{"items": [{"author": "Perry", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=796724286022", "anchor": "fb-796724286022", "service": "fb", "text": "Dancing indeed should have more of a communication, and assumptions should be thrown out the window. For me, generally, if I don't know, I err on the side of caution and vanilla dancing (especially neighbors I don't know). I suppose some observation is also a part of it as well - to find out who may be the twirly dancers that I don't know well. Still, I'd rather err on the side of things like a plain vanilla swing, not too fast, as a slow swing for a person who prefers fast is a lot safer than a fast swing for a person who prefers slow. And even so, what a person wants in one dance on one night might differ from what the same person wants in another dance on a different night.", "timestamp": "1467040049"}, {"author": "Ben", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=796726032522", "anchor": "fb-796726032522", "service": "fb", "text": "I can imagine some of this being tough for new dancers, who don't know how to signal e.g. that they don't want to do flourishes. (I semi-frequently try to flourish people that turn out to be unusually confident-looking newbies, and end up doing the awkward raise-your-hand-and-then-lower-it flourish.)
More generally, the more you rely on non-explicit cues for how to do things, the longer it takes for beginners to learn how to project the right cues for their preferences--whether it's finding the right buttons, remembering to pull down when someone tries to flourish, or whatever.
I'm not sure this means it's not a good idea on balance, though.", "timestamp": "1467040533"}, {"author": "Perry", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=796726032522&reply_comment_id=796727664252", "anchor": "fb-796726032522_796727664252", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Part of my new dancers' workshop entails teaching new dancers how to decline a flourish.", "timestamp": "1467041536"}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=796726032522&reply_comment_id=796728762052", "anchor": "fb-796726032522_796728762052", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I'm hopeful that making clear that these are things to communicate about helps people's general purpose non-verbal communication skills kick in. I've been dancing too long to know for sure, but I suspect that eg resisting an arm lift to decline a twirl is something a lot of people would do naturally, if they know that declining a twirl is acceptable.", "timestamp": "1467042219"}, {"author": "Geoffrey", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=796745588332", "anchor": "fb-796745588332", "service": "fb", "text": "This is an approach that I think should extend far beyond dancing. It's an excellent summary with analogy of how I strive to behave in everyday interaction", "timestamp": "1467050357"}, {"author": "Sam", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/796721970662?comment_id=824073732512", "anchor": "fb-824073732512", "service": "fb", "text": "I think this is related an interesting idea in cognitive science that negative statements are harder to learn from than positive statements. (or, stated in the positive, positive statements are easier to learn from..). \"Don't make assumptions\" is a difficult instruction to follow in any context. There are so many assumptions not to make and it's easy to accidentally miss an important one and fail to unassume it. By phrasing it in the positive you can address specific assumptions.", "timestamp": "1478726476"}]}