Smiling

[WaltzElf]

Simple question – do you think it’s necessary in competition?


Given that it’s quite possible to capture the feeling or emotion of any dance without smiling, I tend to work at performing without the smile, as I find it often becomes a forced performance element if you rely on it.

[Warren J. Dew]

I think it's about as important as holding your arm out when you enter the floor.

[dancingirldancing]

I don't know if it is necessary but I can't help it. I am just so happy when I dance :)

[etp777]

I think it's about as important as holding your arm out when you enter the floor.


Heh. :D

[etp777]

I don't personally think it's that important, but pro and sister do, so I'm outvoted. :P

[WaltzElf]

I think it's about as important as holding your arm out when you enter the floor.


A ha! touche :D

[Nik]

At the IDSF Latin Worlds a few years back when we sucked pretty bad, we were doing the re-dance where 6 out of 40 couples would be called back into the 48. I knew we pretty much had no chance of making it in the 48, so I wasn't all that excited. My dad said "The most important thing to do is smile and show your teeth". I didn't believe him at all but didn't want to get my ass kicked for not doing what he told me to do, so the whole round I had a huge smile on my face, more as a joke towards him than to improve my chances. And what do you know, the recalls for the 48 were up and my number was on there. Don't know how we made it, but I guess when the judges are looking around for their last recall, having only a few seconds, they will rather recall a couple who has 2 huge smiles on their faces rather than someone who looks like they're blank or like they're trying too hard.

[WaltzElf]

Australia’s best ballroom and 10 dance couple at the moment – Michael Glickman and Milana Dietch (not counting the professionals) never smile through any of the routines – even Cha, Jive, Quickstep.

This isn’t to say they don’t characterise the dances, because they do. Their Quickstep is happy and bright, for instance, but there’s an intensity to their faces and interaction with one another that is mesmerising in its own way.

Those two are the two I idolise amongst the amateur ranks. Now if I could just figure out how to build that intensity myself. :p

[contracheck]

My dad said "The most important thing to do is smile and show your teeth".

This is what my coach always tells me at the last second: "smile, shoulders down, look up."

[Laura]

I like the smile to come from a natural place of joy and happiness, it wells up from the music and the pleasure of movement.

Because I'm a person who smiles a lot while competing, I find that someone who looks blank or like they're angry or scowling to be a bit of a turn off on the competition floor.

[WaltzElf]

I like a bit of anger in both my Tango and Paso. Passion yes, with a hint of anger with some music. A smile there can be predatory, but never happy, in my opinion.

The smile in the waltz should be painful and bittersweet. Man or woman, it's the dance of Romeo & Juliet style love. It's the dance that should hurt.

[JANATHOME]

You could probably answer that questions yourself. The next comp you go to think about who you are drawn to... For me it is always the couple who looks like they are truly enjoying themselves, have audience eye contact, seem completely at ease with themselves, smiling!

For me smiling is actually a nervous habit. The more nervous I become as a natural relx the more I smile, so not an issue!

[contracheck]

My dad said "The most important thing to do is smile and show your teeth". I didn't believe him at all but didn't want to get my ass kicked for not doing what he told me to do, so the whole round I had a huge smile on my face, more as a joke towards him than to improve my chances.

As far as I can observe, I have never seen your father smiling during danincg. Do you agree?

[etp777]

One of those "Do as I say, not as I do!" things? :)

[WaltzElf]

The “rules” – such as they are, are very different for men and women when it comes to facial expressions, too, don’t forget.

[QPO]

I like to express myself when I dance, SHowing the Pasio in the Tango and seduction in the Rumba...Having yet competed I can't say what I will do, but plenty of people have said smile more, so others like to see you smile when you dance it must add to the package. :-)

[Warren J. Dew]

I don't know if it is necessary but I can't help it. I am just so happy when I dance :)

I think a genuine smile like that can be a big asset. The only way to get that kind of a smile is actually to enjoy the dancing, though. Typically competitors don't get to do that all the time.

[cornutt]

The next comp you go to think about who you are drawn to... For me it is always the couple who looks like they are truly enjoying themselves, have audience eye contact, seem completely at ease with themselves, smiling!


To follow up on that: It's important that you appear to the audience (and the judges) that you are involved and enjoying what you are doing. Smiling usually gets you the most bang for the buck in that department, but it's certainly not the only way to go about it. The emphasis that is put on smiling probably comes from the fact that beginning competitors, when they are nervous and are concentrating on their choreo and technique and all of the zillions of things they are supposed to remember, will often forget about their facial expression. And then their facial muscles, left to their own devices, can drift into a quite sour or bored-looking expression without their owner being aware of it.

One of the general rules I follow comes from the old maxim that Latin and rhythm are done for the audience, while standard and smooth are done for the dancers. I think you have to approach Latin and rhythm as being a bit like doing live theater -- because the audience may be some distance away, you often have to make your facial expressions broader than what would seem natural, so that all of the audience can actually see it. Plus, in these dances, your facial expression needs to match the bigness and bada$$ness of your dancing. If you are doing a huge, quick Latin routine, but with a "small" expression, you may look like a robot. On the other hand, for smooth and standard, the audience expects that the focus of the dancers is going to be less on them and more on each other. So a more subtle facial expression is appropriate. Plus there's the fact that you travel around the floor in these dances, so all of the audience will get to see you fairly up close at some point.

Pasted-on facial expressions can get rather silly. One time, at a small comp, I observed that in some tango heats, many of the competitors were working just a wee bit too hard on maintaining "tango face". So I did our whole tango with a hugely exaggerated frown on my face. The judges cracked up -- and we placed first. :cool: