American Smooth in the UK

By Larry Winston, Aina Haina
Adapted from an English article in 1999

Ballroom not exciting enough?
When talking to young people learning to dance in England they often hear that they find Ballroom (International) dancing a little boring due to the restrictions it comes with: the permanent body contact being the main one. For that reason they often prefer Latin dances or even go for disco or jazz instead. There is however an easy way to make Ballroom more exciting for people of all ages - it is the way they dance it in America even if it is losing its terminology.

"A dance is a measured pace, as a verse is a measured speech."

What is American Smooth

American Smooth can be best described as a form of ballroom dancing with an enhanced repertoire of easy to perform, yet exciting steps All basic principles and the technique of ballroom dancing still apply, however partners are not required to maintain a continuous body contact.

Lifting the body contact restriction allows the dancers to perform steps such as: lady under arm turns, spins, side by side positions, parallel turns, dips, drops and other variations that would never be allowed in the traditional International Style dancing. Anyone who has ever learned ballroom dancing will find American Smooth very easy to learn, yet refreshing due to its interesting, rich syllabus.

"(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" -  Gene Pitney

 
The music used for American Smooth, Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz and Foxtrot is basically the same as that used for Ballroom (International) as it is known in Europe, with the exception of quickstep, which is not danced in the American Smooth style. The closest dance you have is the Peabody. In other words, in England, you can surprise your friends by dancing a totally new choreography to almost any ballroom dance music.

Dancesport UK had invited Mr Anderson Moore, himself a former Fred Astaire Rising Star Champion to come to London to train the first generation of American Smooth dance teachers. By the beginning of the century, many schools around the country started to offer classes in American style Ballroom too. Consequently the competitions will follow suit. American Style is also invading Europe. It has it's competition side but it is mainly a social dance.

Pub's Side Note: We all need information about the line dancing groups and our Dance Studios. We need input (information) from the studios of small items and perhaps even a photo. This should give the rest of the readers the everyday news of the existence of the Studios. Specially now that the hits on this blog keep going up. Very few Web sites can come even close this.