Setting up a Performance Training Group



As with most of the initiatives we have set up it all starts with a session where we are putting the world to rights over a glass or two of Sainsbury’s finest cheap plonk! Well, this time we were concerned at the way English dancers train and how many don’t even break a sweat as they spend all evening perfecting a couple of small groups of figures, rather than focusing on performance. The difference between English dancers and the continentals is often that they “perform” on the dance floor whilst we dance as correctly as we know how. There is no way you can “perform” on the dance floor if you don’t “perform” on the practice floor. So the Egham Training Group was born!

The first thing that you need is a core group of dancers who are determined to make it work. We started with 6 couples, and now 5 months later we have 16 in the team and we can count on about 10 turning up each week. In the early days we had to secure the financial side of the group so that is why we established “terms”. We asked each couple who joined to pay £60 for 6 weeks irrespective of whether they turned up or not. That seems harsh but we couldn’t make a loss (otherwise it would have come out of my bank account!) and we didn’t want to make a profit … we are amateurs after all. As things have progresses, we now charge £12 per session or £60 for a 6 week term which allows more flexibility to couples who have holiday, etc but this is only possible because we are past the critical mass of couple to know we are financially secure.

Next thing you need is a venue. Well, to create a culture of competition and performance in a practice you need a BIG hall. We called a number of the local competition venues and found that during the week after 8.30pm it was usually possible to secure these at a reasonable price. Many competition venues may seem tight when you are competing there (Egham certainly is) but when there is no music man, chairs, tables or judges then even the smallest venue turns into a mini Blackpool!


Then we turned our attention onto the music and format. We wanted to create an atmosphere as close to a competition as possible so we printed off numbers, laminated them and then punched in holes. So each week I turn up with 16 numbers with a box of safety pins and randomly hand them out to the dancers, and at the end of the evening I get most of them back - apart from a few people who drive home with their number still on! We invested in a ipod and preset a number of playlists that even has pre recorded the calling of couples onto the floor and forewarning when the next round is going to be … so all we need to do each session is select the playlist and press play. We have set up our playlists in a way that allows for a quarter final, semi final and 1 or 2 finals depending on the turnout. The quarters are danced in 2 heats, the semi in one heat and the final varies according to who is still going at that stage. Note that all of our tracks go from first bar to last bar … no 1min 20 seconds of dancing, this is the full 2.5 to 3.5 mins per track.



So now you have the finances, venue, music and numbers. Now you need the most important thing … the right culture and attitude. This starts from the beginning. There is a dress code of shirt and tie, every man wears a number and no-one is allowed to stop when dancing. We start with an organised structured warm up that starts with running around the hall and then goes into a stretching routine. This is key for two reasons … firstly, people will practice here in a way they don’t elsewhere so stretching and warming up properly are so important, and secondly it starts to create a team spirit. Then we have a few waltzs etc before we do solos! The solo concept has now moved on to 2 couples dancing at a time due to time pressures but the principle is the same … you dance a full track while everyone else watches you and cheers you on. This puts you under pressure straight away and gets people into the habit of dancing full out and not stopping – a great way to get people into the groove. Throughout the evening couples who aren’t dancing call out the numbers of those who are … this then breaks into good humoured heckling and joking so suddenly we again reinforce our shared identity.

Finally we get to the fun bit. As the finances get easier with more couples, we faced a choice of what to do with any extra funds we had left. We could either drop the fees or invest it, so we choose the latter. Each term we now invite a professional to come along and supervise the session (so far we have had Hazel Hewberry, Stephen and Jennifer Hillier, Benoit and Lorraine Drolet, and Gary Foster).



There are about 3 opportunities of 10-15 mins where a pro can talk about how to improve various aspects of performance (we still run our full session of finals as we need to keep up the stamina work) and all of the pros we have had so far really get into the spirit of what we are doing … often running around the floor after couples who are beginning to struggle, shouting “get your arms up” and “keep it going, only 3 minutes left!!”.




So what is my advice to you? Get a core group of local couples and buy into the concept. The first 2-3 months will be relatively expensive as you need to build critical mass, but if everyone shares the burden then it should quickly get to a sensible level. Word of mouth will soon spread and, after 5 months we are upto 16 couples … how many practices in the UK can claim to have 16 English competitive couples in attendance? Get the culture and discipline in early and stick to it. If you don’t then it will quickly turn into the usual type of practice with people working on groups rather than performance. And finally, the most important thing … have fun! Sounds obvious, but since this started dancing is so much more enjoyable with couples shouting for each other at competitions as well as having more friendly faces around the scene.

Good luck!!

submitted by Dan 19/06/07