This is the 4th blog on the Heritage Classic
Dancesport Competition held every year late February – early March in
Asheville, North Carolina at the Grove Park Inn, now known as the Omni Grove
Park Inn….another independent establishment bites the dusk! The truth is that there is not much different
BO (before Omni) than AO.
I briefly looked at my 2011 Heritage Classic blog on my way
to the airport returning home from this year’s event. It makes for very interesting reading. By now, I’ve been dancing with my dance
teacher Yanna for about 4 years, out of 5 total years factoring in the time in
surgery and recovery for a broken shoulder as well as other intermittent
ailments and temporary departures from dancing.
Still 4 years is a long time to commit to most anything. And it is reasonable to ask oneself what is
the return on investment. More on that
later……
To be sure, 4 years is still a short time for an adult to
become proficient in ballroom dancing, in contrast to learning to dance as a
child, where its probably an eternity……to go from not recognizing a cha cha
from a quickstep to being a rising star.
And while the dedicated youngster has a rosy future typically paved with
a natural uphill trajectory in ability and performance, the adult ballroom
student is destined to reach a final impasse.
He/she will reach a plateau when gradually all of the instruction that
is fed to his/her increasingly feeble mind evaporates into empty words and
sounds….and/or concomitantly when the inevitable intrusion of time affects
physical performance, when the body surrenders and weathers from the progressive
and unremitting physical breakdown and abuse.
Back to the matter at hand, the Heritage Classic. I will not pretend to even try to make this
series of compositions short, organized, or even meaningful. This blog was
really conceived in one setting but is being presented in several mini blogs or
5 chapters. They are the mere product of snippets of experience, observation
and reflection during the week, organized into no particular order, and not cohesive
or integrated in any meaningful way.
Chapter 1: Fat VS
NonFat
In our country in general, the common man/woman on the
street is likely overweight or outright obese.
We all know the stats but maybe we do not want to absorb the full
implications. I will not put my doctor
hat on here. I am simply making the
observation that it is now NORMAL to see the majority of people on the street
carrying more than their share of body flesh.
The corollary is that it is less common to see adults or even children
of normal weight.
In contrast, in the ballroom competition world, it is more
common to encounter humans of normal weight and less commonly to find them
overweight or obese. Clearly the rigor
of training and the lifestyle chosen by adult ballroom dancers fosters a healthy
lifestyle even at the most basic level of understanding, i.e., exercise and
diet.
But there is more to it than that. Dancers wear tight fitting outfits in Latin
and Rhythm with lots of naked flesh brashly exhibited for all to see. Even in Smooth and Standard, the suits and
vests look best and the most elegant on a well trimmed and sculpted physique. Its no surprise that its pretty much a given
that the best dancers have the most athletic bodies. And it should be no surprise that how you
look is part of how you are scored in ballroom competition. Moreover, it is my view that the most
advanced dancers in the world, particularly those in Latin and Rhythm, possess
the skills and physical capacity that equals and/or exceeds ANY sport known to
man.
I have seen many overweight and obese adults dance
beautifully and effortlessly. When I do
so, I am so very impressed with their abilities and skills. Nevertheless, they are a minority in the
competitive dance competition world as those normally weighted and fit dancers
of all ages into the 80’s and beyond reflect the predominant habitus.
Some may find these comments trite or so obvious that they
need not be mentioned. If you enter any
athletic arena, you are likely to encounter the healthiest and most fit
individuals. BUT, in the ballroom world,
you globally encounter these same fit individuals spanning all of the ages from
children in kindergarten to seniors on social security in the same enclosure. Leave the ballroom and enter the real world
and you are immediately struck by another breed of human; at least this was the
experience for me.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2
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