Kitty
07-01-2004, 12:44 PM
Yesterday I discussed with my boyfriend/partner the roles of a man and a woman in latin dance. Our opinions are very different!
He thinks that whoever is better at attracting attention, and whoever acts more and is just more "visible", should "shine." Doesn't matter whether it is the man or the woman. I think that the man and the woman have their own roles and responsibilities: both should look good, but the man leads while woman follows and "shines." In my opinion if the man draws all the attention to himself - what is the girl doing there? if the girl doesn't lead and attracts less attention than the guy, why is this a partner dance? If a man both leads and shines more than a girl, why does he neeed her? this is not partner dance: they are not equal! What is your opinion? What are the roles? Should the man try to attract as much attention as possible even if that means he takes attention off of his partner?
My boyfriend says:
when competing the couple needs to draw attention to themselves. It doesn't matter for competition purposes who does it, the guy or the girl: good dancing is still good dancing. If the man is more noticeable than the girl, it is fine. If the difference is huge and they look mismatched the guy needs to find a better partner, who would be as shiny as him and wouldn't be overshadowed by him. I feel something is wrong with this opinion, do you? I feel this leaves no difference between the girl's and the man's role in dancing. But should there be a difference?
The question I have is what is meant when they say that the woman shining and the man is leading? What is the difference, how does the girl stand out if both are equally good dancers? What is it that men do that defines their role and the women do that defines their role?
Does it depend on who moves more? Who spins more (spins are generally considered feminine and shiny, aren't they)? But we all have heard from our teachers that steps don't matter, it is how you do them that matters... so what is it?
And now I can't not quote Chris (from another topic) In terms of standard, I do agree that the men have pulled more attention onto themselves. Today many lines are taught with the leader quite presented and shaped away from the lady, wheras I'm told before the men sacrificed themselves to improve the lady's shape. But if you think this is bad, just look at contemporary latin. (See how fast I can spin! Want to see me do it again? I am so hot! Who are you? oh yeah, they did say I had to drag a girl on the floor with me...)
But in smooth there are possibly three competing trends. One closely resembles standard traditions, where the emphasis is on the lady but the man has many contributions to what she does, in effect dancing through her as something subtle he does gains its visual outlet in what she does. Another is more in line with the ballet concept of partnering, where the man is more of a prop about which the dancer (the lady) performs. The big difference here is that the severing of the closed hold means that unless the partners really try to maintain connection, a lot of what the lady does really is independent, leaving the man little role in the dancing of the partnership. Finally, the third approach seems to be to have both partners as co-equal "look at me" performers, utlizing neither the ballroom nor ballet traditions of drawing attention to the lady.
So what does everyone think on the difference of men's and women's roles in ballroom dancing?
And the last thing: lets only discuss this topic in the context of competitive dancing, not social, because in social dancing things may vary, and there are slightly different restirictions and responsibilities.
He thinks that whoever is better at attracting attention, and whoever acts more and is just more "visible", should "shine." Doesn't matter whether it is the man or the woman. I think that the man and the woman have their own roles and responsibilities: both should look good, but the man leads while woman follows and "shines." In my opinion if the man draws all the attention to himself - what is the girl doing there? if the girl doesn't lead and attracts less attention than the guy, why is this a partner dance? If a man both leads and shines more than a girl, why does he neeed her? this is not partner dance: they are not equal! What is your opinion? What are the roles? Should the man try to attract as much attention as possible even if that means he takes attention off of his partner?
My boyfriend says:
when competing the couple needs to draw attention to themselves. It doesn't matter for competition purposes who does it, the guy or the girl: good dancing is still good dancing. If the man is more noticeable than the girl, it is fine. If the difference is huge and they look mismatched the guy needs to find a better partner, who would be as shiny as him and wouldn't be overshadowed by him. I feel something is wrong with this opinion, do you? I feel this leaves no difference between the girl's and the man's role in dancing. But should there be a difference?
The question I have is what is meant when they say that the woman shining and the man is leading? What is the difference, how does the girl stand out if both are equally good dancers? What is it that men do that defines their role and the women do that defines their role?
Does it depend on who moves more? Who spins more (spins are generally considered feminine and shiny, aren't they)? But we all have heard from our teachers that steps don't matter, it is how you do them that matters... so what is it?
And now I can't not quote Chris (from another topic) In terms of standard, I do agree that the men have pulled more attention onto themselves. Today many lines are taught with the leader quite presented and shaped away from the lady, wheras I'm told before the men sacrificed themselves to improve the lady's shape. But if you think this is bad, just look at contemporary latin. (See how fast I can spin! Want to see me do it again? I am so hot! Who are you? oh yeah, they did say I had to drag a girl on the floor with me...)
But in smooth there are possibly three competing trends. One closely resembles standard traditions, where the emphasis is on the lady but the man has many contributions to what she does, in effect dancing through her as something subtle he does gains its visual outlet in what she does. Another is more in line with the ballet concept of partnering, where the man is more of a prop about which the dancer (the lady) performs. The big difference here is that the severing of the closed hold means that unless the partners really try to maintain connection, a lot of what the lady does really is independent, leaving the man little role in the dancing of the partnership. Finally, the third approach seems to be to have both partners as co-equal "look at me" performers, utlizing neither the ballroom nor ballet traditions of drawing attention to the lady.
So what does everyone think on the difference of men's and women's roles in ballroom dancing?
And the last thing: lets only discuss this topic in the context of competitive dancing, not social, because in social dancing things may vary, and there are slightly different restirictions and responsibilities.