The 1Floor Project
An Experiment in Social Dancing
The 1Floor Project
An Experiment in Social Dancing
Two Partners. One Rhythm. No Assumptions.
Any Rhythm. Any Dancer. 1Floor.
Social dancing is improvisational lead-follow partner dancing to a rhythm. Every social dance form is a collection of rhythms, accents, patterns, and assumptions.
Often, we identify ourselves by style: Salsero. Tanguera. Lindy Hopper.
We attend events with names like West Coast Swing Night, Zouk Congress, or Latin Fridays.
But regardless of where we learned - be it a ballroom studio or a street corner - social dancers share two things:
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A love of dancing to rhythm
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A love of dancing to rhythm with a partner
The Experiment
What can two partners create when their foundations come from different—perhaps even opposite—rhythms, accents, patterns, and assumptions?
What if the only thing we had to begin was the rhythm of the song playing right now?
What if all we had was that song—and each other; and everything else was respectfully negotiated: style, space, lead, follow?
Will we discover what truly matters in making a meaningful partnership in the three or four minutes we share on the dance floor?
What art do we create when no one tells us how art should look?
Where does our dance go when there is no one to tell us how the dance should be?
Will this work?
I truly don’t know.
But I’m excited to find out.
I’ll meet you on the dance floor.
—Professor Jitterbug
Three Necessary Aspects of Social Dancing
To be called social dance, a form must include:
1. Improvisation (Lead & Follow)
The dance must be at least partially improvised—not fully choreographed. This means the partners do not share complete knowledge of what comes next. Instead, one partner suggests in real time (lead), and the other responds in real time (follow).
But for this improvisation to succeed, some shared understanding must exist. Therefore…
2. Shared Rhythmic Foundation
Both dancers must trust and predict a consistent, musical rhythm. This doesn’t mean only one rhythm—but it does mean both dancers must recognize where the rhythm lives within a spectrum of tempos and timings. Two strangers must be able to meet on the beat.
The 5 Elements of Social Dance
There are many different frameworks used to teach dances. The 1Floor Project uses the concept of together, they form the RAFTS of good dancing.
1. Rhythm
What rhythmic patterns is the music asking you to create?
Rhythm is the pulse, groove, and timing of your footwork. It’s the map of how you place your weight, when you land, and how your steps connect to one another. Without rhythm, there is no dance—only movement.
2. Accent
What parts of your body is the music asking to move—and how?
Accent is not just about hitting a loud note. It’s how your hips shift, how your shoulders roll, or how your knees dip in response to musical pressure. Accent expresses how you feel the rhythm—organically, physically, and personally.
3. Frame
What form of connection is the music inviting—closed, open, one hand, two?
Frame is your physical communication system with your partner. It’s not merely posture—it’s a responsive structure that shifts depending on what the music and the moment demand. Some songs ask for intimacy. Others, space.
4. Travel
How does the music want you to move across the floor—or not?
Travel is not about how much ground you cover, but whether and how the music asks you to do so. Some music flows in sweeping arcs. Some music pulses in place. The song will tell you how far to go, and where to stay.
5. Shape
What designs does the music want your body to make?
Shape is the visual impression of your movement. Are you carving circles? Sharp angles? Small, contained pulses or long, stretched lines? Shape comes not from imitation, but from listening to the form the music suggests.