In an early shout-out to one of my favorite times of the Summer, ie the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, DS brings you a similar phenomenon in Swing Dance Land – a phenomenon I like to call “Sharking for leads.”
“Sharking” describes the aggressive tactics a dancer takes in order to secure a dance with a specific person. Sharking is most often associated with follows who shark for leads, as most events are typically inundated with more female than male registrants. For example:
There are 40 followers and 18 leads. Fancy Follower wants to dance with Leader McDreamy. However, Leader McDreamy is all ready dancing with Bad-Ass Bettie. FF circles the location where McDreamy and Bettie are, her eyes intent on the moment “For Dancers Only” ends and the couple shares their post dancing hug and thank you. Before McDreamy can lock eyes on the A) water cooler, B) bathroom or C) his friends, FF, with the speed of summer lightning, runs to his side taps him on the shoulder for the next dance. Leader McDreamy is caught in the frenzied grasp of a poor follower desperate to have one good dance before the night is out.*
This behavior is not unlike that of Great White Sharks stalking cape fur seals. Great Whites circle far below their prey, waiting for the opportune moment — and then, with speeds up to 43 mph, motor straight up from the depths, leaping completely out of the water to bite into their dinner!
What is there to be done about this imbalance and its subsequent practice? Well, we’ve all been on both ends of the spectrum, searching predator and dance prey. It is important for both to understand that “No” is a possible answer to a dance attack, and “No” should not be taken personally by the attacker. If Dancer McDreamy has just danced 17 times in a row, he probably wants and/or needs a break (at least to change his shirt, if not to see his friends, rest, get water, etc).
Unfortunately, as long as there is a gender imbalance, solo dancing, learning how to lead, and recruiting all of your guy friends to dance seem to be the only solutions to this age-old problem. However, if you didn’t get to dance with Leader McDreamy at Camp Jitterbug, there’s always Herrang, ILHC, and ULHS.
*Of course, the same happens with good follows too, although the possibility of leaders being more prevalent than followers is such an anomoly that any time it is mentioned, 30 more followers show up just to create proper imbalance.
