5 Tips For a Great Robson Square Summertime Experience

• March 27, 2017
• Archive
• no comments

Congrats to all you newcomers who have completed the UBC Dance Club 16 week newcomer program.  Although it’s sad that classes are coming to an end, this doesn’t mean you can’t have a great summer of ballroom dancing here in Vancouver.  Here are 5 insider tips to get the most out of the much anticipated Robson Square Summertime Dance Series and come back to UBC in the fall with even more enthusiasm and experience.

1. Continue taking regular dance classes.

You’ll want to dance more dances and explore more figures when dancing at Robson.  Therefore choose from a wide range of classes, starting from group classes, to private groups, to private lessons.  The classes can be as social as UBC’s or as serious as PEAK competitor training sessions.  Your choice.  Keep learning and challenging yourself as a dancer, instead of sitting back and trying to maintain what you learned this past year in the dance club.  It’s always more fun taking classes with friends, so grab one or a dozen and continue your learning

2.  Attend regular social dances.

The club will continue hosting social events throughout the summer, but that won’t be enough to whet your appetite for social dancing in the summer.  Step off campus, get out of your comfort zone and get used to dancing with other dancers you’ve never danced with before.  Don’t worry if you’re not as ‘good’ as some other experienced dancers, just keep dancing with with and surely enough you’ll be at their level in no time.  Once Robson starts up, you’ll be perfectly comfortable dancing with any of the hundreds of people that migrate to Robson every summer.

3.  Volunteer and be part of the cool kids.

You get out what you put in.  The more involved you are with Robson, like being an official volunteer, the more fun you’ll have.  The vast majority of the volunteers are UBC alumni, so you can consider yourself already connected to them.  These dancers have been in your shoes before, whether it was just last year or 20 years ago, and all of them are cool.  The volunteer coordinator hasn’t been selected yet, but email us and we can connect you to the most probable person.

4.  Be a star dancer on Canada Day.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you can say you Cha Cha’ed and Quickstepped down Georgia Street with thousands of people watching and cheering?  Imagine how many likes you’d get on that Facebook post!  Well that could be a definite reality this coming Canada Day.  Sign up and be a dancer to promote Robson during Vancouver’s Canada Day Parade.  Being a UBC newcomer grad, you’re already qualified to join.  You’ll learn some fun routines and get a chance to boogie down the street.  Here’s a link to last year’s site, and we’re hoping that it will be updated soon!

5.  Find some comfy shoes.

A dancer’s feet will always be sore, that’s just reality.  But it doesn’t mean you have to be in pain though.  Get some flexible, light yet padded shoes that you can Waltz and Rumba in while dancing on concrete.  A lot of people wear old dance shoes while social dancing at Robson, but it isn’t necessary or really suggested either.  Keds for girls and Pumas for guys are great options, and much better than black leather dance shoes paired with white socks and shorts, yikes!

 

 

Bonus Tip:

For all the showtimes, make sure to sit at the front side of the rink which is opposite from the DJ table.  Many (although not all) of the shows are choreographed to face one direction.  If you find yourself on the opposite side of the rink, you may just be watching the backs of dancers the whole show…