ThoughtZ on Practice:
Practice is NOT essential unless you want to improve. Some dancers just dance as a pastime. When they say, "We just do this for fun," I know they mean, "We have no interest in being really good; we just want to be good enough." That's fine. I also dance just for fun. Fun for some dancers is being really good or enjoying improvement. I practice to overcome weaknesses. I am good at remembering what to do and how to do it and how to make it work because of practicing.
If I were a man, all the ladies would want to be my partner because I could and would support them and make up for their weaknesses--help them keep time, help them with a frame, help them to move, make them comfortable by timing leads and connections just right for their skill level and balance, make them comfortable by identifying their abilities and not pushing too far beyond those abilities.
As a woman and a follower, there are more limitations. I can't make a man better at what he is doing just by dancing with him, but I can certainly interfere less than most partners because I hear the music (unless he makes me close my ears), I have fabulous balance (unless he overleads in an attempt to impress me and knocks me over), I have familiarity with most of what a social dancer will do (unless he makes stuff up as he goes along).
I digress--back to practicing ...(to be continued)
Practice is NOT essential unless you want to improve. Some dancers just dance as a pastime. When they say, "We just do this for fun," I know they mean, "We have no interest in being really good; we just want to be good enough." That's fine. I also dance just for fun. Fun for some dancers is being really good or enjoying improvement. I practice to overcome weaknesses. I am good at remembering what to do and how to do it and how to make it work because of practicing.
If I were a man, all the ladies would want to be my partner because I could and would support them and make up for their weaknesses--help them keep time, help them with a frame, help them to move, make them comfortable by timing leads and connections just right for their skill level and balance, make them comfortable by identifying their abilities and not pushing too far beyond those abilities.
As a woman and a follower, there are more limitations. I can't make a man better at what he is doing just by dancing with him, but I can certainly interfere less than most partners because I hear the music (unless he makes me close my ears), I have fabulous balance (unless he overleads in an attempt to impress me and knocks me over), I have familiarity with most of what a social dancer will do (unless he makes stuff up as he goes along).
I digress--back to practicing ...(to be continued)