We enjoyed dancing in Australia so much that we have continued to dance and take lessons with the Arthur Murray dance studio here in the US. Like everything here in the US Arthur Murray and dancing in general is big. I think there is about 300 Arthur Murray studios across America and there is six just in the Washington DC / Virginia / Maryland area. Apparently our studio is the biggest for the area.
We've met some great people through dancing and have got ourselves another great teacher. We are currently at Bronze II level but hoping to move up through the levels shortly. We are currently learning the following dances: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Cha-Cha, Swing, Rumba, Mambo and Samba.
In late March they held their first big competition for the year. It is called "Freestyles" and you dancing depending on your level and instead of having to learn a choreographed dance, you just do the dance moves that are part of the syllabus. We had been away for three weeks due to Adam's work so we only entered five dances but looking back at in now, we should have entered the lot. Not to worry we had a fantastic time and got to meet a lot of people from our studio.
The smooth dances (Waltz, Foxtrot and Tango) are certainly our best and we got gold in both our Waltz and Foxtrot during this competition. Though we only did five competition dances (some people were doing over 20) we did plenty of dancing during the breaks and also at the dinner. We got plenty of practice of moving through a crowded dance floor.
The next competition that we'll be entering is in June and we're looking forward to that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
About a month ago we managed to pass our check out to progress up to Bronze III level. We're really enjoying that level because everything is new so we're learning lots of new steps. The only problem now is the try and remember them all.
Unfortunately our teacher Natasha has had to leave Arthur Murray because she is getting married. It was a sad day when she left and she certainly will be missed. Our new teacher is Anusha so even though we've lost Natasha, Anusha is a great dancer and we're looking forward to dancing with her.
On 02 Jun 07 they held the summer showcase and all-around competition. Showcase is for couples to learn a set piece of whatever style they want (waltz, foxtrot, cha-cha etc) and usually incorporates steps above their current level. We didn't want to do that but instead choose to concentrate on checking out to the next level. We did however compete in the all-around competition. You compete with other dancers from your level but do not know which dance you'll be doing until you're on the floor. For us it was Foxtrot and Rumba, both dances that we can do reasonable well. We must have performed pretty well because we came second. Actually the top three places were filled by students from our studio.
Also there was plenty of opportunity for social dancing on a very crowded dance floor. Just gives you the opportunity to practice moving around the floor. Adam just has to remember he's a little bigger than most people.
