Link: The Quickstep.

My experience of learning dance, actually dancing and teaching dance has given me some very simplistic but valuable inputs … and very often these are not just limited to the dance floor but can more often than not be applied to life itself.

I
have learned most of what I am going to speak about by the trial and
error technique…while some lessons have been easy some others have
been…well, expensive. And it is these simple but important truths,
which I shall try to share with you …(Lets leave the mechanics of
spinning and contra body positions for the experts)

"I want to be a great dancer who is sought-after by others dancers"

I mean how wrong could you go with this one.
Everybody wants to be this. Including Me. I have witnessed some very
average-looking people being really in demand and it isn’t always
because of their charming personalities. So lets actually try to see as
to what constitutes a great dancer. I have always asked my self this
question and the answer I have got is this…lets imagine a man who is
excellent with timing, moves and does everything by the book. In fact
very often he desires so much that the spotlight shine on him that he
very callously forgets that there may be a timid and not-so-experienced
dancer in his arms. He is excellent on his own but his partner doesn’t
feel good in his arms…

Would she come back to have another dance with him… I
don’t know…because everybody essentially wants to look and feel good
out there…and she DIDN’T feel good the last time she danced with him.
On the other hand we could have an inexperienced, off-time and
technically BAD dancer who essentially does nothing well apart from
being a little sensitized to you and hence make u feel like a million
bucks. The partner couldn’t care if his free arm-styling was good
enough to make him win the world Latin championship as long as when his
free arm went back to her shoulder-blade, it gently caressed her and
his nails didn’t sink into her skin.

Simple. You are dancing to give pleasure to both
yourself and your partner. Your partner is the more important person
here because if your partner isn’t enjoying it…trust me you wont enjoy
it for too long…or even better you may not be there for too long. You
are not there to look good by yourself…you are there to look good as a
team…Good dancing and a good dancer is not about how great you fared in
your bronze level class championship …but how wanted and important you
can make your partner feel on the floor…After that…dance the bolero on
flamenco music for all I care…you are home

Practical Tips on Applying all this:

You know all that lecturing and all that was fine,
but tell me what to ‘DO’? … Is that all you wanted to know? Sure here
it is…(a lot of the stuff I will mention here I haven’t found in
reference articles at times but I feel they are very important)

• Lets start of with one, getting your partners name
right (elementary Watson it might seem) … cant tell you how many people
have danced over three dances with the same person and then called them
by their friend’s sister’s pet armadillo’s name. I have done it too
• Make no references about your partners body … Most people are
generally uncomfortable about conversations about their body especially
before and after they are going to be touched by you…
• Dance Floor = 1000 square feet; Partners feet = 0.5 square feet … The
disparity in numbers is completely misleading … the chances of stepping
on your partners toes is much more than you can imagine despite the
fact that they occupy a negligible amount of area of the full floor
• Did I bother asking you whether you like a particular move or not? Or
did I bother asking you whether you had a drink or not? Or did I bother
finding out what i should or not do? Did I bother talking to you?!
• Ok so your partner danced really badly…Well, if she was really that
bad then the least you could have done while leaving the floor was tell
her that she was amazing and that you would love to dance really soon
with her…and ACTUALLY go back and dance with her…and this isn’t a
typo…see what a statement like that did to a dancer like me. Two
benefits of this …1.she loves you for it because she KNOWS she cant
dance that well and 2.You get better …cant explain why…but its always
easier to dance with someone good
• Thousands of articles on hygiene…body odor, mouth odor, under-arm
odor, sweat, palm odor, odor-where-you-didn’t-think-it-would-exist
odor, the works …And you don’t need a sex and relationships magazine to
tell you what to do about it.
• Well, there is also the mechanics of compensation but like I said
lets leave that for a later time. Just remember that if your partner is
as tall as your friendly neighborhood supermodel then leave your classy
Japanese lady footwork at home.

Anand Majumdar is a teacher of Latin American, Standard Ballroom, Salsa, and Tango Dancing based out of Mumbai, India.
He is a also a DJ and Fashion and Portfolio photographer

Anand Majumdar

Mobile : +91-9820146788
www.anandmajumdar.com
anand_majumdar@hotmail.com