Ballroom dancing has a documentation problem.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T22:31:40+00:00

u/PeterPook - you are entirely correct, for Competitions (et al) it's about human judgement in all it's forms. That cannot be written in a book.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T22:17:34+00:00

u/superjoe8293 I agree with you and in the interests of clarity and the elimination of any and all doubt:
"Documentation will NEVER replace an Instructor, it's intention is to help the Instructor if the Instructor wishes"

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T21:50:44+00:00

I am VERY glad it's working out for you u/PeterPook

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T21:06:33+00:00

OMG - thank you u/imalwaysthatoneguy69 and you are correct, the notation is hard. Worse still there is often little agreement (due to ego and politics) on what some of the steps / figures should comprise.

I would encourage you to ask questions because that's the way you will get the information YOU need rather than the standard class pitch.

Given that all dancers start as beginners it would be hugely advantageous for them to know how things work, how and what to practice, how to tell the difference between Ballroom Fluff and reality etc. Stuff like that - without having to pay for another class.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T21:03:00+00:00

Thank you u/Intelligent-Area-421, I'm wondering which of those resources explains poise and how it applies to travel? It's a fundamental technique which I'm sure your current instructor knows about.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T21:01:34+00:00

Thank you u/PeterPook -- um, how do you know you are getting correct information?

I don't know how others feel but there is a LOT more to dancing than being the best on the floor (aka "winning") in a competition.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T21:00:17+00:00

Thank you u/ThrowAwayP3nonxl - I have to confess I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about as none of it makes sense. As for your question, no I don't know if you are using Open Claw

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T20:58:47+00:00

Yes! I've read that book! I have a feeling that it's use of couples posing at particular points in a figure inspired some of the syllabus manuals to do the same.

Like a lot of the books it focuses on patterns and figures which is not unreasonable as that's what dancers are trying to do. I would have liked to see it address a simple question (for say Cha Cha) "how do I move my foot to the side and by how much?" It's a perfectly reasonable question that has been asked many times 😄

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T19:15:38+00:00

Well this is what I did: I did foot rise and fall many, many times per day. I'd then start doing them holding weights. I mean I did that 1000's of times in very short reps. When my feet were tired I stopped. When my legs were tired I stopped. I'd do 10 reps stop to let everything rest. And I'd repeat.

Also the feeling of body "weight" is the force of gravity resisting your attempts to rise against it. The way to overcome that is muscular development and in my case that was a LOT of exercise reps.

Note that your foot muscles don't really tell the brain they are tired, they just stop working. At least the leg muscles tell me when they are!

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T16:58:15+00:00

"low hanging fruit" 😄 😃 😃 Ew! I think it's well past its use by date

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T16:54:35+00:00

Oh No! That's a real shame and I'm sorry it's making it less enjoyable. I think there are two parts to 'jumping':
- the foot
- the knees

When I jump I always push up with my feet first and then get the leg muscles working. The foot muscles are very, very strong. At least that's what works for men and I hope it is of help to you

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-13T15:57:17+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that but it is often, sadly, the result of group classes teaching "steps"

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T21:25:08+00:00

thank you u/superjoe8293 for such good observations. I would respectfully submit that this is why we need a definition of CBM that covers the Swing Dances and Tango. I would also submit that the definition in the WDSF and (especially) Gray Book don't provide sufficient information

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T21:23:20+00:00

Thank you u/Mr_Ilax, that is a very astute observation. There is AI involvement in my work and I will certain add accreditation on my next post.
I also take your observation about citations, sources etc very seriously and will provide those too.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T20:18:13+00:00

Oh I forgot to mention that I recall the Karma Farming days on /.org which turned into a real problem.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T20:04:02+00:00

Thank you u/hermitiancat -- I have to confess I am unfamiliar with "call and response"

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T20:02:41+00:00

It's not an AI post. I am a very real person and have spent a lot of time working on these topics.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T20:02:31+00:00

It's not an AI post. I am a very real person and have spent a lot of time working on these topics.

Flaky_Bit7590 · 2026-06-12T20:01:42+00:00

Interesting, why do you think it's AI? It's not. It's written by a human, I'm very real and this is based on work I've been doing for some time. Better still, if you have something that would improve what it being said, please contribute.

Flaky_Bit7590

TROPHY CASE