No matter what kind of partner dancing, a dance community has to get to know one another at least a little to be successful. If folks will only dance with the person they came with, they'll never feel at home, and the community loses cohesiveness. Below are a few dance mixers that encourage participants to dance with new people, and build connections in the community.
A dance mixer should be relatively simple, require only beginner's skills, and be done to a dance that new members are likely to know. There are three basic kinds of dance mixers; Grand March, Snowball, and Passing. Each has many versions, and can be done to many dances, but the rules are always almost the same.
Grand March Dance Mixer
Grand march mixers are done with traveling dances. Leaders line up on one side of the dance floor, and followers on the other. The lines progress to meet at one end of the dance floor, where each leader and follower pair up and dance in a straight line down the middle of the floor to the far end. At the far end, the couple breaks up, and each returns to the back of their line.
It's important to make an announcement to the leaders to remember to split up at the end of the floor! Some leaders try to dance all the way back up the line again, which makes a mess of the flow. The grand march can continue for several songs, and even different dances.
Snowball Mixer
Snowball mixers are done with spot dances. One or two couples start on the dance floor, and dance for about 15-20 seconds, until a "change partners" call. The couples split up and take a partner not currently on the dance floor, doubling the number of couples dancing. This continues until all available dancers are on the floor. Because of its quick growth, this mixer need only be one dance long, but it is often continued to a second song to keep folks up and dancing.
Passing Mixer
Passing mixers can be done with virtually any kind of partner dance. All the participants come onto the dance floor with a partner, usually distributed in a circle, or around the outside edge of the dance floor. The couples are taught a simple choreography that lets each couple dance a few figures together, then pass one partner, usually the follower, to the side. The choreography begins again with the new couples formed with the passed partners.
Passing mixers are almost always done to a single song, as the choreography is necessarily short, and will become boring to the participants quickly. A great way to run a passing mixer is to have a local instructor choreograph a new pattern for each event, so that everyone, experienced or beginner, has to learn together before the mixer begins.
