At the end of class today, we simulated “combat conditions” by restricting the students (roughly 8 couples) to using a 15’x15′ space. It’s helpful to have a tangible incentive to keep your movements small, but it also has practical value outside the classroom.

We mentioned this afterwards, so I present figure A: a video from one of the last dances at the Eastern Balboa Championships in 2011 on Sunday night, as they were pulling up the dance floor. I think we were down to the last 5-6 squares by the end of the song, but still plenty of space for 8 couples to dance.

Sadly, I didn’t get video of several couples dancing on the last, single square.