Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

For Better or For Worse

After yesterday's crabby post, I want YOU to chime in on today's topic.

The classic artistic dilemma: quality or quantity?

Or, in ballroomy terms, lovely basics or flash & trash?

I go back and forth on this subject A LOT.

I generally believe that the foundation of any art is the most beautiful part.  Punctuation in writing?  Great  Scales in music?  Great.  A box with rise and fall in Waltz?  Great.  

But then I go to competitions and see that, often, quality doesn't win.

GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!  HOW DOES QUALITY NOT WIN?

GAH.  I don't know.

The obvious answer is to obtain both quality and quantity.  Just be really really ridiculously good… Period.  Like these fools.

 

I mean, I get it.  Open routines look like fun.  Turning, tricks, dips, splits: all that crowd-pleasing stuff (now you have to admit you were suckered in by the crowd-pleasing effects, which, 90% of the time, are the easiest part of the routine) is Neat.  When it's done well.  

I worry about those people who have barely touched Bronze before they're clamoring for their Open routines.  

Fucking "Open".  It's not candy, people.  You'd think it was the hottest day of the year and Open is ice cream, the way people drool over it.  Open is a pain in the ass.  And you look like an asshole if you jump into it too soon.  Please God, learn how to do a toe lead before you start your Gold Waltz choreography.  Maybe even know how to do an open break before you break out your Open Rumba Showdance.  

I'm not sure why many people think having the better label on their dancing is better than being a better dancer.  There's no fanfare that plays when the Gold/Open people take the floor or even free ice cream.  There's not even a membership card.  

There is, however, a general sigh of relief when a good dancer takes the floor.  I know that there will be a minimum of awkwardness with a maximum of knowledge being portrayed in the dance.  It sucks when it's the other way around.  

But the question remains: should I show something done correctly, that's not super-impressive or should I do something that seems impressive, that isn't actually being done correctly?  

Some people would probably say neither.  What would you say?

I'll leave you with this, a quote from an awesome former student of mine:

If you don't know or understand the basics, you'll never get better, and if you forget the basics, you'll never become great.

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9 responses to “For Better or For Worse”

  1. Jeremy Avatar
    Jeremy

    An eye-opening moment for Yuko-hime and myself was in a coaching with Mazen Hamza and he said, “You’re doing bronze-level figures in you open routines and you’re doing the poorly!” and thus explained our inability to get beyond Novice in Smooth and Rhythm. It also explains why so many open Smooth dancers avoid closed dance frames like the plague…

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  2. dane Avatar
    dane

    THANK YOU for posting this! Everyone who ever has or wants to dance would do themselves a favor by reading this.
    My stint with ballroom dancing was brief, to say the least, but during that time (and since) I have developed an appreciation for the beauty and skill that it takes to do it well. The focus of my dancing lessons was to learn the basic steps so that eventually in a group setting, at a wedding, in an exotic locale where I just wanted to randomly impress someone or wherever I could perform socially leadable moves. Isn’t that the point of dance? I completely understand the artistic part, but it’s my opinion that EVERY ballroom dancer should be able to gracefully dance the basics in a social setting. THERE IS BEAUTY IN THAT. If you can’t do that, you’ll suck at the arsty open stuff (cr. every contemporary dancer doing ballroom on So You Think You Can Dance).
    Anybody with a week worth of time on their hands can learn a dance routine (hint: it’s called Dancing with the (so-called) Stars). THAT’S NOT DANCING. That’s regurgitation.
    Dammit. Now you’ve gotten me angry…
    [leaves to go rage-blog]

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  3. Ulrich 00 Avatar
    Ulrich 00

    I am with you. Given the choice between the two, I’d rather see clean, amazing, basic work over a lot of so-so tricks and just ‘fluff’. I have been dancing nearly 6 years now, and I am finally going to do my first Open level competition in February. Could I have gone to open before now? Probably. I might have been holding myself back because I didn’t want to move up before I was ready. But I’m a better dancer because of it. But back to the topic at hand… Ideally, there would be the right mix of perfected technique and showy tricks. The problem is (partly) the audience. A lot of them, even dancers, even coaches and judges (as I have heard some aged and wisened coaches say) don’t know what they are looking for. And of course there is also politics and crap. Keep doing the really good basics. Keep enough ‘flash’ in the routine to wow the audience. But time. Keep doing that consistently, over time. And you will do even better basics. And you will get noticed. Ok, that is a really long comment. But I feel your rant. That is all (not really, but I am making it be all).

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  4. Ulrich 00 Avatar
    Ulrich 00

    If I were to add anything to my previous comment, (see, I told you it wasn’t really all) I would say it would be personality. I have also seen really good basics done with zero personality. And while it is good on a technical level, it doesn’t pull you in. Make a really good basic move look like it is NOT just a basic move. By how you style it, time it, or the passion/emotion that goes into it. I guess that gets a little more into the ‘flash’ side of the equation. It’s like the well-worn saying “Actions speak louder than words.” Doing a lot of flashy tricks (without technique) is like… “HEY, LOOK AT ME!!!! SEE HOW GOOD I DANCE???? SEE ME??? SEE ME??? I’M REALLY GOOD!!!! LOOK AT MY AWESOME TRICKS!!!” Ad nauseam. If you’re going to scream for attention, you better be able to back it up with your (hip, leg, foot, etc.) actions. On the other side of the coin, actions without words can get overlooked and under appreciated. Unless the action is SO good that it simply cannot be overlooked, and it speaks for itself. Such as, the couple in the video you posted above. But until that level is acheived, one needs to put enough flashy bits to say “Hey, I’m pretty damn good here. Better than flashy pants over there. Watch me, and I’ll show you.” Now your rant has turned to my rant, which turned to a ramble. Stopping now.

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  5. Kate Bratt Avatar
    Kate Bratt

    In response to Jeremy, the problem with American Style in Open (especially in Smooth) is that there are no requirements for closed hold. So very good jazz dancers can come in and look AWESOME. SOME judges blow off the open work and wait for “something to judge” – you know, like, a FIGURE, but many don’t. OR with every competitor avoiding a real basic, they have to score the best flash. Grrrr.
    Yet any reason to love Bronze.
    And God bless Mazen for pointing that out. I love him. And his dirty sense of humor. And his nerdery. Oh, yeah, and his dancing.

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  6. Kate Bratt Avatar
    Kate Bratt

    In response to Dane, I love inciting a good rage-blog!
    Yeah, basics are nice and Really what is considered dancing to most people.
    You and Ulrich 00 brought up DWTS, which is both great and terrible for the ballroom industry. Yes, regurgitation. Amen. No, not dancing.
    I get a lot of people asking me why they’re not learning as fast as the celebs on DWTS. Ho boy, really?!
    Well, A) they’re spending 30+ hours in the studio every week.
    B) Many of them have dance/athletics background.
    C) They’re learning a ROUTINE, not how to DANCE.
    D) FIVE MILLION OTHER REASONS!
    That’s a blog for another day.
    But I digress,
    Going to a wedding/hanging out on a cruise ship/standing up at a random bar and doing a few simple (note: BEGINNER, NOT EVEN BRONZE) moves will make everyone else think you are a pro. Dang, a spin and a dip will get you EVERYWHERE. Crap, if you smile on top of that, people will tell you that you should be on DWTS!

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  7. Kate Bratt Avatar
    Kate Bratt

    Ulrich 00, you almost had a guest post there!
    Yes yes and yes. “Flashy pants.” Priceless.
    And yes.
    The end.
    Maybe I’ll get to see you dance this year?!

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  8. Ulrich 00 Avatar
    Ulrich 00

    Kate, I’m dancing late Thursday night at Indiana Challenge. Open Pro/Am smooth freestyles, championship, and scholarship. It would be nice if you could watch, I’d love your feedback. P.S. – My routines have a lot of material in closed hold! ‘Cause that’s how I roll. We’ll see how it stands up against the flashy open work that I know a lot of lady pro/am dancers will be bringing…

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  9. Kate Bratt Avatar
    Kate Bratt

    Mmmm, closed hold. Delicious. We’re planning on going to that one. I’ll check my schedule and see if we can get there Thursday!
    Yeah, those dang pro-am ladies are the PITS. They get to wear RHINESTONES. And kick and stuff. You just get to stand up straight and be handsome. Under-rated, I tell you.

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