Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Mardi Gras
*Ballroom dance lesson with M.S. 2 hours. Branching out again. A year focused on just American Smooth and International Standard certainly did help those styles progress at an accelerated rate for me, and because they suit my lanky build so well, I struggled less with essentials, laid the ground floor more easily than in Latin or Rhythm. The focused approach was enjoyable and yielded good results on the competition floor, although nothing in multi-dance rounds higher than 2nd place in large, national scholarships for Smooth & Standard. Yes, I’m competitive and work very, very hard, so I had hoped for better.
Dance is an art and I love expressing myself and having fun. Dancesport is a contest, a true sport in which you can engage body, mind and soul. I haven’t given up by any means, but I’m not sure how realistic championship goals are for me in my situation. My dance budget for 2012 has decreased and, in pro-am, the more you can be seen on the national circuit, the more placements you rack up, the more experience you have out on the floor under pressure, the better you do. I doubt I can get out there enough this year to be a serious contender for a national/world title in Pro-am Smooth or Standard. Call me a Realistic Optimist. I hope for and work for the best possible outcome, but I do try to apply rational judgments to efforts requiring vast amounts of time and money. Those things are, alas, not infinite.
It’s also true that my focus during my many hours of practicing alone has been stuttering in recent weeks. Some of the fun and joy has drained out of it. My love of ballroom hasn’t faded; I just need some stimulation. I need a different corner of my dance brain shaken, rattled and rolled. So, I’m going to begin taking a portion of my weekly lessons and my practices alone to work again on Latin. I may never be a Latin girl but that style has always made me smile out loud. I think on a technique level it will certainly enrich my control and balance and timing.
So, today, 90 minutes on Smooth and Standard, and 30 minutes on Latin with rumba, samba and jive only — hey, 30 minutes ain’t all that long, and I’m having to engage my hips in a very different way than I do in Smooth/Standard. Teacher’s advice for practicing Latin: focus on friction, the interaction of feet and floor, with weightiness and a lot more control of the slows and transitions to quicks.
When dancing in hold in Standard, we focused on right side connection, which I can lose when forging outward with my left side, especially in left-side leading movements. We also spent a good bit of time on achieving maximum sway when in hold for Standard and Smooth. My legs are very strong, so I’m able to utilize them quite effectively to generate sway, but when I focus on them, my ribs can tend to crumple and my topline to lose its shape. Brain, you run the entire body right? Can we stop ignoring entire sections when one area is the primary focus? Can’t we have some automatic pilot that flies the machine efficiently? Hmmmmmmm?
Would liked to have fitted in some weight training or yoga this evening, but pharmacy failed to keep up with my thyroid med re-fills, leaving me three doses behind, which means … fade … lie down with glass of wine and don’t get back up … give me meds, please, my energy plant is severely compromised!
