Ah thanks DB, I didn't recognise the style so that is very interesting. Have just discovered a friend is a West Coast swing dancer and am enjoying watching some of that.

Henry - I know (& love) the opera but would be surprised by a dancefloor rendition! Glad your partner appreciated it.

I am sure there is an Argentine Tango track I dance to from time to time which has a 'riff' taken from La Traviata.

I kicked off and she replied and it turned into a line by line duet.

Sounds more like a ballroom tango to me.

German Tango: Hör' mein Lied, Violetta - Will Glahé Tanz-Orchester, c. 1937

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50izGlM2Bo

I can imagine people marching off to it. Very stompy.

I could only get the La Traviata leitmotif at 2:13

http://youtu.be/J50izGlM2Bo?t=2m13s

Here is the original

http://youtu.be/NEzEa_LUy84?t=1m42s

There are other threads for AT Talk and AT music, please can I respectively suggest you use those rather than this thread.
It would allow this thread to move to the back as no-one seems to want to ask many/any Ballroom/Latin questions.
It would save me keep looking in. Thanks

Apologies Jennifer. I was responding to the previous post and joining in with the conversation as it currently was, which had been about Lindy/Swing etc and had then mentioned opera. It is a very small deviation from the thread topic - just 3 off topic posts in 431 is barely an aside.

The thing is if the thread isn't used it disappears off to page 3 or 4 and then the casual DSer who may have a ballroom question wouldn't see the thread and wouldn't drop into ask. So keeping it up there is doing a good thing. My guess is that nobody is asking ballroom/Latin questions at present because for whatever reason nobody is motivated to do so. A short lull , I am sure there will be more.

Jennifer

Why don't you ask the mods by way of an Alert on the first post to change the title of this thread to

Ballroom and Latin Dance Questions

or suchlike so as to keep the thread on topic.

It isn't just those three off topic posts... there is a lot of AT chat. Which is fine, but there's also another thread dedicated just to argentine tango as well. The conversation seems to come back to AT a lot even when it starts as a latin/ballroom one. I don't really have a massive problem with it and I like AT and don't know a lot about it - it's just an observation.

I don't really ask questions in here because I see my teachers a few times a week and I'll just ask them, haha. I do always really like reading what the latin/ballroom people have to say though so personally I'd like to see more latin&ballroom in here. Maybe I should post more - be the change you want to see and all.

To be fair until today I hadn't realised it was supposed to be about Latin and ballroom. The title of the thread is just dance questions.

Argentine tango is a dance and I have asked and answered questions about it. I may have also spoken of salsa which is also a dance. These two happen to be my interest and the dances I can contribute some knowledge.

I wouldn't bat an eye lid if someone were to talk about Lindy hop, Lambada or Latin Hustle for that matter as all of these are dances. Instead I would just read what they write with interest, posting seldom and add a little to my understanding of hitherto unknown areas of knowledge. This is how I regard the ballroom and Latin posts, I read with interest even though I can contribute little,.

In other words the only route for me into a conversation among actual active dancers is to join in with the dances I know of. Feel sad that other dancers want to exclude posters with whom I would have liked to have thought they had the greatest affinity. Actually not sad - hurt.

I feel similarly to An Thropologist.

I don't dance Ballroom or Latin, but I do partner dance, and I'm profoundly interested in what different dances share, whether it be roots, techniques or even step names or moves (Latin Jive's Lindy step isn't anything like Lindy Hop, but 'whisk, chasse (sp)' is what we call 'rock step triple step'. One dance grew out of the seeds of the other.

I have great respect and general interest in the 10 dances, partly due to SCS and it's great to learn more, and I assumed that it should be a sharing of knowledge, all dance geeks together!

However, I also respect Jennifer's right to keep her thread on the topic she thought she'd instigated, so perhaps it's best to ask the mods to rename this thread 'Ballroom and Latin American dance questions', although I hope you'd all still post knowledgeable insight in threads outside of this one too

Yes I agree and that's my sadness. Surely there is more that unites us than separates us. The dances may have different names but in many respects they are similar. Some steps are virtually the same it seems - different name, different nuance and styled up differently but by and large the same steps. I really like discovering how the familiar is refashioned in another dance to become something that looks from afar to be quite different. I am fascinated in what we have in common and what we can individually and differently bring to the schmorgasboard.

Separate the threads and we end up in a needless divide and we are all poorer aren't we?

I don't want to divide anybody and think we all have a place here. But it does feel like AT can dominate a little bit in this thread so there isn't really a place to talk about ballroom and latin. It feels like you're interrupting to suddenly start talking about samba or quickstep in the midst of milongas and ganchos.

As I said, I do actually like hearing about it as it is a dance I'm interested in, but when everything comes back to "when I was dancing AT the other day..." no matter what the discussion is it can feel like maybe this is only a place for AT dancers.

The last thing I want to do is upset anyone btw but it is something I am glad Jennifer F raised.

I for one would welcome it if you did. I like to read about the dances I don't know.

Jennifer,

Might I suggest you call it Strictly Ballroom if you are so keen to keep on one topic only?

Just an idea.

(Sorry, snipping your post for the sake of brevity!)

Just a brief comment to say I also hadn't realised this was supposed to be only for the Dancesport dances and if it is, then I must also apologise for going off topic because I know I've posted about salsa in here.

I don't post very much but I have to admit, I love watching people share and exchange their dance stories, knowledge and their love of dance. For me personally it's been brilliant watching the conversation shift between dance styles where people can find connections and histories. Maybe we need another thread for general dance chat inspired by Strictly, if that's allowed? I've never properly danced swing or AT but I think I'm getting more a feel for those styles from the way that some of you talk about them than I would from reading any academic article, and I think splitting into separate Ballroom/ Latin, AT, salsa and swing threads would mean losing some of the exchange. I might be wrong but I get the impression most of those who post about AT are perfectly happy for the conversation to shift back to ballroom and Latin, it's just that they're talking about what they personally know best and/ or have the most recent experience with. It's all dance.

Also apologies Fallaway, I realised the other day I completely forgot to reply to your post! Has your competition happened yet?

I did IVDC in Blackpool in my beginner year and it was amazing just being there! (Far more glamorous than Guildford Spectrum, where we went in my second year. ) Final year my partner and I decided not to go because we were both just too caught up with work to make it worthwhile. I still dance, though I'm between dance classes at the moment (the salsa place I liked closed and I've been dotting around ever since ) but I stopped ballroom and Latin a couple of years after leaving uni - it's hard to do without a permanent partner and I was finding it hard to find lessons that offered what I wanted to do. I've mostly danced salsa since, though I'll give most dance styles a go if I'm honest! Currently debating between carrying on trying to find good Cuban salsa places, going back to jazz/ ballet/ contemporary (which I did when I was growing up) or trying something new.

I have a quick question and rather boring question for anybody who wears dance shoes (I hope that's all of you - no Judy Murray style running shoes in classes, now! )

Where do you get those little drawstring shoe bags from? I've got a new pair of ballroom shoes and had to lug them to my lesson in their box tonight.

Hi Ellie, I wear Freed and Supadance, the drawstring bags are enclosed in the box when you buy them. What make do you wear? I have worn International too and recall they provided the bag too.

hi Ellie Ebay are good and cheap http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sa...oe+bags&_frs=1

Ideally there should be a section in the attic for all sorts of Dance related threads. I have asked in the past but got ignored.

I have done so, so we'll see if it happens. I should have been more specific at start with but as this is a SCD forum I wrongly assumed there would more interest in all of the other dances featured on the show not just the one or two that don't appeal to me.

Omg Jennifer I am such an idiot! Just looked under the tissue paper and there it was! Ahaha!

I bought these ones from Freed. I've been dancing ballroom in latin shoes all this time. Must say I did notice a difference. Have just ordered some heel protectors too.

Can't believe I didn't just look in the box, hahaha!

Some of the girls I dance with put stones on their shoes (eg down the seam at the back.) Quite fancy doing something similar but I am terrified of stoning anything myself!

Good job you checked ! Problem sorted !
What model shoe do you have ? I love Freed, have worn them for years, look so stylish and are so comfortable. I like stoned shoes - you can't really go wrong, just be clear in your mind what you want to do. Good idea just to do the back seam to start.

Kylie ? Same ones I wear !!

Indeed! I was all indignant for a bit thinking I was meant to get them with the shoes but the shop had taken them or something... nope... just me being a plank as usual, paha!

The ones I got were Kylie. I really wasn't sure what to get but I knew I wanted a strap across the shoe. And I like that the hole makes a "v" shape towards the front of the shoe (as one of my teachers pointed out, it echoes the tip of the shoe nicely.)

I have quite a good idea of how I'd stone some latin shoes (I have such a clear idea of what I want I think it's going to take a long time to find the perfect shoe... maybe I should stop being so fussy) because there are more obvious places to put the stones. With ballroom shoes there's just a vast expanse of shoe - it's like a blank page staring at me and I have no idea what to write! Is there a particular make of stone you would recommend for shoes? I know swarovski are what one wants on the dresses but is it the same for shoes? Would I be ok with a cheaper kind or best to invest in the more expensive ones?

I don't really mind spending money on ballroom dancing. I probably should mind more. I don't have asos splurges anymore I just buy stuff for dancing haha! Or if I do get something from asos I think "well, I can probably wear that to a class."

What a loser I am.

A lot of the dressmakers ( I do too) use Preciosa stones.They are practically as good as Swarovski but a great deal cheaper. I am sure there are others out there that are as good but I stick with what I know works. Some from the far east are not good as they don't shine when light is on them. Personally I would not over decorate ballroom shoes - fine for latin - but that is my personal choice. The dresses are so wonderfully stoned I don't feel the shoes should be too, but thats my personal choice. I feel down the seam is good or just the back of the shoe plus the heel. I hate to think how much I have spent on dancing over the years, must run in several thousands.