CEROC DANCING - Week One

The Occupation and the Activity

My brand New chosen occupation that I will be participating in for Semester 2, is Ceroc Dancing.  This specific activity I feel falls under sport, an active activity or active performance. When first selecting this occupation and thinking about a classification, I feel the taxonomy for Ceroc dancing would fall under a leisure activity, performance/participation or active participation. After participating in this on first night, and experiencing the environment, I feel there is possibly room for more possible taxonomies.

The characteristics for Ceroc are, dancing with a female and male, and the male is suppose to lead. I find this quite difficult, as I tend to be a leader. The purpose for me right now to be attending and participating in dance classes, was purely for a paper in my course for Occupational Therapy. I am yet to discover, why other cultures would participate in this occupation, but I feel I am going to discover a lot myself from this new found occupation on “Ceroc”.

The Occupation and Identity

This company/group is called Addiction Dance, which is a club held in the church hall in either Hamilton or Tamahere. The norms of the session, you are required to dance with a man. The men stand in one spot, and the woman move around the circle. A norm that I cotton on to was to introduce myself to every man, and this was reciprocated kindly back.

Technical  aspects

More common material used would be the sound system for the music. This is portrayed in using a laptop with appropriate dance music loaded onto it, speakers and the instructors wear a microphone to project their voices, so they are clearly heard. 

The Environment

I am learning this new occupation of Ceroc Dancing, in a church hall in Hamilton. There is also classes held out at Tamahere, but  Hamilton is more convenient for me. Socially more with the man as you do not dance with the woman.

Learning the Occupation

Men and woman stand opposite each other. The instructors give out instructions and demonstrated the dance moves. I practice with one bloke, then move on to the next and practice again. We would do this say five times and then try it to music. I enjoy it with the music, it tends to relax me more. This would run for 50min, and then you able to free dance with whoever you want, to consolidate your learning for the evening, or for others just to have a good dance.

Participation Barriers and Affordances

A class mate convinced me to do this occupation, as he enjoyed it so much.

The instructor assist me and the group, but also I feel the more advance dancers help enhance my learning, as the men take control, and guide you through the dance moves correctly. I differneatly like dancing with the music, this enhancers me to relax, flow better and move correctly with the music. Barriers for me right now, are the men that don’t lead, or the men who are also learning, as I need them to be leading me! To overcome this barrier, I will practice more through doing the freestyle dancing at the end of the session, to improve my skills to gain more confidance.

Personal Reflections/advice from one’s Experience

Today was my first session for Ceroc Dancing. I wasn’t particularly motivated for dancing tonight as life is just feeling a bit overwhelming at the moment. My initial thought was that I have to learn this new occupation for my school project.

I was picked up this evening from a school buddy, who was the one who convinced me to do this occupation. When I first arrived, I was nervous, I didn’t know what to do or where to stand. I didn’t have a partner so I just followed the people to join in a circle. Men and woman stand opposite each other. The instructors gave out instructions and demonstrated the dance moves. I would practice with one bloke, then move on to the next and practice again. We would do this say five times and then try it to music. I enjoy it with the music, it tends to relax me more. This would run for 50min, and then you were able to free dance at the end of the session, with whoever you want. This would help in consolidating my learning.

So I learnt four dance moves this evening, which was very satisfying. I had a laugh with people I didn’t even know, who guided me throughout the evening to have the most fun that I have had in ages. There is plenty more to be learnt, and I can’t wait to go next week. I went home with a smile, felt like I was a kid again. Not a worry in the world. It was a fabulous evening!!!