Not the Snake

This was the second time my dance partner and I did a demonstration at a dance event. It was back in March of 2006, and I had spent weeks worrying about the death drop at the end. It’s not the move that gets you -- it’s the face. Before taking up ballroom dance, my only movement experience was in a Filipino martial art called arnis, and there we generally have a very sober expression and exhale sharply in the midst of doing moves. That just does not fly in most ballroom dance. Luckily, in this particular performance, we “overturned” the whole routine a little and I ended up facing away from most of the audience members when the death drop occurred. And in compressed video, you can't see it that well anyway! Yes, thank goodness for bandwidth limitations, the great equalizer . . .

My dance partner, on the other hand, is a natural entertainer, having spent her life in jazz and other dance forms. This is clear from the video, regardless of compression or frame rate. Speaking of which, it plays a little more smoothly over on YouTube, so you could watch it there if you want, or below.

This is mambo from the Dance Vision (DVIDA) American silver syllabus.