dancing vs. DANCING.
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SDsalsaguy
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:lol:
Indiana_Jay
Active Member
What's "DANCING," dancing while shouting? 
I think this is a good topic. Most people, especially syllabus dancers, do not really dance - they are trying to get through steps with certain technique and styling. I always find this amusing because many people will go out to the club and let loose, but many find this difficult to do when they are ballroom dancing. My theory is that the moment you are paired up you become focused on the partnership - not trying to mess up and trying to either lead/follow. If you are beyond this point (silver/gold dancers) then you are struggling with styling, technique, and your partner.
The other day, after the usual warmup, I had my students, most of which are bronze and silver college dancers, do a hip hop routine. After about 20 minutes of hip hop, most of my students were really going for it, dancing outside of their comfort zone. The minute I partnered them up, they became stiff again. I am not saying this proves my theory, but I do think that the perceived rigidity of ballroom dancing stops people from attempting to dance. Once they figure out ballroom dance is not so different from anything else, then we see true dancing.
The other day, after the usual warmup, I had my students, most of which are bronze and silver college dancers, do a hip hop routine. After about 20 minutes of hip hop, most of my students were really going for it, dancing outside of their comfort zone. The minute I partnered them up, they became stiff again. I am not saying this proves my theory, but I do think that the perceived rigidity of ballroom dancing stops people from attempting to dance. Once they figure out ballroom dance is not so different from anything else, then we see true dancing.
SDsalsaguy
Administrator
Use the Force!
dTas said:
. I agree this is easier said than done. It took me years to get to the point where I was comfortable enough with what I was doing on the dance floor to then allow myself to focus on dancing. I will give a few suggestions that helped me along this path: 1) try different forms of dance such as jazz and hip-hop. This is important to do once you have been ballroom dancing for a while so that you know where you will be applying the movement learned to your ballroom. 2) Find practice space where high level dancers are practicing. This, again, is usually easier said than done, but if you like in a populous city you should be able to find some. The advantage of this is 2 fold: 1 - you get to see good dancers break down their movement into steps, technique, and dancing. This will help figure out your process. 2 - this will hopefully motivate you to get our there and risk yourself. 3) Go out dancing with other ballroom dancers - but not social dancing. Go to a club and use your training and try to make it apart of your natural movement. This will help you feel like you "own" your movement. This, I have to say, is the best piece of advice I can give, albeit a bit abstract: try to own everything you do. If you slow down a tape of the best, you will see mess ups, weird movements, etc. But you don't focus on that when you see them dance, you focus on the charisma and the confidence they exude when they are on the floor. Their commitment to every figure. That is why I suggest going to a night club and just going for it. Walk out there and know you are the best on that floor. Show it to everyone. Commit to everything you do. Soon the steps will melt away and you will just be dancing.
cornutt said:
I think you miss understand me. I am a competitive dancer in the International Latin style. Any other training I have received has been to complement my Latin dancing. My comments are how to improve yourself while parner dancing. The syllabus dancers (the bronze, silver, and gold dancers) need to learn the syllabus and the technique, but if they want to be truely competitive they need to figure out how to apply their knowledge to create real dancing. My suggestions are ways I myself improved as well as other. I am sure there are other ways, but I do not think simply going through the steps qualifies as dancing. Ask any top coach and they will most likely tell you to experiment with dance, go outside your comfort level, and try to let go of the steps and create.