There were many good dancers. Some were up-and-coming active competitors. Some were established dancers and instructors with known names. Many others were social, fun and recreational dancers. Looking at the crowd was interesting.
I'll share one thing I noticed on the floor. You should be able to tell the same thing when you go to a big WCS contest/party. I am going Dallas Dance on labor day weekend, and I expect to see it there as well.
That is, when the Champions dance socially, they dance nicely.
"Dance nicely" means that the leader-champion pays attention to and takes care of his partner so she can dance her best, and that the follower-champion does what she can to make the overall dance pretty and fun, adding technical and moral support and compensating some shortcomings of the leader if necessary.
Social dance is not exactly a time for training. Yet a few dancers with intermediate or even advanced titles dance like they have to prove something. How fast they can be, how many patterns they can show, or how outstanding they can be. The dances can be intriguing if they have an equal match, but occasionally the dances reek of a hint of desperation. I hope to see less desperate dancers, and hope to see more dancers dance nicely, like Champions do.
The Champion's niceness may be coming from their mental attitude. They know they are champions, and they know that the joy of dancing is not necessarily about showing off.
The niceness is coming from their physical ability, too. They have had their body well-trained so that they don't have to make extra effort to spin and position themselves in the right place on time, for example.
The nice dance, as a result, serves best to everyone involved; The leader, the follower, and the audience. I am not a fan of watching abuse anyway.
The Champions are rich enough to give, so to speak. Hungry up-and-coming dancers do look hungry.
I started to think why I dislike desperate dances. I came up with my answer. Because I like to watch the "reserve" in the dancers.
What is the "reserve?" I have been telling my wife to train to have a "reserve" in her dance for a while.
In a partner dance, we basically do the same thing as others. Same steps, same patterns. A trendy pattern may have differentiation power for a short while. But what really counts and what the factor is for differentiating yourself is the amount of "reserve."
Let's say you do what you do with only 50% of your best. The remaining 50% is the "reserve." You can use the extra "reserve" for adding expression to the dance, flirting with the audience, supporting the partner, talking and smiling, etc.
In contrast, if you are doing what you do with 100% of what you got, you have zero reserve.
With lots of reserve, your execution of the pattern looks easy, because it IS easy for you.
With lots of reserve, what you "show off" is not the pattern itself, but how easy it is for you. And that tells how good you are. Barely doing a pattern with all your effort is not attractive.
Dance is not a speed contest. Even if you are dancing fast, you can enjoy the view, feel the partner, take a breath, and enjoy the time. That is a good dance to me. And the "Reserve" make these possible.
This concept may be for dancers rather than for beginners. I'd like to see dancers working on developing more "reserve" in their dance.
"Birthday" people of August
