Who or what is in charge in Ballroom dancing international style.Who is the Boss. Any takers.

Is this a trick question?

For "amateur" competition, the world governing body is the IDSF (International DanceSport Federation). You can see who is who in that oganization at their web site, idsf.net

For pro competition, the world body is the WD&DSC (World Dance and DanceSport Council). They've got a web site somewhere, but I forget where (you can Google for it).

So my guess would be the executive council of these bodies are the "boss."

As far as social dancing goes -- there is no boss. Just dance!

Unless you mean who leads. Then it's either the man or the dance teacher dragging her poor pupil across the dancefloor

Stavro. Make no mistake about this, the music is the boss. This is something that came up recently. When we practice our routines without music, we can slow down or speed up as we wish, even more so if we are dancing solo. Maybe we are taking to long in a Lunge to the right and a Slip Pivot followed by whatever. Put the music on and you must be in time with the Boss. This goes for the lady also who must be right on the beat as well as the man and not a fraction behind. This is another reason for counting with the music out loud. The lady must not be an echo. When a lady tells me that she just follows her partner. I think how stupid can a person get. With a strange partner who doesn't know the routines taught in that studio,maybe a little bit of pulling and pushing might be neccecary. But even then I would keep it simple and just whisper Open Telemark or Impetus or whatever. I would expect them to know the names and the timing and to be right on the beat.That means not in front of, or behind the music ( the boss ). I don't want to be chasing the music or having to hold them back. I would expect some person to say but the lady must not lead. Answere two people doing the same step on exactly the same count with the man initiating with his body what is coming up could not be called lady leading. What it could be called is lady doing her share of the work especially when going forward

Walked right into that one, didnt I?

I am still having a lot of trouble hearing the beat. Or mostly worry about not hearing it and thus loosing it even if I was on beat.
My teacher was trying to show me how to do a fan on tuesday. It looked great while I was working on it without music. But when she put the music on, it really showed how my slows were suddenly too slow. Not even to mention what I did to that poor tango close.

Which reminds me I better get back to the drawing board: have to design a birthday card for her birthday today (wish I'd once finish drawings well ahead of a deadline)

Stavros.I would expect most to say the boss would be man and not the music. When you mentioned the Fan Position you must be a girl and is this the Rumba International Style.
Listen to some NONE VOCAL disks and count the beats over and over again. Count 1234 and make a mark on a piece of paper every 1234 off the disk, then do it again. If you can get the same count three times running your doing fine. I did this years ago. I have an old style portable tape recorder, the type that I was able to record any sound with an external microphone, which I stood in front of my Disk Player. As soon as I was able to count the beats I let it play, and on the portable recorder taped two spoons together on beat one. After a while I learnt to count in eight bar phrasing . And then taping the spoons on the first beat after the eight bar phrasing( 8234. 1234 2234 and so on.After that I did a simple eight bar routine solo.If I started the routine counting with the tap on the first beat. I soon found out if I was on the correct beat at the end of the eight blocks of 1234 . Whilst dancing it might be difficult to count eight bar phrasing so don't try'. Just stick to the 1234. 1234. The above can also be used to improve Foxtrot timing with a short routine with basic timing. A few years ago there were some discs from Japan where they removed everything from the previous track except the basic rhythm.They were excellent and gave me the idea for all the above.Keep at you will win and be better than most others. Keep away from anything that has a vocalist at first. As I wrote before . The worlds most important competition is at Blackpool in the UK. There are no vocalists there.

You could also try:

1. Turning the treble down and the bass up. The beat is most easily felt in the bass while phrasing is moostly carried in the treble.

2. Check for local community music schools and stores that sell sheet music. Find out if anyone teaches Orff-Schulwerk in your area. They have thousands of fun activities to help find the beat.

OB

Don, I'm male. I was refering to Tango (smooth I think). I'm in greece so I am not always sure if I use the right names.
I think on this page its called promenade release to open fan.

The dance school gave me a CD with ballroom music to practice with at home. I will try this exercise when I come back from todays tango lesson.

operabob, Greece is a very bad place when you try doing things for fun. The average greek person learns in order to get a certificate not in order to actually learn something. It's the reason why I gave up on violin as a kid. No music school would understand that I just like music but dont want to be a musician. I'll have to see if any friends can help me with sheet music - professional teachers might think I'm a freak for not joining an orchester right away.

Stavros,

I might have a Scottish name but my mother's side of the family is Greek and I grew up in a mostly Greek neighbourhood in Vancouver.

My grandfather was a ship's chandler in Vancouver and was close friends (at least he told us he was) with the Stavros who was Onassis's competitor in Greece.

"If you ever go to visit Greece let me know first and you can stay with Stavros," he always used to say to us when we were children.

Don't know if it was true but he always said it like he believed it.

My grandfather was president of Aheppa (sp.???)in Vancouver and my mother of "The Daughters of Penelope".

My wife & I are teaching a couple who are very pleased with us. She is a yoga teacher and I went to one of her classes and she refused to take money from me for a whole course.

The next dance class she arrived I told her I was giving her a free lesson.

She refused to take it saying she was German and stubborn.

I replied that I didn't care because,

"I'm half Greek and I have to give gifts."

OB

OB

:) well if you ever come to greece I dont know if I can put you up, but I'll sure be happy to show you around and drag you along to our dance studio ;)

I'm half greek half german by the way