My student, Lorena Bravo, recently won the title of U.S. Pro-Am American Smooth Champion. Somebody posted a video of her winning performance to YouTube. Those of you interested in American Style can see her performance here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pu7LZFolbX4

Congratulations, Lorena!

Sincerely,
Jonathan

I still applaud every time I watch it :). Love the choreography too.

What a beautiful performance.The waltz gave me the chills. Just interested,how long has Lorena been dancing?

Imlovinit wrote:I've been dancing with her about 3 years -- 1 year each of Bronze, Silver, and Gold. I think she did a little bit of amateur dancing before me, although I'm not sure to what extent. I know she was on the USC ballroom team.

Anonymous wrote:
Thanks.

For me, the Waltz and Viennese in that round were just ok. They're both standard Casa Musica fare. It's good music, but not exceptional. That Foxtrot, however, is one of my favorites to dance to. For me, there's no cooler sound than finger snaps, upright bass, and sultry, smoky vocals.

Regards,
Jonathan

"That Foxtrot, however, is one of my favorites to dance to. For me, there's no cooler sound than finger snaps, upright bass, and sultry, smoky vocals."

For the jazzy rhythmic idea of foxtrot everyone was dancing. Someone interested putting more emphasis on drifted SQQ movement with fewer syncopations and rhythmic accents might find it a less ideal fit at first, though actually I'd like dancing to this track even though I would interpret it with very different movement.

I happen to think that waltz track is great, in fact the first time I encountered it in competition, I couldn't wait to identify and order the CD. If you haven't felt like what she's singing at some point while dancing, then you haven't yet danced.

A vocalist singing to a Waltz they usually sing away from the beat. Take a beautiful tune like Moonriver and try singing it over two bars I think you will find that you will miss the third beat of the first bar. That might be an over simplification but as the music becomes more difficult it can get worse. Michael Barr former world number one said he is not in favour of vocal music for dancing in a competition. Just for the record there are no vocalists at Blackpool. I wonder why. Didn't you find that in the Foxtrot the singing was a distraction from the very fine dancing that the couples were doing. Play it again Sam.

"A vocalist singing to a Waltz they usually sing away from the beat. Take a beautiful tune like Moonriver and try singing it over two bars I think you will find that you will miss the third beat of the first bar. "

There's a big difference between intentionally placing something off beat, and doing it because you do not know where you are in the music.

Neither the vocalists nor the dancers are supposed to be robots. We are both artists, and should have at least a touch of respect for each other. But yes, it takes a more skilled dancer to a song where the words or melody float across the beat instead of being in military lockstep with it.

We now ask. What if most of the Dancers don't speak English. Its very difficult to dance to a singer if you haven't a clue what they are saying.This brings up another point. why in the Smooth Waltz and Foxtrot are the disks being played at the highest end of the scale. Recomemended for the Foxtrot is between. 120 and 136BPM Waltz 84 to 96PM. I think I could do better shaping if the Tempo played was at its lowest and not its highest. To get back to the beginning. We should dance to the music and not the singers who we can do without.

"Its very difficult to dance to a singer if you haven't a clue what they are saying."

The only time a foreign language is distracting is when you can understand enough of it that it tempts you to concentrate to try to make sense of it. If you can't understand it at all, all you get is the feeling, not the literal meaning, and that is probably what you should be paying attention to anyway.

"why in the Smooth Waltz and Foxtrot are the disks being played at the highest end of the scale."

They aren't at the high end of the ranges you posted, instead right about in the middle. The waltz is right around 30. The foxtrot is about 32, faster than I wouuld like, but if you look at the much greater frequency of rhythmic accent, it makes sense that they would prefer it faster. (But realistically, the 136 bpm you quoted for foxtrot applies only to the beginner division students who haven't yet learned to sustain a slow at normal tempo)

"We should dance to the music and not the singers who we can do without."

When you can't understand the words, the human voice is just another instrument. And don't think for a minute that playing with the timing is unique to vocalists.

Foxtrot Smooth which is 120 to 136 beats per minute recomended. Lets tranfer that to what the rest of the world uderstands which is 30BPM to 34BPM.. I think today you would have to hunt around to find a dance recording played at 34BPM. The speed could be tampered with which can cause distortion as it also can also if the tempo is slowed down. Just for those interested from the rules of Dancesport. A Waltz is 30 BPM. Foxtrot 30 BPM. Tango 33 BPM. V. Waltz 60 BPM. Quickstep 50 BPM.... Cha 30 BPM. Samba 50 BPM. Rumba 27 BPM. Paso 52 BPM. Jive 44 BPM. I wonder if it is asking to much for a music presenter to check on the music they are going to play before playing it.
We have another style here called New Vogue which could be compared to American Smooth. Would you believe like there they have this ridicules between 52 BPM to 56 BPM recomended for the same dance. This means you could dance one heat at 52 and the next at 56. Why on earth should that be.