers in other parts of the country that I'd travel just to watch social dancing alone.

I think anyone who's really serious about their dancing will travel and explore what's out there, regardless of where they're based - and I think that you'll find people who think they know it all everywhere too, regardless of how big or small their own local scene is.  If you meet someone who thinks that there's nothing to be had outside of their home town, leave them off - it's their own loss.

mdancer,  wasnt reacting really, it just kind of reinforeced something i was thinking already. I havnt run any Zouk classes myself, but there are teachers of Zouk scattered around, in galway and cork i believe. Im not really blaming you for not knowing, im just challenging the beliefs themselves.

Ciaran, i agree with you to a point, but i think the "collective standard" in dublin is no higher than anywhere else in the country, if you worked out the percentage of "good dancers" it would most likely balance out. They just have a higher population, and therefore more super dancers, more good dancers, more average dancers, and more bad dancers.

Good point though, get out there, check out the scene around the country, and you might be pleasently surprised

"where are you from?" to which he replied in his most manly voice "Athlone", she smiled as she said "but where did you learn to dance?" to which he also smiled and replied "Athlone", she revealed her attraction even further "but how did you get so good? do you come to dublin often?".  "maybe twice a year, i probably dance more in london than i do in dublin" was his only way of saying i have money to support you if you take me... she successful acted like he blew her preconceptions away....

... as they dance they knew there was no more need for talk and will always reminisce about there short- lived time together

 

I think she was hitting on you

he might have been

I was but he didn't pick up on it

davey, it would never work, we are just too different, i would only hurt you!

Hey!

Just want to say that we see more and more people traveling around Ireland and checking out the scene!

Our monthly Moate parties welcome people from Cork, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Donegal, Birr (or Crinkle? )  Limerick, West Cork, Sligo, Tullamore(), Athlone, Clare, Kildare.... and that is only the usual crowd!!

For about a year anyway, you can feel that people from everywhere, and this includes Dublin, look for other places to dance, other people to dance with.
Sure, it doesn't matter where you dance, we all get bored of our own people affter a while! And that s all for the best!!

xx