One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Staying on time and on beat is crucial in all forms of dance, but falling off beat will ruin the whole routine in ballroom dancing. Although many people who aren’t familiar with dance still consider ballroom dancing a style from centuries ago, ballroom dancing is part of mainstream pop culture in shows like “Dancing with the Stars” and even as a part of South students’ after-school lives.
Senior Alexandra Jaszewski has been ballroom dancing since age 6. However, according to Jaszewski, it was not her choice to start ballroom dancing, it was her parents’.
“My mom made me go, and then I actually liked it so I started going more and more,” Jaszewski said.
According to Jaszewski, after having discovered her passion for ballroom dancing she began to pursue it more vigorously.
“Mondays I have off,” Jaszewski said. “Tuesdays are a group lesson. Wednesdays a private lesson with a different coach.Thursday is group, Friday is private, Saturday [I dance] after work and Sunday.”
This rigorous practice schedule ultimately builds up to one thing: competition. According to Jaszewski, competitions last approximately a week and have competitors ranging from small kids to adult professionals.
“There are different levels, and there are different categories,” said Jaszewski. “So you have to be in a certain level and age category. You can’t go above or below [your level]. It’s complicated.”
According to Jaszewski, the contestants are judged based on the amount and severity of the mistakes that they make. With so many contestants, it can be very challenging to score high in one of these competitions.
“Everyone has different routines to not make it boring,” Jaszewski said. “There are a bunch of people on the stage, so to get the judges attention you have to do something special…Some dancers have a few ‘wow-ing’ moves like dips and jumps that are out of the ordinary and therefore get [the judges] attention.”
Another South student, senior Ami Amirlan Baatasuren also participates in ballroom dancing and has been since she was 6 years-old. Although the two have never danced together, they have similar stories. One similarity is their inspiration.
“My coach [is my inspiration],” Jaszewski said. “He’s such a great guy. He treats us like little siblings. If we have a bad day he calls us afterwards and asks us, ‘What’s going on? You’re not your best today.’ He’s great, and he’s an inspiration for sure.”
Similarly, Baatasuren says that her coach has been her inspiration throughout her dancing career. According to Baatasuren, because of this coach she wants to become a dance coach and open a dance studio when she gets older. Although Baatasuren and Jaszewski participate in the same style of dance, they enjoy different aspects of ballroom dancing.
“My favorite part about ballroom dance is that I feel really good when I dance ballroom dance,” Baatasuren said. “I don’t know what it is, but I feel amazing. It just like gives me that feeling.”
In contrast, according to Jaszewski, she enjoys the actual competitions more than the way dancing feels.
“My favorite part about it is going to competitions,” Jaszewski said. “Yeah, it’s super-duper stressful, but we get to wear sparkly dresses and girly makeup and hair and stuff.”
The two dancers also plan on taking ballroom dancing in different directions in the future. According the Jaszewski, ballroomdancing is just a hobby for her, while Baatasuren says that she plans on turning her ballroom dance experience into a career when she, ideally, opens her own studio.
