My Homage to Ballroom Dance

Ballroom dance is the third best thing in the universe--trailing after women and the sun, both of which are kind of essential to the existence of Ballroom dancing in the first place. But I swear, there is so much stress involved. . . it evokes emotions kind of like when Pippen and Gandalf are sitting together watching the roiling black clouds that indicate the advance of Sauron's horde of bloodthirsty orcs coming closer and closer (ok, that's not the greatest of analogies, but my mind is kind of blah-ed out right now, and when that happens, LOTR happens).

I got good partners this semester--which was magnificent because last semester I never did find a Latin partner, and only found a Standard partner about two weeks before competition. Anyway, I thought things were going to be really great for the BYU Nationals, but somehow as it got closer and closer, I kept feeling less and less prepared. This isn't an unusual feeling I know, but this was a lot more intense than I have ever felt for a competition before. I felt like a train on tracks that were suddenly going to end in the middle of a bridge. . . devastation, destruction, imminent death! Luckily none of that happened though, just a significant portion of high level stress. Actually I'm kind of pleased with how things turned out for the most part. I made it past my first round of open competition--which for most people really is kind of a pathetic accomplishment--and I danced well enough in all of my other events (except the Gold Bar Tango, I don't know what happened there. . .) that I can feel good about how things turned out. The sad thing here is that I suddenly have a small perception of how well I could have done. With proper preparation, enough to feel confidence at least, I could have acheived much more than I did. Oh well, this is a common occurence for humanity.

What all this boils down to is that Ballroom Dancing is awesome. There is nothing like two people, a man and a woman, moving together in harmony; the result is absolutely beautiful, divine even. . . of course, this isn't exactly the result when I dance (I look stoned in my picture up there), but I try.

Everybody should, really.