Survival Guide to Ballroom Dancing

This new book, written by James Joseph, contains many hints and techniques to make ballroom dancing more enjoyable. It is based on the teachings of the renowned dance educator Skippy Blair. According to the author, the book is aimed at non-dancers, newbies, and beginners. In my view, however, it contains so many useful hints and techniques, hardly ever taught by dance teachers, that it is a book which can be of help to all dancers, regardless of level, and it should be a must-read for dance teachers.

Visit James at the following web site
http://ihatetodance.com
buy the book on www.amazon.com

For more Swango information, or excellent instructional videos, visit www.SwangoSeattle.com or www.SMAKproductions.com, Patty Conley and Tony Azar's web site. Check out their holiday special which includes both Swango instructional DVD's as well as a Swango music CD.

Read more about W.C. Swing and Fusion Dancing.

Dance CD
George Winter has produced a new CD with his usual eminently danceable music. It contains all your favorite dances and even a line dance or two. These are all new songs. Great orchestration, good vocals, and, as always, the tempo for each dance style is right on. The price is $15. Contact George at georgewinter@bellsouth.net (205) 553-8288

Enjoy the most elegant contact sport played today.

Banner on the website of USAD's Indianapolios Chapter www.indyusabda.org

Dancing is the art of getting your feet out of the way faster than your partner can step on them.
-Author Unknown
Found at www.thenightlyplanet.us
read some more terse exchanges

Effortless dancing is an oxymoron. Without effort, you do not dance, and if you dance, it is never without effort.
René Zgraggen

I remember years ago there used to be a much younger crowd at this dance.

Combinations that should be avoided at all cost by people over 50.

A nose ring and bifocals.
Spiked hair and bald spots.
A pierced tongue and dentures.
Miniskirts and support hose.
Ankle bracelets and corn pads.
Speedos and cellulite.
A belly button ring and a gall bladder surgery scar.
Unbuttoned disco shirts and a heart monitor.
Midriff shirts and a midriff bulge.
Bikinis and liver spots.
Short shorts and varicose veins.

Call it Club Swing, 4-count Swing, Merengue hustle or 4-count hustle, it's all the same swing or hustle steps done one step per beat. If you're doing it hustle-style, stay in the slot.

All of us have different motivations to go dancing. To meet old friends and make new acquaintances? To dance for the sake of dancing? To feel alive and active? Dancing satisfies many of our most basic physical and emotional needs.
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The evolution of dance

In order to sway the Olympic committee to include ballroom dancing as an Olympic event, the promoters of the Olympic movement coined the name "DanceSport". But is ballroom dancing really a sport? And is DanceSport, which relies on choreographed and rigorously rehearsed theatrical routines, really ballroom dancing? In addition, some of ballroom dancing's governing organization are engaged in a fierce battle over which one should have jurisdiction over Olympic DanceSport competitors.

All in all, it seems that the Olympic committee is not convinced of the merits of ballroom dancing as an Olympic sport.

One longtime adjudicator of both DanceSport and Ice Dancing competitions offers this insight.
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In USA WEEKEND's Aug. 13-15, 2004 issue, the following was written about DanceSport and the Olympic games:
What is it? Basically, it's ballroom dancing. The sport is divided into two categories: Latin and Standard.
Why it should be included? "Research has shown DanceSport to be every bit as demanding on the cardiovascular system as track and field," says Jim Fraser, president of the Canadian Amateur DanceSport Association.
How it hopes to get recognized: "I've got actively involved in my own country's Olympic committee," Fraser says. "It's like applying for a job. You keep showing up, and they wonder,' What are we going to do with this guy?'"
Endorsement potential: Dicey. DanceSport "Is not our core market," says Tom Fox, a senior VP of Gatorade. "I don't want to sponsor something if no one is going to see it."
What the man on the street says: "Ballroom dancing isn't a sport. It's an art." - Lois Wheelock, 56, Plympton, Mass.

One of my good friends and web site visitors wrote me an email on the same subject. Click HERE to read her views and my response.

John Doerter from Little Rock, AR writes: Dance is "athletic art" IMO not sport.  I state this because "How" something is performed matters.   To me sports eliminate the subjective "How" as much as possible and concentrate only on the what.
 
Ice skating, Diving, Gymnastics, and synchronized swimming, are all examples of athletic art in the Olympics.   the form in which the "what" occurs is graded. 100 m crawl, High Jump, and water polo; are sport because the "opinion of the judges" is minimized to the greatest extent possible.  Doesn't matter how bad you look doing it, if you jump over a higher bar than everyone else without knocking it down... you win.  To me that is Sport. in it's pure form.  When you start judging form and style,  you are talking about Art.  As far as Ballroom dancing in the Olympics,  it belongs there as much as ice skating.  

Do you have any thoughts on the subject? Write to me at Dancing@ReneZ.com .

Dance organizations

Sara Scatasta, one of my web site visitors and e-mail friends writes the following, and includes the picture below:

There is one competition in Frankfurt (Hessen Tanzt) which is amazing. Imagine a skating ring divided in 8 dance floors, where 8 events run simultaneously and in each category (from bronze to open) there are at least a 100 couples registered. There were 5000 couples registered for this comp this past May. 1 Round can last 2 hours (attached is a picture). Here in Germany the cost of entering the floor is only 5 Euro  for the 10 dances, so there are a lot of people competing.

National Dance Council of America (NDCA)
USA Dance Inc.
The United States Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance
United Country and Western Dance Council (UCWDC)
American Bop Association (Swing Organization)
World Swing Dance Council

Burn those calories.
I just did a little calculation. Assume you're dancing for about 1 hour. You're dancing foxtrot the whole time. That means you are taking 4 steps to every 6 beats of music. Foxtrot is played at about 120 beats per minute, which means you're taking about 80 steps a minute. This adds up to 4,800 steps an hour.  That in my view is a very impressive workout, particularly if you consider that dances such as cha chas require 7 steps per six beats, and  triple step swings requires 8 steps for every six beats.

But dancing is not just good for the body. According to the latest research, it is equally as good for your mind.

The proof is in. Dancing is good for body and mind.
Did you know that 90 seconds of Latin competitive dancing requires the equivalent energy of running an 80 meter dash?
We all know that dancing is a good physical exercise. But unlike other activities, ballroom dancing also stimulates your brain cells. Medical studies show that ballroom dancing is far superior to many other physical activities in preventing dementia, such as alzheimer's.
Read more

Men, listen up! Ballroom dancing can reduce the symptoms of prostatism.
Dr. Jonathan V. Wright, a noted expert on male urinary problems writes this in his publication 'Nutrition and Healing':

BPH symptoms (frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia, decreased size of stream, etc.) may not be caused by an enlarged prostate at all.

Instead they may be caused by a condition known as prostatism, which is related to the muscles in the prostate and the neck of the bladder. These smooth muscle cells are under the control of the sympathetic nervous system, and they tense up and contract just like all other muscles. The feelings that occur mimic the symptoms of BPH.

The key to relieving prostatism is adopting a treatment program that includes something that will relax your muscles. I had one patient who could only empty his bladder completely after a night of ballroom dancing. The motion of the dancing and the social atmosphere relaxed him sufficiently enough to regulate bladder function.

This web site was first aired in mid-January 2003 with the goal of providing ballroom dancers with accurate and current information on ballroom dance events in Alabama, with some emphasis on events in and within driving distance of Montgomery. Since then, the website has grown in size and scope, with a dance calendar of events that includes dances in several states, including Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Many of my dance friends tell me that they do not travel without first checking my website for places to dance at their destination. Today, the calendar of events lists more than 300 dance events every month in 7 states.

Many of  you are regularly visiting this site for an average of more than 30 visits every day, or a total of almost 60,000 visits as of January 2010. This is far more than I ever expected. My sincere thanks to all my web visitors. I hope I can keep the content interesting and relevant. My special thanks to Murray Echols of Birmingham for providing me with valuable information, much needed encouragement,  and sound advice from the very beginning.

My thanks to ballroom dancers, ballroom club organizers, ballroom dance bands and suppliers of ballroom dance products for their support and help. Without them, a non-commercial web site such as this would not be possible.

My thanks also to web masters throughout Alabama, neighboring states and from other places in the U.S.A. and abroad who have kindly provided a link to my web site for their visitors.

Special thanks to those tireless people who regularly compile newsletters containing dance information for their particular area. Without them, it would be extremely difficult for me to keep up-to-date on dance events throughout the Southeast.

And finally, thanks to all the ballroom dance enthusiasts who visit my site, send me encouraging e-mail, and talk to me at dances. I sincerely value their encouragement, ideas and suggestions.

René Zgraggen
Montgomery, AL