You look like a ballroom dancer....

[Chiron]

The other week I was club dancing with a friend and she made the comment "You look like such a ballroom dancer...", which is exactly what I want to hear when I'm doing standard and not at all what I want to hear a club. The other day I was swimming laps and thought about this (staring at the bottom of the pool gets boring so I tend to think about my dancing a lot then). I realized I always breath to the left when I do freestyle. Most of my friends who breath single sided always breath to the right. I began to wonder is the a result so many time being told to keep my head left.

Has anyone else had ballroom type movement creep into other areas of their life? And to any of the freestyle swimmers out there, is you prefered side right or left?

[Laura]

I swam competitively in high school in college. We were trained to be able to breathe on both sides. To this day when I swim laps I breathe in odd numbers (3's and 5's).

[danceronice]

My posture's better. More often it's ballroom teachers calling me out on ballet posture. And I'm usually pegged as a dancer because when I stand casually, I'm usually in a very turned-out fourth. That's just the way my feet go, though, I never had enough ballet to beat it into me.

[samina]

one of the basic fundamentals of breathplay is switch-side breathing. i breathe in & out in cycles of odd numbers (including walking). i did so years back when i was a freestyle swimmer, as well.

[waltzguy]

When swimming, I also breathe both sides using odd counts. But I learned swimming long before ballroom, so the swimming habits have set in.

I have noticed that when I step off backwards or to the side, when not dancing, I will instinctively do a toe release! :shock:

[sambanada]

What a great compliment! Ballroom dancers are elegant, well poised, and have perfect figures.

[kimV6]

To this day when I swim laps I breathe in odd numbers (3's and 5's).

exactly. though if forced to pick, when i push for more, i instinctively go to my right, i guess.

[Praesul]

Sometimes at school when I'm trying to get through a crowded hall, I do quick little half turns to get out of the way. I don't think about it I just happen to do it. I realized it when people began to stare at me....:shock:

[Nik]

Yeah I breathe to the left as well when I swim. I get dancer comments when I go salsa dancing, the experienced dancers always say that I must have ballroom backround.

[Joe]

It's called posture! ;)

[Chiron]

It's called posture! ;)

I got the same comment today in a completely different setting from a complete different person. You're right it was my posture that gave it away. I guess if you put enough work into learning how to stand up it starts to pay off eventually. :cool:

[QPO]

I agree, when we did Argentine tango they could tell we had done ballroom dancing, so that was a bit tricky since the hold is different, but I would rather that than not holding good shape.

[White Chacha]

A friend recently told me a story. He'd gone to an AT intro class. He deliberately kept a low profile, kept his arms down, tried not to do his usual ballroom posture. The instructor came over to help him and his partner and said something like, "A ballroom dancer, eh?"

Sometimes you just can't hide ;-)

[Beto]

What a great compliment! Ballroom dancers are elegant, well poised, and have perfect figures.
Agree, somewhat, and in perhaps another dance situation it *is* nice to hear, but like the OP said it's not the kind of comment that you would want to hear while club dancing which tends to have a more relaxed (though not necessarily hunched over or poor) posture.

[samina]

on the way to the airport for USDC i stopped at a starbucks in jersey, and while standing in line the woman behind me said, "how was the competition?"

"excuse me?" i mean...really...could i have heard her correctly...?

"how was embassy? you were just there?"

"uh...no."

"but you are ballroom dancer, right?"

that just takes the cake. i don't know what i was doing in line that tipped her off. "stretching" she says, but that wouldn't be enuf. turns out she was former competitive standard dancer.

mebbe it was the fresh smell of DHA that tipped her off... in any event, clearly we can sniff out our own kind. ;)

[and123]

I suppose "You look like a ballroom dancer" is nicer than "You smell like a ballroom dancer"....:cool:

[samina]

lol...disputable. the smell of DHA has completely grown on me. probly a turn-on by now, if a date smelled that way. ;)

[Chiron]

lol...disputable. the smell of DHA has completely grown on me. probly a turn-on by now, if a date smelled that way. ;)

Note to self... mix cologne with DHA before dates. Any girl that doesn't go running after the first date is a keeper.

[liz]

Have had other ballroom dancers come up to me at the airport and ask to share a cab to the comp. People I didn't even know. Which kinda took me off gaurd. Once In line at the airport, my pro had been talking to people in line about the comp... I was way ahead of them in line. Someone asked me how the event had gone. I was like what are you talking about. Then they said that they had talked to him about ballroom earlier. I said how did you know that I was with them. They said, you all are wearing tight fitted shirts and you can tell by the way you carry yourself,,, Was a great feeling.

[samina]

you definitely have the look, chica. :)

[etp777]

I always love it when a new student at our studio (or tudent when I'm visiting another studio) mistakes me for a pro. Gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Then of course I take them out on floor, step on their toes, and correct their mistaken assumption. ;)