1 post tagged “ballroom dancing”

In this industry, you must look the part. The skirt was short and black, offset by black tights and red heels of the kind that professional Latin dancers wear. The top was a diagonally-cut piece of red fabric, with tied straps over one shoulder and nothing over the other shoulder. Earlier in the day, I had cut a red flower from my own yard and managed to arrange it so that I could clip it into my dark hair. My skin is quite pale, my eyes are dark blue, and my hair is nearly jet black. I knew that this was a dramatic combination, so I went with a lot of red in order to accent it. The top was red, the shoes were red, the flower was red, and I painted my lips red as well. CoverGirl makes this amazing lip-gloss called WetSlicks, in all shades of pink, red, and more. The beauty of this lip gloss is that it gives the lips incredible color, it doesn't come right off, and it smells like candy.

The announcer calls the heat: the dance itself, the level, and the numbers of each couple. My partner has his number pinned on a white paper card on the back of his jacket. As our number is called, we walk gracefully hand-in-hand, with arms out, onto the floor. He pushes my hand slightly - my cue to spin a slight distance away from him and then come back. We bow to each other as the music begins. as is customary, even in Latin dance (in the ballroom world, that is - if you do it in a club, someone might think that you are crazy). The music starts...I love salsa. There is nothing more exciting in the world. A quick-tempo dance with syncopated rhythm. The trick here is to stay close to your partner and always maintain that eye contact. The eye contact is essential: that is what will make clear to an audience or a judge that you are dancing together.

Remember that last scene from Dance With Me in which Ruby and Rafael dance to "Yorbu Lindo" at the club? Remember what made that dance so great? Communication between partners.