PAS2 Ballroom Dance!

I have only been to a few lessons, but I think I have a new love. With my background in lindy hop and swing, I wasn’t sure what ballroom dance would be like. After learning basic two-step, foxtrot, and salsa steps, I am ready to sign on for a lifetime of this new type of dance.

All young college students know what the dancing is like at most parties and events. While the type of dancing (if it could be called that) which occurs at most of these events obviously has certain “draws”, I could never bring myself to participate when I was with a girl who I was really interested in. It is not for lack of passion or interest. It just seems impossible to be truly intimate! In ballroom dance, I have glimpsed something of what is missing at the familiar dances and parties.

Ballroom dance allows you to connect to your partner, and to dance, in a way which I have not experienced before. When the music begins, we link hands, and move close together. I can feel the pulse of the music, and when I look into her eyes I see she can too. And then we are swept off, gliding across the floor, reaching to match the natural elegance and grace of our mental image of this dance.

At first, it felt strange for me, this generous trust between two who had barely met. Rotating partners frequently during class keeps this continuous cycle of new trust repeating for hours. Witnessing this process was, for me,  like seeing a miracle happen again, and again, and again. At some point, I wondered “Why am I so moved by this simple act of trust? Why is it so surprising?”. After all, at Penn State people are constantly meeting new people, risking rejection for the possibility of a future friendship.

There is a major difference. If I were to walk up to a girl I have never met completely out of the blue, take her hand, look into her eyes, and introduce myself, I would likely earn myself a slap, or at the very least a dismissive, defensive response (this may be an interesting experiment to conduct sometime). At ballroom dance practice, however, this type of interaction is perfectly normal and just good manners. For the brief time that we are together, we set aside our fear, our prejudice, our anxiety. We share our physical space with one another, as well as our mental space. We focus on one another, maintaining awareness of the other person’s body and mind to make the dance work.

There need not be a romantic connection for the dance to go well, although I do believe dancing ballroom with a love interest would be amazing. But there definitely exists a close connection, for the time of the dance, which lays us bare before our partner. I think that ballroom dancing is beautiful, because it allows us to meet someone in such a perfect way. Few words are required, but the connection formed from a brief dance is special and will not be soon forgotten.

I am just a beginner in the world of ballroom, but I have seen something in it that I did not anticipate. This adventure can only get better from here, as I improve through lessons and practice (and watching ballroom on youtube). I am very grateful that I discovered ballroom dancing now, while I still have plenty of time in college to explore it and develop this new interest.