Hello dancers
As a dancer from the old days part of my tuition concerned all aspects of ballroom etiquette required when attending dances. A clean shirt, tie, trousers with creases,polished shoes etc was as essential as dancing skills if you wished to have a successful liason with the ladies on the dance floor.How do other dancers feel about good old fashioned values like these ?

Boston: Good sound basic dancing will outshine a pair of shiny shoes any day.Proper posture and leading will out pace a shirt and tie as well. My opinion is that those were values of a different era and should be left there. Today is today and the old days were the old days. Owen

Owen I can't agree with that one. Not only do I expect a pupil to be well dressed I also expect the teacher to dress well, which my latin teacher does. I never know which costume she might wear this week, always beautifully dressed and the make up too, which goes hand in hand with her teaching. And it brushes off onto the pupils even to the social class which follows the lessons.

i agree with Don on this one. Good manners are timeless and dressing appropriately is a form of manners. For ballroom - neat black trousers and white shirt- whether it's for lessons or for social dancing.

Don and Phil" Lets be clear. I am not advocating tie dyed tee shirts and cutoffs.However, I am not going to turn away or snub a student if he or she comes to a dance that way. Boston's comment was "If you wished to have a successful liason with the ladies on the dance floor". Again I would stand by my statement of good sound basic dance skills overriding what a person looks like. Owen

I was not suggesting a stuffed shirt approach. What I was saying was that correct dress is part of good manners both of which are missing in todays world of dancing.

Owen - Shiny shoes are not what I was talking about. An unwashed, smelly, scruffy,ill mannered dancer is breaking the code of conduct enjoyed by ladies over decades of dancing. Smart dress & cleanliness gives a good feeling which filters through to your dancing and pleases a lady. You always dance better when your appearance is good - at least if you are a member of my genearation it does. Do not sneer at something because it comes from an age which you are too young to remember

Boston: Tch,Tch,Tch, nowhere did I "sneer" at your request for an opinion. I simply gave mine. Your first post mentioned nothing about being "smelly""scruffy" and "Ill mannered". I would not condone someone being all of those either. By the way, some ladies need to address their odors,dress and manners as well if they "Desire a successful liason on the dance floor with a man". I still advocate that whatever makes a person comfortable at a studio dance or otherwise is okay with me and the rest of my cadre. By the way, let's leave the inference to age alone as we both have no idea how old the other is nor should we care. We are talking opinions here. Owen