anymouse, The "arching" is one of the first things the instructor corrected her on. The soreness is the lower back/hips..if I remember correctly and the upper leg muscles. I think your statement "Different physical tasks require different physical strengths." is probably the cause. None of her dancing has taught her to move in such a manner. It is one of the main reasons I got her into ballroom/latin. The instructor is very good (Current Blackpool champ.)and probably is helping her build the strength to isolate and move certain muscles required in ballroom/latin dance.
Oh, as dheun points out...some soreness in the arms and shoulders.

I've been dancing several years and I still find wonderful new things to be sore about, it just means I'm actually making progress.

My instructor always comes back from his competitions tragically sore. Its one of the exciting things about ballroom. It helps you ask more of your body every single time you dance.

Right now my abs are happily throbbing away after working on Spanish lines in Paso Doble. Every dance...different ways your muscles must respond. Its great cross training.

I do have a question. You seem as involved with dancing or more so than your daughter. Why aren't you dancing?

Added:
I just caught the "....more than your daughter." part. Everyone that knows her as a dancer says she seems to love it. Not having a memory before dance...it's probably a bit more complicated than simply loving it.
(It can also be complicated being a parent).

Original:
Belleofyourball, If I had a dollar for everytime someone asked me that question, I would be a rich man.
The answer is twofold.

I started to bare my soul and give you the long version,...but I'm afraid it would be a topic of discussion and a bit controversial. Here is the short version....there is nothing that can be more enjoyable than what I am doing now as a spectator.

Can someone answer this question? Is ballroom cha-cha-cha on1? (the instructor counts 1-2-cha-cha-cha). In the salsa world, the concensus seems to be that cha-cha-cha is meant to be on2. I love ballroom cha-cha...it's like great jazz music.

"Can someone answer this question? Is ballroom cha-cha-cha on1? (the instructor counts 1-2-cha-cha-cha). In the salsa world, the concensus seems to be that cha-cha-cha is meant to be on2. I love ballroom cha-cha...it's like great jazz music."

The cha-cha-cha action is on 4-and-1 as in 2, 3, cha-cha-cha

1-2-cha-cha-cha is sometimes called "cowboy cha cha" and is danced in some country dance venues. It is also occasionally taught to beginner by some of the studios.

Thankyou anymouse. My daughter would have no problem with counting it 2-3-cha-cha-cha.

I have a question that is the flip side of Belle's. Why doesn't your daughter participate in this forum herself?

jj

jj Wrote:



jj,
My daughter not only is a gifted dancer, but she is very mature, intelligent and understanding. She has no interest in discussing her dance outside of her training world.
She doesn't even discuss it with her close, non-dancing, friends. You will just have to accept the fact that dance is her life.

If you are sincerely interested in who I am and my relationship with my daughter,...perhaps we will meet at a future ballroom event and I will take you to dinner and tell you everything you want to know, about us.
I have answered your question and will be more than happy to answer any others.

Now, though you are one of the most vocal members in this forum, I know very little about you. Are you male/female? Are you a pro./instructor? Are you a young/middle aged/senior adult? (I am male, 51 yrs old). How many yrs. have you been dancing and what dance forms have you studied?
Please excuse me if my questions are too personal. I am just curious.

You actually have not answered my question but the point isn't worth pursuing.

I'm not interested in you because it appears that you do not dance. Nor am I specifically interested in your daughter. I was just curious about her absence from this forum.

I am interested in the subject of the development of young dancers because I want to see ballroom dancing grow in popularity. If I had my way, we'd teach ballroom in our public schools.

I am disappointed at your daughter's failure to find a suitable partner because that failure points up the paucity of young men willing to pursue formal dancing in the US.

As for myself, I am a 59 year old amateur lead who has beeen dancing for more than 11 years. Most of my work has been in Standard.

jj

jj, I as well.



You are correct. I do not dance, but I am very involved in dance and very knowledgeble of the dance world. If you were a competitive dancer, I think that you would find such knowledge very valuble as well as interesting.
I am quickly absorbing the ballroom/latin dance world.



It comforts me to know that you care about young dancers. Our school district does not support dance and for a period, had to have my daughter home schooled becuase they were not sympathetic to our needs when it came to my daughters dancing. High School offers more options for her, so I have her back in...and she is in an extracurricular latin dance program.

Thankyou for sharing some personal facts about yourself.

If you have the time...maybe you could take a look at these young dancers. If you chose to do so,...perhaps you can also imagine what kind of world these you dance prodigies live in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDmgzMA25uQ
It's the same world that my daughter lives in. The young "follow" was very fortunate to have "Kiril" available to her. If he was from L.A....he could have certainly partnered with my daughter and have been just as successful. Finding a good partner is one of the reasons my daughter did not get into ballroom/latin eary on.

P.S. My daughter knows of Kiril through her ballet comp. days. They competed in the same age division. He and his partner are the #1 ranked U.S.A. Junior Latin champs. They are from San Diego.

Back to your original question...
My daughter has a t-shirt that says
"Shut up and dance with me". LOL

Although each of the young dancers who are the focus of the video has obvious physical skills, the partnership seems to lack chemistry. Each seems to spend a lot of time dancing solos.

I'm also dismayed by the similarity of the choreography, seeing the same moves repeatedly almost without regard to the dance being performed. I see this trend even at the professional level.

I would like to see more of couple 438; they were also very good and seemed genuinely to enjoy dancing together.

The point at which Kiril and his partner split couple 438 was definitely not cool.

Because the camera focused so exclusively on the one couple, I couldn't say whether I thought that they were actually the best in that competition.

jj