A Thing of Beauty

It’s been a wild weekend. Well at least by my standards and we aren’t the busiest of people. But there was lots to do this weekend. I might try to do a wrap up post later just because I feel like detailing the silly things we do to pass the time. Plus, we have the overlap of baseball and football so there is more stuff to watch than other times of the year.

So we have to go back to Thursday because there is something there to cover first. Showcase is three weeks from today and we have planned out the two routines we are doing at that Showcase. One is the Argentine Tango and that one is brand new. The studio loves to have students do demonstrations during the Thursday party so we took advantage of that opportunity to do one practice run in an environment that has some similarities to a Showcase.

All of the dances have their own character and feel but Argentine is really different from the rest. The goal is to dance more what you feel in the music and not specific patterns or steps. It demands a super strong connection because, at high levels, the lead can basically freestyle so the messages sent to the follower have to be clear and unambiguous. The connection allows you to feel where your partner is and when their weight shifts to the other foot.

I’ve done it with other instructors in the past and it really sparks something. When PJ and I had our first coaching lesson, it lit a fire for me. This was just a dance I needed to do. We had the good fortune of working with this coach two additional times. Once so he could choreograph the routine and the second time, he got to see what we had done and offer additional fixes and feedback. It ended up taking the routine to a whole different level.

Still, when you do something live, gremlins can rise up out of nowhere to trip you up. Typically, it is getting too fast since there is a real adrenaline rush as you start the routine. And Argentine is about the contrasts between slow parts and fast parts and our music has slow sections and fast sections. So I’ve spent a lot of time trying to slow myself down and match the pace of the music.

My timing is rarely perfect. With the right music and the right sound system, I can end up feeling the beat and that is what I need to stay on time. On Thursday night, I was about as close to perfect as I’m going to get. We got to a specific part in the music and I was actually just a bit behind which is the opposite of what typically happens.

We did the flashy parts well and I could hear the audience reaction when we did them. The coach added a bit of theater to some parts and those got a good reception as well. It went really well. If we repeat this at Showcase, I’m going to be very happy.

After, as I’m trying to catch my breath (I have this tendency to hold my breath during these routines), I had several people come up to tell me how beautiful it was. To be clear, beautiful isn’t something that is often used to describe anything about me. But I’ll take the feedback.

Just another magic moment brought to me by ballroom dance.