Thursday, June 27, 2013

"Rules" Of Ballroom Dancing


This blog entree was written by a Fred Astaire Dance Studio employee and we HAD to share with everybody her humor and take on dancing!
"I attended a friend's wedding over the weekend, and there was quite a bit of dancing at the reception.  This friend is a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and therefore doesn't have a whole lot of friends who have received formal ballroom dance training.  So, I was delighted to see that there were a handful of guests who had clearly taken some sort of swing or hustle group classes and could manage their way around a social dance.  Watching them dance the night away got me thinking about the "rules" and "regulations" of social dancing that have crept into our ballroom dance community and threatened to steal the fun away from the dance itself.
 One of the "rules" I have heard so many novice and advanced dancers obsess over is the idea that every song only has one dance that is appropriate to use.  In some cases, sure that is true.  If you're at a party, and a Paso Doble starts playing, then you really have no choice then to throw on your cape and stamp your feet.  However, there are plenty of songs out there that have several different dances that could be used.  Let's take, for example, Michael Buble's new song, "Haven't Met You Yet".   You could dance a Foxtrot, an East Coast Swing, a West Coast Swing, or even a Rumba.  How about "Boom Boom Pow" by Black Eyed Peas?  It would be appropriate to dance a Cha Cha, Hustle, or (if your feeling a little dramatic) a Tango!

When you strip away all the rules, technical restrictions, and the numbers on the men's backs, Ballroom Dance is simply an art form.  For many of us dance is a necessary medium we use to outwardly express an inner feeling.  So, when we are dancing for social reasons, how dare we place so many limitations on ourselves?  If a song comes pumping through the speakers and you feel like dancing a Cha Cha..... Then by all means CHA CHA MY FRIEND!!!

My point is simply this: We all learned how to dance for different reasons, but I’m guessing the majority of people didn’t learn so they could add more stress in their life or find another list of rules to memorize.  So the next time you take to the floor, take a deep breath and relax.  Focus on the joy, the motion, the music, and the art of Ballroom Dancing.  The moments we do that are the moments that make life worth living."

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