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Ballroom Dancing at MIT

Poise like posture and line has everything to do with the image you project as you move around the ballroom. Togetherness: When your bodies are correctly melded together you will be able to dance in total synchronization with your partner and appear to lead and follow with no effort. Presentation: The judges will be looking not only for how you appear to them but how well you sell yourselves to the audience. Depending on their interpretation she may take the part of the matador's cape, or the bull, or in some cases even the matador at different times throughout the dance. Some distinctive steps of the Paso Doble are the chassez cape (where the man uses the woman as the cape), the Apel, where the man stamps his foot as if to attract the attention of the bull (a very strong move) and the Arpel which is a movement that starts with stamping of the feet then the couples walk in opposite directions. Webster defines ballroom dancing as simply "Any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves". The word "ball", when referring to a social gathering as opposed to a child's toy, comes from the Latin "ballare" meaning to dance. This is the base for ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer). However, most look at the Rumba as a dance of love and sensuality with the woman tempting the man with her charms, teasing then withdrawing. Some go a step farther saying the dance is a pantomime of sex with the man dancing very fast in a very sensual yet aggressive manner with greatly exaggerated hip movements, and the woman responding with a defensive attitude. Waltz music can be found in many venues, some examples are: The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss Jr, Show Me the Way by Styx, Waltz to the Death from the Batman soundtrack by Danny Elfman. Either Waltz can be danced to any music with a three-quarter tempo regardless of whether it is classical, rock, country or anything else. However, the shoes you wear largely depend on what type of dance you will be performing. There are special shoes for jazz dances, jive dances, swing dances, etc. Therefore, advance preparation is the key for choosing the right shoes. Most ballroom dance shoes are lightweight - heavy-soled shoes can greatly obstruct your dancing and leave you with extremely sore feet. 

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