Ghost-

Well, that sounds suspiciouly like some students I have had who no longer wanted to compete in Standard!

We are slowly but surely turning into a society of latin and smooth dancers. Serious students seem to still tackle standard...but we have very few who desire to compete in it. As a result we try to "steal" international steps to "beef up" our smooth...a common enough practice. Amer. rhythm appeals less and less...students doing latin have said they find it "sloppy feeling" or less "organized" etc.

I don't think it is a case of "the quality of a dance should be measured by the skill level required to learn and perfect it". Consider Viennese Waltz. Very few people in all of the dance world would call this their favorite dance, or say it is a great dance...yet it takes a lot of practice and significant skill to master. It's limitations make it boring. More difficult dances often appeal because their complexity is what gives them the versatility to last and be continually interesting over a lifetime.