Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I am a competitive ballroom dancer and would be happy to talk to you about this if you still needed information

~ballrooma~

You may want to contact the experts at Viva Dance and Elite Dance Studio , among many others in the greater Toronto area.

I am not anywhere near a ballroom competitor. But I am heading for the gym now - to develop flexibility and upper body strength. (I am a strong walker already.) Besides keeping healthy it is also that I can be a decent ballroom dancer and with the physical ability to enjoy doing it.

All ballroom competitors are extremly fit and deciplined - they have to be. Many, if not most, have ballet, modern dance or figure skating background, or training semilar to them. You can readily observe in dance studios and dance halls that dancers are way above average in physical shape and ability. I think this is evidence of a sport.

eluck, Many pro events now begin with 30 sec. to 1 minute intros where each couple gets to dance a bit by themselves. Also, like gymnastics, ice skating, ski jumping and other exhibition sports...anyone can go to a "Show" such as the International Latin Festival and see pre-choreographed routines done to set music. I love to see this aspect, and how it changes the goals and dancing of the presentation. However, it takes multiple couples on the floor IMHO to motivate couples to push their dancing to higher levels of competition.

I agree also that "Show dancing" does not tend to inspire as many people to actually try partner dancing. Not that pro comps do either...both are far too intimidating for most lay people. It is a mistake that we make in the US to not televise and otherwise hype more amateur, junior, and lower level dance events (of course we have trouble just getting the pros on TV). The greatest challenge in attracting new students in the Midwest is simply that no one sees partner dancing done well, and so they never think of it as something that they could learn, or might want to learn. A pro couple doesn't make them think so either...they need to see more married couples, older couples, teen couples and high quality social dancers!

Finally, to eluck...the US system doesn't inspire a big following or die hard attitude amongst fans...but take a look at some european web sites! They take their couples seriously and follow them religiously.

Happy new year to all, KC

I did a project on ballroom dancing last year. Maybe i can help. It i very hard work, you must know your steps, music, timing. etc. The Olympic Commettie are thinking about making it a sport for the Olympics. And in Europe Dancesport is huge. It is the equivalent to our baseball or football.

Hi,
I'm a competitive ballroom dancer from the Netherlands (Holland). (I don't do drugs, don't live in a windmill and don't wear wooden shoes!)

This I found on www.danceplaza.com, THE dance-site in The Netherlands, it might add something to this discussion:

"Not many people know that the DanceSport is a sport that's official recognised by the International Olympic Committee IOC!
On the 8th of September, 1997, The International Olympic Committee announced that it had recognised the International Dance Sport Federation (IDSF) as a recognized federation and full member of the IOC."
(http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?id=198)

Finally to set something straight. Dancesport is definetly not as big in Europe as baseball and football are in the US. Even Darts gets more media attention! However, it is growing. I think that if IDSF gets dancing to be an Olympic Game so that it gets more attention from the masses, dancesport will grow to what it should be. An well (that means better) organized sport with big a lot of international competitions like Blackpool!

Joost

P.s. Can anyone say hi to Louis van Amstel from all dancers of Clara Lamar? Thx.

I forgot to mention that I'm a Latindancer too.

I dance six days a week. I also go to competitions all over the United states. whoever is telling you that dancing is not a sport, they are very wrong