Okay, we all know what it generally means when a man asks a woman he doesn’t know if she’d like to dance. There are exceptions, of course, but it’s usually a pretty good indication that he finds this woman to be physically attractive.
What about when the situations is reversed, though? What does it generally mean when a woman asks some stranger to dance? The mysteries of the female mind are unfathomable to me, and so I’d like to know what our female dopers have to say.
In my case it means either that I find him attractive or that I know he’s a good dancer.
In my homeland it’s pretty common during town festivals for girls to do the asking, but guys from other places completely freaked out, so I have become very wary of doing it. I’m talking about he handling me like my 160lbs in 5’4" were made of china (he had not handled me like that when it was him who’d asked me to dance), or even one who - ran away into the bathroom!
So I am not a woman, but I have been asked to dance quite lot. I always see it as…an invitation to dance. No more, no less
Just a WAG but it probably runs along exactly the same lines as when a guy asks a female to dance:
Or all of the above, in some hopelessly muddled human combination.
An easy forumla would drain all the fun right out of it.
Veb
A vertical expression of a horizontal desire. {Not my own, alas: probably Noel Coward}
Options
5) I want to make someone else jealous
and
6) I’m very, very drunk and I want to dance, but need someone to hold me up
Are also possibilities.
Is she firing bullets from a six-shooter at his feet, and saying “Dance, Stranger” at the time? I would interpret that as hostile.
In my case (don’t laugh, it was a long time ago) in the bar/dancehall of a downtown hotel in Monterey, CA it meant that whe was a working girl trying to drum up business.
She has had a bet with her friends about which of them, on the night, can dance with the biggest loser. She is probably winning.
You mean I’ve been only getting half the benefits?!! :smack:
When it comes to ballroom dancing, I’ve found it usually means that she simply wants to go dancing with a dance partner.
People keep asking why straight guys don’t dance. This is why.
If I go to a dance and ask someone to dance with me, it’s because I like the music and would like to be dancing, and no one is @## asking me first so I’ve picked someone to ask so I can be dancing.
If I wanted to connect with someone, I’d do it in a place where conversation is a possibility.
(For that matter, if I wanted to dance, I’d do it in a place where the music didn’t sound like disco shit, but that’s an issue for another thread entirely, I suppose).
He’s a jerk?
JThunder, if you are talking about a ballroom dance (or swing dance. or anything else that takes talent), then I’d say that she’d just like to dance.
At a bar or club, she probably wants to see if you are sex-able or not. Her decision will be clear by the way in which she dances with you.
Either way, develop good dancing skills. In my mind, good dancer=good lover. And I’ve not been proven wrong yet. 
I’ve got to meet you when I travel abroad. You sound like a fun person. 
But why pick one particular guy over another, though? I know it’s not just a question of dancing talent, since I’ve seen women ask complete newbies out onto the dance floor.
I understand that women sometimes just want to dance, but I find it hard to believe that that’s all there is too it. Wouldn’t they have some other criteria as well? Or is this just male bias at work, since us guys naturally gravitate toward asking the prettiest lasses to dance?
I ask guys that look like they are having fun, regardless of their ability level. I won’t turn down a serious guy if he asks me (in fact I rarely turn anyone down unless there are hygiene or harassment issues involved), but I want someone who can laugh at the mistakes we will inevitably make.
I also look for guys who pay attention to their partners, instead of putting her through the motions while they show off with body rolls and spins (this is especially important in West Coast Swing and other less formal dances). If he is looking at her and smiling, I want to dance with him all the more.
If I’m going to ask a newbie, I’ll go for the guy who is too shy to ask girls to dance. Yes, it is a pity dance, but once they get more practice and confidence, I’ll have one more guarenteed dance partner.
Other than that, it is about chemistry (like everything else in the realm of male-female interaction).
At my school, most leads won’t ask you to dance if they don’t know you already. I’ve gotten good at asking guys to dance.
In this order:
I’m drunk.
The stranger is hot.
In my younger days, I danced at home a lot by myself.
Did I mention I was a good dancer?
Actually, I don’t have any problem with the idea that sometimes, that’s all there is to it. As a guy (who does partner dance – swing, country, latin, etc), sometimes I just want to find the ladies who know how to do those dances. Especially if I’m visiting some place when out of town and in a place where I don’t know anybody. Sometimes that’s really all there is to it for me – just finding some people to dance with.
Nothing wrong with a little showing to the audience (which would be other people in a club, in a less formal setting) – but for me, the guy’s job is to show off the woman. Especially in a West Coast Swing! (And yes, smiling is key!)