Riot and Frolic

Lest you thought I had LOST MY MIND last week, I'm here to assure that I have not.  Like I attested in my post "Why I Hate Dancing With The Stars", I do believe the show has done many good things for the industry of ballroom dancing (as well as made some aspects of teaching more… challenging).

Here's why I love "Dancing With The Stars":

• Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, plus ALL OTHER PROFESSIONAL MALE ATHLETES WHO WERE GOOD.  Men.  Dancing.  MEN.  DANCING.  

1. These are dudes.  Men with a capital M who are Athletes with a capital A in the most popular professional sport in America (yes, football has surpassed baseball).  And they are Men who are Athletes who Dominated Football.  They are Men that other Men admire.  They are Men who set a great example.
2. They brought their attitude toward learning and being coached and performing to the dance floor.  100%.  All the time.
3. They were awesome.  Emmitt, who was a badass on the field, bought his big-ass smile and shimmy and rocked out a trophy ball.  Jerry Rice came in 2nd (and beat a girl).  

• Tony Dovolani.  Tony is a consummate professional: performing actual basic movements and not getting caught in tawdry love affairs (thank God, since his wife is beautiful and he has 3 kids).  His choreography is recognizable and appropriate for his students.  Mwah!

• Pop music in the ballroom.  While not all the DWTS choices are stellar (any Paso, ever), bringing ballroom to Top 40 is a huge plus.  The common misconception for years was ballroom dancing is just Frank Sinatra, with a little Herb Alpert thrown in.  AKA, old school.  Knowing you can dance Cha Cha and Swing to a Pussycat Dolls song or Waltz to the Twilight soundtrack or Rumba to the new Pink song means it's not your grandmother's dance and a new generation can dance to music they love.  

• Popularity.  Duh.  20 million people watching THE BEST SPORT IN THE WORLD.  The entire nation knows about ballroom dancing.  It's fun, flashy, and aerobic.  It's hot, pretty, romantic, hypnotic.  It's getting exercise surrounded by an entirely good-looking and awesome group of people to music that you enjoy.  OKAY.

• In the realm of mindless television, it's a reality show where learning and hard work pay off.  

• DWTS has given every charity the easiest theme ever to sell.  In every major market, there's a local "Dancing With The Stars" event.  And who doesn't want to see celebrities (locally or nationally) be awesome or terrible?

• 2 minute dances.  Those couples get 2 minutes to wow us with their Showdance.  I think most pro-am solos would be wise to do the same.  

• On a totally selfish note, when I started teaching, there were always a few men at competitions.  Not a "few men" in each heat.  Like, a "few men", TOTAL, competing at the competition.  After the boys of DWTS threw down, the number of amateur men skyrocketed.   More people (man or woman) wanting to take dance lessons?  Thank you!

Yeah, teaching people with great expectations is difficult, but if "Dancing With The Stars" brings more people to the ballroom, I'm in.

Everyone loves Derek Hough.  Derek Hough loves the nation's #2 sport.

One year ago: Got To Be Startin' Something.