Welcome to Mates And Dates

Information about Mates And Dates

For All

1. What is Mates And Dates all about?

We hold our dances in Mountain View and have one formal dinner dance a year with most dances being "Dressy" or "Dance Casual". The venue provides a nice dance floor and plenty of room to dance and to sit and socialize. After dinner we enjoy 2.5 hours of dance music for a variety of couples oriented ballroom style dancing: foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, east coast swing, tango, samba, waltz, Viennese waltz, west coast swing, night club two-step, and every once in a while a hustle, quick step, bolero, merengue, or salsa.

2. What is the attire at the dances?

• Formal: Men wear one of:
  • A tuxedo with tie and optional cummerbund or vest.
  • Slacks, dress shirt, tie, and a dinner jacket
  Women wear ball gowns.
• Dressy: Men wear one of:
  • Suit with dress shirt and tie.
  • Slacks and dress shirt with tie and sport coat.
  Women wear elegant tops and skirts, dresses, or nice pants suits.
• Dance Casual: Men wear slacks and collared shirts. Women wear comfortable dance attire.
• Theme Casual: Determined by the theme. Comfortable dance clothes and dance shoes.
• General for Most Dances
  • No jeans or T-shirts unless that is appropriate to the specific theme.
  • No sneakers, running shoes, or shoes that will leave black marks on the floor.

3. What is a typical dance like?

4. Do I have to join Mates And Dates as a couple?

For Guests

1. What is being a guest all about?

Our only request is that guests read the FAQ section What should we know about couples/ballroom dancing?. At each event, we will announce the guests and give people an opportunity to welcome and get to know them.

We will work with your hosts and get your name and email and give you the opportunity to receive our newsletter and notifications for future events.

2. What should we know about couples/ballroom dancing?

• Both members of the couple are touching most of the time, usually in a typical dance frame.
• In the couple partnership, the Lead (usually the man) determines the direction and what steps the couple will take and the Follow (usually the woman) interprets the Lead's physical cues to embellish the steps with graceful movements to give the traveling motion grace and beauty.
• At least half of our dances travel in a counter-clockwise circle around the room. This is called "line of dance". When you are traveling, the lead while traveling forward keeps the center of the circle to his left side and navigates which lane to be in based on speed and the need to avoid bumping into other dancers.
• Smooth (or Standard) dances such as waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, tango, and Viennese waltz are considered traveling dances, where couples travel along the "line of dance" which is a counter-clockwise direction around the dance floor. Consider the dance floor a multi-lane race track with dancers in the outside lane traveling fast and those who want to travel slower choosing the the inner lanes. If you are not moving, please go to the middle or leave the dance floor to socialize by the dining tables. It is important (for everyone's safety) that if you are traveling slowly or not at all that you "get out of traffic" and move towards the center or off of the dance floor.

For Members

1. How do I log in?

Note: AOL and Comcast have pretty aggressive spam filters. If you have a ...@aol.com or ...@comcast.net email address, add the following contact to your contact list:

• Name: Mates And Dates
• Email: info@matesanddates.org

If you suspect we do not have your current/correct email (your partner can log in and confirm via the Who utility) or you did not get an email, please send an email to the webmaster by clicking on the Webmaster link at the bottom of any web page or fill out the feedback form and we will get your email updated so you can reset your password.

2. What if I need help?

1. Don't Panic.
2. First, click on the logo in the upper left corner of any website page. This will bring you to your "home page" with a concise summary of links to the (few) most likely things you will need to be concerned about.
3. Most web pages have a (tiny) line at the top of the page with a link to an Overview to give some perspective of what that part of the website does and how to use it.
4. In any form that has two columns with the field attributes in the left (colored background) column and places to enter information in the right column, each attribute name in the left column is a link to a help function that will provide more information on what that attribute means and reasonable ranges to add for a value for it. The links usually provide hints if you merely hover your mouse over them.
5. You can fill out the feedback form to provide feedback or to ask specific questions. We will work hard to place answers to your questions that might have broader usage in our frequently asked questions.

3. How do I register for a dance?

1. Login
2. Click on the Seating navigation bar link to see the map of who is seated at which tables for the upcoming dance.
3. Through the Attendance navigation bar link click on the Register button. When you fill out the simple registration form select the same table as your seated friends, choose an empty table, or accept the default next table available.
4. Call or look up the emails of any friends that you want to join you at that table using the Who navigation bar link (especially if they are filling out paper forms) and send them an email so they can request the same table that you are now registered to sit at.
5. If you need to change your table to where your friends are sitting you can click on the Seating navigation bar link to see the seating map. On any table that has room for you (and your guests) click the link Move Us Here and you will be reseated at that table.