It's the highs that make me try and make every dance as good as I can - the eternal quest to re-capture that dance: the one where all background noise faded away; every movement flowed between you as natural as breathing; every breath was inspired by the music; the dance lasted an eternity as the music flowed through you and was over in a heartbeat; the space on the dance floor opened for you to move and nothing passed from the muted dark blur into the patch of floor you illuminated; where you hold your partner for that extra few bars to steady yourself, grasp at the smoke of memory, and pull yourself back to "me" rather than "us"...
It's a heady goal to reach for within every dance - but there is no dissapointment for not reaching it: just a brief glance with fingertips towards it can send the pixie dust into the dance. And this can keep the feet light, spirits high and remind you of what you're aiming for.
Even the worst dances and worst dancers I am grateful for: without a contrast, then the "special" dance isn't special any more - it's average. Thinking on it, this is where I suppose most folk plateau out: no matter how good a dance is/was, it was similar to the last one. And lot of similar things get boring: You need to find some contrast. At the start the contrast is Dancing Vs not dancing. You have now lots of "dancing" experience, so the contrast has moved to listening for it in the music. As some folk have suggested - if you can't find it in the music, then turn the focus again to your dancing and add some contrast {styling} into it. I find that I bounce between the music and my dancing in search for contrast to keep me interested. I listen to/for different things in the music. I move & listen to my partner in different ways. Never boring, never bored, always dancing.
This contrast helps improve my dancing and (I hope) brings me closer to that Utopian dance. Some beautiful partners have taken me to beautiful highs, but I can't really think on any true lows within my dancing... erm... other than when I've been arrogant, careless or stupid (mix & match) and hurt my partner.
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