The new season of Dancing with the Stars is due to begin March 22. I always look forward to the show, but I'm here to tell ya: the dancing you see there bears very little resemblance to real DanceSport. To see any of that on TV, apparently you have to live on the East Coast and get channel CN8. With eight channels of ESPN out here ... one of which broadcasts dog shows ... I think this is an OUTRAGE.
However.
Let's break in the subject with a brief comparison to figure skating, and specifically ice dancing, which it appears quite a few people have been watching. In ice dancing, each couple performs three routines: a compulsory, in which the style and in fact the choreography are preselected by the competition organizers; an "original" dance, in which the "theme" is assigned by the organizers but the choreography is prepared by the couple; and a "free" dance, in which apparently anything goes. It appears that the couples all choose their music in advance.
The big difference between DanceSport and ice dancing is of course that no skates are involved in DanceSport. Other big differences: an international DanceSport competitor must choreograph no fewer than five routines; in DanceSport, the music is selected at random by the organizers' DJ; and in DanceSport, between ten and twenty couples may be on the floor at the same time. Also, in DanceSport there are no "required elements" per se, beyond adhering to the character, timing, etc of the dance style.
Each couple dances in heats from which other couples are progressively winnowed out, up to a final round from which a winner is finally chosen. It is not uncommon in amateur competitions for four heats to be danced (final, semifinal, quarterfinal, and preliminary round). Typically these are all on the same day. You don't get to do your preliminary round (to establish your ranking going in) a week before the competition starts.
Each heat contains all the dances in the couple's style. In Latin, that's cha-cha; samba; rumba; paso doble; and jive. In Standard, it's waltz; tango; Viennese waltz; slow foxtrot; and quickstep. Usually, the dances are performed in that order. It's a matter of pacing: jive and quickstep are the fastest dances, so they run those last. Each dance is given between 1.5 and 2 minutes of music - less for the fast ones. So, a single heat will last no less than nine minutes, compared to the ice dancers' four and a half. And they only have to perform once.
The closest DanceSport relative to ice dancing comes from the Ohio Star Ball's "America's Ballroom Challenge" event, which over the past few years provided an opportunity for the top finalists in all four styles to prepare and perform show dances, which would correspond to the "free dance." The winners from each style then competed against each other for a single overall title. It was a great show, and in its very best iteration showed the complete finals from all four styles before going into the show dances. Last year, alas, it was truncated severely; and there is no sign of a new edition being broadcast. The older editions occasionally show up on PBS, and if you have a DVR and are interested in top-quality professional ballroom dancing, it's well worth doing a search every other week or so to try to catch them.
USA Dance sends its National champions, from Adult and Senior I divisions in Latin and Standard, to the World IDSF Championships and the World Games. It's a big deal when an American couple reaches the finals at the World Games ... or at least it is for those of us who compete. If this were on TV, maybe a few more people would find it a big deal, as well. I have to think that at least some of the audience for Dancing with the Stars would enjoy it.
ESPN? Are you listening?
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