Follow the Rules

I’m guessing that like most people I’m somewhere in the middle between “follow all the rules” and “break all the rules”. I do know that the more rules and boundaries you place on me, the more I’m tempted to rebel just for the heck of it.

I spent most of my career in a heavily regulated industry and we had to have policies and procedures for basically everything. We had whole departments devoted to managing those policies and for ensuring that we followed them all. Sometimes they made sense. Sometimes not so much.

It did get to the point where, if a policy seemed stupid or overly restrictive, then my goal was to see if we could comply with the spirit of the rule. In other words, how far could I push things while still being in compliance. See most procedures tended to have a lot of “grey” areas which I used to my full advantage so we could actually get work done.

What on earth does this have to do with ballroom dancing you may be asking yourself. Well I’ll try to get there.

There are certain rules regarding dance that have to be followed if you are being judged. And these are also expectations that teachers will have and continue to push you to do. Timing is the obvious one. Can’t dance off time. Footwork – never take a heel lead when a toe lead is required. Makes the teacher cringe.

Others are more norms and related to how you are supposed to look and that includes dress which is really what I was trying to get to all along.

When I started, it was cool to put on “dance stuff” for the Showcases and other events. Ballroom was such a different world and it helped to get into that world. It was like you put your other self behind and became someone different. I do still feel this way because each dance has its own feel and character and there is a part of me that like to get into that character. Do a round and you get to play multiple different parts as each dance comes up.

But the whole thing of having to dress up and look a certain way for these events is getting a little old. I do know that as a guy, it is not as much of an issue since you don’t need multiple dresses for the various rounds. And men’s dance wear is going to be cheaper so I can’t really complain too much.

And I can’t really explain why except that I’ve done multiple events over the many years I’ve been dancing so I’ve been exposed to that world so it is no longer really new and exciting. It starts to feel less and less authentic. Which probably sounds a little strange since I talked about dancing like it is playing a character and sometimes you need to wear a costume to play a character effectively.

I don’t mind doing some costuming for a routine since it helps get into the part and tell the story we want to tell. Which again probably sounds contradictory but that’s how I roll sometimes.

It just might be fun to show up at an event in my normal summer wear and see what happens. Except it is basically impossible to look good wearing dance shoes, dress socks and shorts. Can’t pull that off.

Just maybe the nonconformist in me rising to the surface a little bit. The expectations on how you are supposed to look come across as a little superficial the longer I’ve done this. But I guess that’s just what you have to do if you are going to be a part of this world.