There are many benefits to dancing: staying shape while not having to go the gym (ha-ehm, couldn’t be me…), meeting new people, spending quality time with a significant other, etc. The other day I thought about another benefit of dancing, be it ballroom or otherwise. Dancing is a way to tame one’s nervousness or anxiety of public speaking or performing. One learns to use the nervousness to give them energy to go through with the performance. One will also channel the energy toward engaging the audience. And yes, I’ve seen it done, so I’m not just talking… There were several couples and singles who started off awkwardly and pretty much hated performing. But you should see them now: they are smiling, performing and even winning dance competitions. It’s great!
Category Archives: Dance
It’s choreography
Ahh, choreographing… a shifty, finikey process but what joy to have the final creation of inspiration to share with the world! It really helps when the partner is on the same wave-length because often the timing subtleties and the artistic details cannot be easily communicated in plain language: it’s more of a feel and vision kind of thing. Justin and I are working on a rumba for the upcoming New Year’s Eve show at Absolute Ballroom (www.absoluteballroomtn.com) and it’s been a slow start but a great coming together of little pieces today, shaping up into a very nice routine. We are both so open to inspiration and to combining different elements of dance, as well as to challenging ourselves. For instance, there are lifts I thought I shouldn’t do but I should listen to my own advice: “how do you know you can’t do something unless you try it?” (some restriction may apply, of course – just apply common sense…). The inspiration for us starts usually with a great piece of music. For this particular one we chose Iio’s “Runaway”. With a little help from Audacity (a nifty music editing software), I pieced the music just right and off we went. In Justin’s words “it’s like dancing mad math”, trying to match our choreography pieces to the music counts and the feel of the song. I didn’t think I loved math but this kind of math, I do.
Halloween dancing
I had a blast yesterday, dancing all night long – pretty much a dancer’s dream!
The night started with practice for our Halloween show, followed by teaching a new and very enthusiastic student (a friend of a friend).
After 8pm, we dimmed the lights and cranked out a great Halloween ballroom dance party at ABSOLUTE Ballroom (www.absoluteballroomtn.com)
Justin and I performed a ChaCha on Ne-Yo’s song “Beautiful Monster” and we rocked! It was so much fun 🙂 Unfortunately, the camera had a bit of a technical failure during our performance, so the only video we have right now is the last practice before the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avFNne6Km8s
After a long party, a large group of students and teachers alike gathered up at the newly opened “Busby’s Tango” (http://www.busbystangogrille.com/). This is a great concept, of an upscale place, with hardwood floors, lovely decor, yummy food and wines, live and DJed music and lots of dancing. We celebrated our friend’s birthday and danced salsa, bachata, chacha and rumbas until late in the night (or is it early in the morning?).
Welcome (current or future) dancers!
So we all heard of Dancing with the Stars and I admit that even if it can be a bit on the cheesy side, it is my favorite guilty pleasure. What I enjoy is not the predictable “reality” show plot but the transformation of non-dancers into sometimes amazing ballroom dancers, the progress however big or small, seeing how many discover the joy of ballroom, and how new friendships are born on the dance floor. Ballroom dance is accessible to everyone – yes, I’ve heard the excuses: no time, two left feet, no rhythm, my significant other doesn’t want to, etc. However, like I always say to my 7-year-old nephew when he just dismisses something with a firm “I don’t like it!” – “How do you know if you’ve never tried it?”.
I started taking lessons as a fun thing to do after work (Knoxville doesn’t have that many options for entertainment and the bar scene was not all that appealing of a pastime). I registered for a series of seven classes through the University of Tennessee’s outreach program. At the end of the program, I asked the instructors how I could continue dancing and of course where I could practice. They pointed me towards USA Dance, the association of amateur ballroom competitors and mentioned several dance studios in town. The minute I started competing, I was hooked… The glam, the joy, the travel! Loved it all (especially when winning – go figure!). Ever since then I enjoyed meeting and learning from experienced professionals, as well as competing both locally and throughout the country. Ballroom dancing also gave me something fun to do on Friday nights – you can always find me on the dance floor at the weekly parties. I enjoyed the knowledgeable but friendly staff and community at one particular studio and this is where I now teach and dance (www.absoluteballroomtn.com).
I hope you find an urge to stop by and discover how much fun ballroom dance can be!
Oana
Oana Dance 
