Complimentary Style Question

[10tmf]

Hey! I've been thinking of taking either ballet or swing (found a solid Lindy studio near me) to compliment my Latin dancing and I was just wondering if anyone had any input as to why one might be better than the other. I know ballet has a lot of good fundamentals and I'm really looking to improve my balance and further better my posture so I was leaning towards that option, but I was thinking swing might help me loosen up a bit. Both look interesting and fun to me but I don't really have the time or the funds at the moment to take both, so I need to pick one...I'm just not sure which would be the most beneficial to bettering my ballroom.

PS. Sorry if this is a double post of sorts (I could have sworn this topic already exists but I tried a few searches and couldn't find it).

 

[Well Rounded]

If you need to loosen up, then Lindy is an excellent choice. It's great fun, and you can work on your partnering skills.

 

[RiseNFall]

What kind of swing?

I think the answer as to which would be better depends partially on the quality of the classes. Ballet would probably be more beneficial, but good lindy hop dancers have stunning balance and tend to have a great lead.

 

[Dr Dance]

Why not branch out into both swing and ballet?

 

[snapdancer]

Taking another dance style could be beneficial -- maybe or maybe not.

I've determined that all dances are exactly like the other dances. Except for the parts that are different. There are certain elements to a dance that make if better, but can make other dances worse. Like this woman on the local scene who discovered that she could really move out in smooth if she lowered in her knees. Except that she tried to apply it to salsa and it her salsa didn't work out so well.

There are techniques in ballet that could help your latin and other techniques that might do the opposite. If you're still trying to figure out where your feet are, I would stick with one style until you have some mastery so as to avoid confusion. OTOH, if you understand the "why" of the technique for latin, then learning the "why" of another dance style such as ballet could give you added perspective. But you have to be able to recognize what parts are the same between the styles and what parts are different.

 

[FancyFeet]

Ballet has helped my latin so much - the turnout from the correct place, the posture, the awareness of my body in space, the balance, the ability to turn and spin, learning how to correctly support my arms.... but I've never tried lindy, so I can't give you a comparison. It also took a couple of years of ballet before I saw the benefits.

 

[wahoo_foxtrot]

I always find cross-training has marginal and diminishing returns. So if you do decide to have to cross-train, choose a style/sport/dance that you enjoy and can absolutely have fun even just for its own.

For example, I find horseriding helps my standard (and latin) in surprising moments that I do not expect due to my training for inner thigh, inner calf, frontal and frontal-side pelvic, relaxing hip, grounding, etc.. But the truth, once again, is... that the benefit is very marginal, and has diminishing returns to the ballroom and latin dancing. If I have no love for horseriding, I won't do it just to benefit my standard dancing.

If I were OP, I'd try both and see if I could actually enjoy ballet and swing on its own. OP may end up ditching both after a brief try out, or staying practicing them))

 

[10tmf]

Thanks for all the responses! After reading through them and doing more Googling, I think I’m going to go with ballet. I feel like it’s going to check all the right boxes with what I’m looking for and give me a new way to work on things I need/want to while also giving me enough of a change of pace.

 

[opendoor]

..taking either ballet or swing... just wondering if anyone had any input as to why one might be better than the other..

10tmf, it all depends on the qualification of the teachers, not on the styles. See and hear. Ask as much as you can. The deeper you get involved into your scene, more you will find out about good teachers. There is no magic bullet, it all depends on combining, let it be ballet, Alexander Technique, advanced Pilates, Yoga, or Feldenkrais.