Amateur American Smooth

nikkitta said:
Dancing Latin/Rhythm will develop non-contact lead-follow skills, though you generally don't have these big heavily counterbalanced shapes like Smooth is famous for.
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Nor the movement across the floor, for the most part, though I suppose there's some travel in samba and paso.
 
On the hazards of dancing smooth, when my pro-am instructor, who competes professionally in smooth, got engaged, she made a point of not getting a ring with a big solitaire diamond. You see, she really wanted to be able to wear her ring on the competition floor, and while she'd never intentionally smack someone, things happen. And you could really hurt someone doing so with the wrong sort of ring. That's the life of smooth for you indeed.
 
Warren J. Dew said:
To the contrary, the biggest distinction between Smooth and Standard is that there is typically no body contact in closed position in Smooth. The vast majority of American style dancers are social dancers who never break closed hold when they dance around the floor doing their obviously-not-international bronze foxtrot.

More importantly, worrying about being "distinct from Standard" is just an excuse to avoid unfavorable comparisons. Those who really want to be good at Smooth should instead be inviting the comparisons and working on being better dancers than the Standard folks, for example by avoiding the forced body contact in closed dance position that causes such postural distortions in so many Standard dancers.
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Actually not true. There is body contact in competitive smooth. While in a social setting it might be uncomfortable as well as when it is first taught it is easier to teach when the could has more room between them since they are likely to look at the floor etc, when you get into a competitive setting, it is actually a part of it. As a teacher, every time I do a checkout we have to dance a freestyle to show we can lead and follow the steps and the very first check out I did we got penalized for not having body contact in the freestyle and the first checkout was for a social syllabus. On top of which closed hold in smooth should be no different than closed hold in standard. It takes practice to learn how to apply standard techniques to open hold in smooth which is the most difficult part.

and yes breaking apart characterizes the style especially in silver and gold. There is a reason why most bronze syllabi have few apart steps in them, because during that time you spend in bronze you should be improving your closed hold
 
I'm glad you clarified this Smidra... as I have also been taught to have body contact in smooth when in closed position.
 
Same. Coaches for the lessons where we've specifically requested help with our closed work have made a point of it -- where her body is in relation to mine and mine to hers in body contact, closed or promenade.
 
smidra86 said:
Actually not true. There is body contact in competitive smooth. While in a social setting it might be uncomfortable as well as when it is first taught it is easier to teach when the could has more room between them since they are likely to look at the floor etc, when you get into a competitive setting, it is actually a part of it. As a teacher, every time I do a checkout we have to dance a freestyle to show we can lead and follow the steps and the very first check out I did we got penalized for not having body contact in the freestyle and the first checkout was for a social syllabus. On top of which closed hold in smooth should be no different than closed hold in standard
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I agree that the closed hold in smooth, for best dancing, should be no different from the closed hold in standard for best dancing. I don't necessarily agree that involves body contact. A few years ago a recent world professional standard champ was teaching keeping a "cushion of air" between the bodies, which suggests that without the explicit rules requiring body contact in standard, there would be a school that did not consider it very important. The fact that your particular studio requires it - or at least desires it - from their instructors does not mean that all studios do the same.

In addition, last I checked, there was no written rule that you have to maintain body contact in competition in smooth, whereas in English ballroom, there is - I've even heard violations pointed out on the microphone by the chairman of judges.

The lack of an explicit rule means that it's more appropriate, for smooth, to start with learning a good frame and good lead and follow. Eventually if you are doing everything right, the body contact may just happen, without ever having to work on it.

and yes breaking apart characterizes the style especially in silver and gold. There is a reason why most bronze syllabi have few apart steps in them, because during that time you spend in bronze you should be improving your closed hold
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I'd agree that the distinguishing characteristic of gold level American smooth is open work. However, that's not true for the silver level, for which the distinguishing characteristic is continuity style movement. Too many competitors these days fail to properly learn continuity style movement because they are in too much of a rush to get to the open work.
 
Yes, but do you see the Smoothies trying to maintain body contact, or not particularly trying?
 
As far as I'm concerned, our closed smooth work should be the same as our standard when it comes to technique/connection. We have more difficulty getting good connection with open/apart work, and transitioning.
 
Larinda McRaven said:
Actually is all seriousness there is no rule about closed work in Standard. None at all. Even our very own NDCA President, who spends countless hours judging overseas and has a handle on every couple from the US that steps one foot outside our boarders, has stated many times.

And any violations announced overseas are more about breaking DECORUM than they are about breaking hold.
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I've seen a quote from some British rules that required it - written rules, not just decorum.
 
Larinda McRaven said:
Actually is all seriousness there is no rule about closed work in Standard. None at all. Even our very own NDCA President, who spends countless hours judging overseas and has a handle on every couple from the US that steps one foot outside our boarders, has stated many times.

And any violations announced overseas are more about breaking DECORUM than they are about breaking hold.
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Just out of curiosity, what would be an example of a break in decorum in an overseas competition? Giggling during tango or paso?? or ??
 
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