Beginning Ballroom Dance by Madison

Beginning Ballroom Dance by Madison - June 2018 Scholarship Essay

Looking into another person’s eyes is so often seen as romantic and cheesy, and it frequently precedes a kiss when Hollywood is involved. However, in my beginning ballroom dance elective, looking into another person’s eyes is a necessity. Maintaining that eye contact is a skill. Looking away is a bad grade. Heaven knows I am not going to kiss every one of my partners, though!
I chose ballroom dance for the fun of it, simply to hang out with friends and have a laugh. So many electives are casual and nonessential; I had not expected to learn much in the class, but learn I did. Of course, I learned how to dance multiple styles, but that is only the tip of the very, very deep iceberg of beginning ballroom dance, and my teachers plunged me head first into the water.
Tango. Salsa. Waltz. Rumba. Cha-cha. Foxtrot. None of them are very difficult at their most basic, which, as a beginner class, was all we learned. Sliding across the gym to the “one...two...three-and-four” count of my teachers became monotonous after day two, and thus we began to learn the lessons within the lesson. When you have to think about the steps, you do not focus on where you are looking, but when you know the steps, suddenly you remember where your eyes are, and where they are supposed to be. Three or four minutes is a long time to stare into someone’s eyes, that is for sure. After awhile, you start to focus on just one of their eyes, because looking at two is too complicated. They look straight back at you with a furrowed brow, trying not to mess anything up, and neither of you speak a word. The awkwardness that follows has no rival. Even with the music and the counting in the background, it feels too quiet, because it is unnatural to stare at someone for so incredibly long without acknowledging them.
This awkwardness prompts that dreaded thing: conversation. So many teenagers “converse” through phones, tapping away at words rather than using their mouths. How easy it is to never have to look at the person you are speaking to. Yet, in ballroom dance, the phones are gone and there is no way to avoid looking at the person you are speaking to. “Um, hi,” is always the first sorry attempt at conversation. “Am I doing this right?” “I think we were supposed to go the other way.” “Ah! Don’t run me into the wall!” Eventually, though, it becomes, “How was your weekend?” “Did you go to the last football game? Who won?” Every boy I danced with was a stranger to me, and talking to them was difficult at first, but gradually, we all began to master the art of polite conversation, something that is so obsolete in society.
Looking pointedly into someone’s eyes produces another problem, especially for a follow, who is usually moving backward: seeing where one is going. At first, you clutch your lead’s arm tightly and take quick little peeks behind you every few steps, but obviously that cannot go on forever, if only because it involves breaking eye contact. Thus, the follow must stare determinedly into her partner’s eyes and trust that they will not squish her against a wall. Herein lies another lesson. In order for pairs to dance gracefully, the lead must treat the follow with respect and the follow must respond with trust. These rules of polite, old-fashioned society seem revolutionary to teenagers who witness disrespect on a daily basis. Through the activity and excitement of ballroom dance, young men and young women foster honest human relationships. I truly appreciate this aspect of the elective because it is a skill that emphasises human dignity and cannot be forgotten. Thus the ballroom dance students, previously strangers, become friends.
I will not disregard the dancing itself as trivial, either. The entire class became distinctly more graceful throughout the semester. It is comforting to know that, when I go to a school dance, I can actually dance artfully rather than just jumping up and down in time to the music. Many times now, I listen to a modern song and can hear the “quick-quick-slow...quick-quick-slow…” or the “one, two, three, one, two, three” hidden inside of it. Beginning ballroom dance gave me a perspective on music and dancing that I have never had before.
The beginning ballroom dance elective seems trivial, but I think it could not be more necessary. Teaching teenagers how to politely converse with one another and form strong, authentic relationships is a difficult thing to do. The added bonus of exciting, culturally diverse dances just makes the class that much better. Ballroom dance provides lessons within lessons within lessons, many of which are not taught in a basic math or literature course. Thus, it should be a requirement to further a student’s well-rounded education. It does not even have to involve any kissing, as Hollywood would like us to believe, even with all of the emphasis on eye contact. It is just a dance class, after all.