Once upon a time, you saw an ad in the newspaper,
or you watched Tony and Jane dancing a foxtrot on ABC-TV’s hit show
“Dancing with the Stars,” and you thought – “that looks like fun. I
think I’d like to learn how to dance.” So you Googled “ballroom dancing
lessons in NJ” and you came up with 5 choices near you. Hooray for you
– you chose the Fred Astaire Dance Studio. You took the 2 lesson
special, then the 5 lesson special, and you decided to continue on to
learn how to social dance with your goal to become a good bronze
dancer. You learned that a good bronze dancer is someone who could lead
or follow anyone on the dance floor with confidence, and maybe a little
grace, and that is why you started.
You remember when your teacher explained the
“Trophy System.” She mentioned the Gold Dancer. She pointed out that
lady on the dance floor who is awesome. That lady goes to competitions
every month and won the U.S. Pro-Am, blah, blah, blah, and you thought,
“No, I never want to do that”. Then your teacher mentioned the Silver
Program and said “Silver dancers compete a few times a year, but live
for dance. They come to lessons every day, they attend every “Practice
Party”, they go to every event, and they even practice on their own.”
Still, you said, “nope, I’m not that ambitious.” So you decided you
wanted to be a Bronze Dancer, because a Bronze dancer is better than
what you are, but not as fancy as a Silver or a Gold dancer. Now, all
of the sudden, your teacher is talking about competitions!! What
happened??? “I swore I said I didn’t want to compete,” and you did say
that.
However, you have also entrusted your teacher
with your dancing education, and you said your goal is to become the
best physical dancer you can possibly be. One way to become the best
dancer you can be is to dive into a dance competition. Not because we
want you to win, but because once you have made the commitment to
compete with a deadline to perform, the entire experience of learning
and practice changes.
Practice parties will suddenly afford you an
opportunity to build your stamina. You’ll begin to think about your
posture and your poise, you’ll begin to reach your arms farther, or
watch a better dancer twirl her fingers in that sexy way. You’ll begin
to watch your wife’s teacher move his hips, wondering if you’ll ever be
ever to do that. You’ll begin to plan your lessons with your teacher,
and study your chart after your lesson. You’ll learn that you had
better get that babysitter committed to every Tuesday and Thursday
night for the next month, and have a back-up plan, because your
practice time is limited and needs to be scheduled. You’ll start to
take more group classes, because they’re less expensive. You’ll
become goal oriented, whether during practice parties, in a class, or
with an instructor, or yes, even when you practice on your own.
In essence, you will push yourself to achieve
more. And isn’t that really why you came to discover dancing in the
first place? All the money you invest in your dancing isn’t going into
your teacher’s pocket, or your studio owner or competition organizer.
It is going into your dance education, your self-improvement, your
confidence, your happiness, your poise, posture, time spent with your
spouse, your personal relationships. It is going into your fantasy of
wearing rhinestones and being swept off your feet, your weight-loss
goals, your health, and your relaxation. When you have successfully
completed a competition, you will have improved your dancing more than
if you took ten lessons in one day.
We seriously doubt that you decided to pursue
ballroom dancing because you needed another activity to fill your dull
and boring life. Most of us barely have time to watch DANCING WITH THE
STARS that we TIVO’d. Competitive dancing is a bonus – an
extracurricular activity that will help us enjoy our dancing, try hard,
practice, study and become the kind of dancer we dreamed of being when
we started out. If we happen to pick up a blue ribbon in the process,
to quote a valuable trainer and coach of ours “that’s very exciting.”
Benefits of Competitive Ballroom Dancing
