Let's Dance!

Wow. Let me say it again. WOW! The dance festival was amazing. The dancing and dancers were incredible. The costumes look fabulous, the lighting was surprisingly artistic, and the dancing was both highly skilled and very entertaining. I am very glad that I went to see it. I'm not sure I'll be able to remember everything, but what I do remember was spectacular.

The night started off with some Celtic/Scottish folk dancers. I noticed that they, and the majority of the non-modern, non-ballroom dancers dancer almost exclusively on their toes/the balls of their feet. The tap dancers only put their heels down to make noise, and the ballet dancers only stood normally (if you could call it that) when planted. The only exception to this were the Indian dancers, who danced flat-footed and seemed to focus more on dancing with their hands than on dancing with their feet.

The social dance numbers were really cool. The first of these dances was a single pair of dancers dancing the Foxtrot. The dancers flowed gracefully, gliding from move to move with elegance and ease, the light glittering off of their elaborate costumes. There were parts where the dancers danced separately, which would be difficult to do normally without practice. They flowed so well, I was almost uncertain as to whether they were dancing Foxtrot. The music proclaimed it in its pulsing beat, but I could not pick out an obvious “slow-slow-quick-quick” pattern in the dancing. It all just blended together into one fluid motion.

It was during this time that I realized what the lead's job truly is. He provides the dance moves and leads his dance partner through them, but his job as a performer is to show off how beautiful and talented his partner is. Occasionally you might notice the man, but the start of the show should be the woman. If you notice the man more often or even as often, the lead is either messing up or showing off.

Another factoid I learned was that anything can be a dance move as long as you do it to music, you perform it in a stylized manner, and you have complete confidence as you perform. Conversely, even the best dance move in the world will fail if missing two or more of those guidelines. So, have fun, and dance confidently. Be bold! Go dance!