"Nothing in dancing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose --
a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."
Fancy Steps - By or for use in social dancing. Forget the open and fancy figures that can be done only with one or very limited number of partners. Learn to do the simple figures well and leave the fancy ones to the expert exhibition dancers. They are for show? Of course!
From Richard Masuyama:
The only comment to this trend is that many students are interested only in picking up new and very advanced dance figures without too much concern about technique and styling that goes with these. The figures in the Gold Bar and Gold Star are mostly for exhibition and competitions and are starkly out of place on the social dance floor. They generally require a great deal of space for their execution and many will agree that they look terrible when not done correctly.
With so many dance steps and figures available, it is sensible to concentrate on those that can be led and followed easily with any partner. You can have a really enjoyable evening.
"What A Wonderful World" By Louis Armstrong
In our new developing Cultural class, the priorities will be in the basic, basic, the intermediate basic and after a year or so, the advanced basic. With 600 documented steps and patterns available in Rumba, surely you can find 40 or so that are easy to lead and follow and the music can be enjoyed very comfortably. The established group will be the real social dancer, the universal dancer, the cultural dancer.
Pub's Side Note: The three contenders for second place have been Central Valley, Oahu And Beyond and the Moanalua Corridor blogs. I am not quite sure why but in my February stats, Central Valley has now taken a commanding lead for second place. (and no mention of Richie's Mini Web site.)
