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Blake S. Hughes Special to The Ebbtide I have been a ballroom dancer for over a decade. I have loved every moment on the dance floor. Whenever I get the chance to dance with my favorite partners, all my worries go somewhere outside of myself... I can only say in reflection of these experiences that I am a dancing fanatic! Perhaps if I had a lover, someone that I really trusted to be there for me, I would perceive dance as second to that fantastic experience of being loved... I have been thankful that on a regular basis I can connect with longterm, dear friends that are there for me, on the dance floor. When I first started taking lessons with the husband-and-wife team of Walter and Nancy-Anna Dill, I became aware of the fact that we all want more involvement in positive ways with other people. I learned that everybody wants to be accepted as OK in others' eyes. I have for instance, practiced the fine art of "falling in love for 16 bars," Nancy-Anna Dill would acknowledge, and hold me in her arms all those years ago--me as being OK--in spite of all my faults. I, like so many people, came to the dance community to enlarge my experiences. I wanted to know more people! I felt strongly that if I made the effort to learn dance, my life would be more enjoyable. I was right about the dance community! Everybody I have met is willing to participate in a stronger community, wants to be involved in knowing more people, and in essence have more fun in their life! Seattle's dance community is diverse. Although I started out learning the popular forms of partner swing dancing, I, like so many others, quickly discovered that the variations in any one form of dance are endless. East Coast swing dance gave rise to West Coast swing and the Lindy Hop, to name just two swing variations. A variation of a dance often has to do with a slightly different way of moving to the music, or a variation in the way the lead gives the follow her openings or what we call styling of the dance. I have remained a swing dancer; I have also explored the dance forms known as ballroom: Waltz, Fox-Trot, Rumba, Cha-Cha, Polka, and other more European forms of dance like the Snooa or the Schottische. In fact, I now consider myself a ballroom dancer who knows how to swing, as opposed to a swing dancer that knows how to waltz. It is, in fact, my observation that to dance any of the many dances well, the student of that dance must in fact study that dance. Take lessons--many lessons, not just one or one set of lessons. There is so much finesse in dance; very few people can in fact master the subtleties ever. Let alone after one week or month of lessons. After years of studying the many forms of dance, I have had the one experience I have been after all these years. All the rules of the dance are blending into one: Tango. © 2003 Shoreline Community College™ |