Re: [TANGO-L] competition

[bailadora2000 @excite.com]

Mark wrote:
"Dance competition is what turned lovely social dances such as Fox Trot,Waltz, Swing etc. into the ridiculous, grotesque characters you see today in ballroom dance. Most dance competition in the US was initiated by the Arthur Murry dance studio chain as a marketing gimmick to keep students coming back for classes."


First of all, please people, don't write about things that you obviously know nothing about.

I can guarantee that Mark probably has NO CLUE as to what Foxtrot originally looked like.  Foxtrot was never originally a true partner dance.  It was invented by a Broadway/vaudville dancer named Harry Fox during the early 20th century ragtime era when "animal imitations" were popular for dancing, like the Turkey Trot, the Bullfrog Hop,and the Possom Trot The foxtrot was actually nothing more than a guy flirtatiously chasing around girls on stage.  I believe that the foxtrot we know of today is a much more elegant dance than that.... developed by the Castles' in the 1920's, later popularized by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and taught to the 1930's-40's world by Arthur Murray.

Waltz has been around since the 19th century European court dances.  It came to United States in the turn of the century and actually hasn't changed much since.  It was a scandal to dance close to someone like that in those days so in the 1920's there was a standardization made by the English schools.  Main thing they did..was slowed it down from what we know as Viennese Waltz because in the 20's dancing a syncopated rhythm was considered crude and distasteful...not for high society.  However the slow waltz of today is not much changed from it was in the 20's.

As for swing...well, you obviously haven't not followed the extensive history and developed of swing in this country from the Charleston and Black Bottom of the 1920's to this amazingly complex dance of today....and VERY LITTLE of it was developed in the ballrooms.  Most of it in the dancehalls...or as today by the thousands of swing dancers that are constantly adding to it.

And lastly....Arthur Murray NEVER began or competed in dance competitions!!! He was simply a very smart sales and marketing person who made the art of teaching dance popular in the United States!

It's really annoying when people speak of a history they know nothing about!

Nicole
Miami



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