1. Corning Union High School Physical Education
Swing 2018
Corning Union High School Physical Education

2. Common Dance Unit Questions to be Answered in this Presentation
“ Do we get to pick our partner?”
“Is there a test at the end of the unit?”
“Do we have to?”
“What’s the point of this? I thought this was P.E., not dance class.”

3. What is Etiquette?
Etiquette is the system of manners used in ballroom/social dance, as well as out in the “real world.”
In ballroom and social dance, etiquette refers to how we treat and respond to other people during dance.

4. What is the Line of Dance?
The “Line of Dance” is how you will receive your partner for the next dance.
Leaders will be in one long line facing the followers, who are also in a long line facing the leaders.
The teacher will say something like “Leaders, rotate 3.” A that time, the 3 leaders at the end of the line will move to the front, and all leaders will rotate 3 positions. Or, the teacher may say “Followers, rotate 6.” The 6 followers at the end of the line would move to the front of the follower line and all other followers would shift over 6.

5. How to ask for a dance (Leader’s role)
“May I please have this dance?”
“Will you please dance with me?”
“Would you like to boogie?” (informal)

6. How to respond to being asked to dance (Follower’s role)
“Yes.”
“Yes!”
“Yes please.”
“I would love to.”
“Heck yes, let’s boogie,” (although not formal)

7. Escorting the Follower to/from the Dance Floor
Leaders will escort the follower to and from the dance floor and line of dance by linking arms or holding hands with follower.
Followers will link arms with the leader and will allow leaders to escort them to the line of dance.
Leaders do not pull or yank the follower around- bodies should be side by side.

8. Expectations during the Swing Unit
BE KIND!!!!!
Be enthusiastic and have a positive attitude.
Smile.
Have proper etiquette.
Be polite.
Do not count down the line of dance to your new partner and then make a funny face/comment/or gesture to your buddy (even if you whisper something like “yeah, I get to dance with the handsome one” to your friend, the person across from you could think that you are whispering something rude.

9. Expectations during the Swing Unit Continued
Please practice good hygiene during the dance unit. These things include:
Washing hands before and after class.
If you need to cough or blow your nose, please ask an instructor to allow you to leave for a moment.
If you must sneeze or cough, cough into your elbow, not into your hands.
Brush your teeth (or tooth, ha ha) before school and after lunch if you are someone who loves garlic/onion.
You may use mints but NO gum.
Shower at least once daily.

10. Physical Fitness Benefits of Ballroom/Social Dance
According to Lankford et al. (2015) ballroom dance can be used to meet the intensity requirements for aerobic activity. Through continuous ballroom dance, heart rates of participants can elevate to meet the levels to improve the cardiovascular component of fitness.
“Exercise in which the [heartrate] range is in excess of 150 beats [per minute] has been classifies as heavy or extremely heavy. In this study, males elicited an overall mean [heartrate] of 170 [BPM] for Modern and 168 [BPM] for Latin American sequences. The female overall [heart rate] for Modern was 179 [BPM] and 177 [BPM] for Latin American sequences” (Blanksby & Reidy, 1988, p. 58).
Lastly, in a study by Mageri et al. (2014) in which there was a group of participants who did ballroom dance for 3 months, and a group who did a chosen physical activity program for 3 months, the group who did ballroom dance 3 days a week lost more body fat than the group who chose their own program.

11. Evaluations
At the end of the unit, you will be evaluated on all of the moves learned in class, as well as on etiquette. If you are actively participating while in class, and make up what you miss if you are absent, you should be able to ace the evaluation.
Practice makes perfect, and we will give you plenty of time during class to practice. If you are unsure of something, see one of the instructors during AST (bring a partner with you.)

12. The Rest
We will teach you the moves and rhythm of Swing dancing. We hope that you enjoy the unit, learn something fun and new, and make some new friends! Keep an open mind and have a positive attitude- these things will take you far in life! Again, be KIND!