American Style Congress: Rhythm aka Where Things Got a Little Awkward

Following up my post yesterday about the Smooth portion of the 2nd Annual American Style Congress, here is the Rhythm installment as promised!  Once again I took a lot of notes so this is just meant to be some highlights but the post is still long so grab some coffee!  

Ricky Bentzen & Albina Habrle

The afternoon started with Ricky and Albina and their demonstration of the American Rumba.  They focused on the need for structure and clarity,meaning you want it to be clear what dance you are doing so you need to use basic movements.  They talked about how it was their belief that the general technique should be to arrive on a bent leg because it allows you to enhance hip action.  They talked about some exceptions for this choreographically and it was interesting to see them break those down and demonstrate different places where they made choices to arrive on a straight leg.  They explained that when the next step in their choreography is a rotation or a spiral they step onto a straight leg.  Similarly, they use straight legs when creating some lines.

There were some other great tidbits but overall their lecture wasn’t organized as well as the pre-lunch Smooth lectures so I had a little trouble following it thematically.  They also brought the first hints of controversy into play when mentioning that unity of timing for the Rumba should be a goal someday, although they refused to talk about their feelings on how it should be resolved.

Peter & Alexandra Perzhu

Peter and Alexandra’s Swing demonstration was similar to the set up of a number of the Smooth lectures in the morning; giving simple basic steps and developing them into full choreography.  They talked a bit about the importance of lateral hip swing and the different available timings (half-half-whole which they said they use and the also acceptable three quarter-quarter-whole) but mostly they demonstrated choreography evolution. 

It’s very hard to describe what is mostly a visual experience (so again look into buying the video), but I do have to say I just loved their “toe heel swivels” (quoted because there were no heels).  The amount of body they got going through the step was astonishing and I just loved how they developed that particular piece.  Otherwise, to my eye their presentation did demonstrate a lot of lateral movement in the hips with only a bit of a tick on the rock step which was in line with the first part of their talk.    

Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova

Emmanuel and Liana started their lecture with a bit of review of what they talked about last year, which was good for me because this was my first time out.  They quickly indicated their positions on the technique (bent legs/press lines going forward and back with a side meringue action) and then moved on to other ways to make rhythm different saying it’s not just about leg action after all!

The three points they focused on were rhythmicality, musicality, and personality.  Rhythmicality is being aware of what part of the body you are using to match the music, coordinating the muscles and bones. They described a few different actions:  vibration, shimmy, staccato (like in mambo), and impulse action.  They then did a Cha Cha demo of the same steps first without what they called rhythmicality and then with it.  This is where some real awkwardness crept in, when they asked the audience "which do you prefer" most people cheered for the rhythmicality version but Sam Sodano, one of the Congress organizers, yelled he preferred the first.  Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion and Emmanuel and Liana were soliciting responses from the audience, but it definitely took the air out of the room in an instant.  They managed to laugh it off but the uncomfortable feeling in the room took a while to dissipate.

Anyway, moving on.  Emmanuel and Liana next addressed musicality and how ideally you want each routine and performance to feel like a show dance.  It should really work that well to the music!  They then did a demo of the same routine on phrase and off phrase to the same music and said they always strive in every round of every competition to match the highlights in the music that is chosen.  Developing this obviously takes too much time for a 25 minute lecture so I guess private lessons may be in order. :)

Lastly, they broke down personality into three parts:  inner focus, partner focus, and outer focus.  Essentially the idea was that you must first feel then energy in your own core and then work on sharing that with your partner and then the audience.  Only with all three will you reach the level of performance you are striving for.

Cher Rutherford

Next up was Cher Rutherford breaking down the Bolero assisted by Rufus Dustin and Lori Woods-Gay.  I’m just going to flat out start off with buy the video.  There was a lot of information presented/demonstrated which I have no hope of putting as eloquently in written form. 

But since I don’t want to leave it only at that, here goes my failed attempt at a short summary.  She started by saying she does not use the words “rise and fall” in relation to bolero because she reserves that for the swing dances.  Instead, she refers to it as elevation styling.  She also noted the bolero was a combination of the lowering of the waltz, the groundedness of the tango, and the soft lyrical style of the rumba on breaks.

From there she described, and Rufus and Lori demonstrated, the four basic actions used to interpret bolero:  Checked action, Drift action, Whisk action and Cuban action.  They used these actions again in demonstrating cross over breaks.  Seeing each action right after the other demonstrated so clearly was amazing and really essential, I think, for anyone learning and wanting to improve their bolero!

Bob Powers & Julia Gorchakova

When former champions Bob and Julia took the floor it was clear a lot of the audience was excited and it was clear they had an agenda (they even had a handout).  They started by saying they were so interested in lecturing because they had heard of the disagreement coming from last year’s Congress.  It was immediately apparent they intended to address their thoughts on the basics even those that may be considered controversial.  They definitely spoke with a plan and clarity of ideas that some of the other Rhythm lecturers lacked making their point of view easy to digest and understand.

Before they broke down into the six most important basic concepts they noted that we should always remember that Rhythm came from social dancing and in social dancing there is an emphasis on body rhythm and lead & follow.  I really loved hearing that stated so simply, and it was a great jumping off point for their lecture.  Now for the list:

6 basic concepts

1. Before any step there should be body action.  This starts high in the back under the armpit.  Body action should be productive, meaning you move off of it not just sink (they described it as wanting shifters not grinders)
2. Step on a flexed knee but if it changes your level, it’s too much.  The reason for this is that bent legs create more rhythm and are more natural.  Over-bent knees however don’t look good and they slow you down; every step should go from flex to straighten.
3. Use split weight in your actions.  The exception for Bob and Julia is the mambo where there is no split weight.
4. Using a compressed figure 8.  Their demonstration of this together was very helpful.  They reminded everyone you can’t keep your hips behind, you need to “fill out the hip sockets”.
5. Using delayed hip action (or foot generated hip lift).  Always work towards a continuous movement (don’t delay and hold).
6. You do reach 2 straight legs at some point in time.

In their dancing, they tried to include these six basic concepts in every step, understanding they may lose it sometimes when up to speed but that only emphasizes why it’s important to go through everything super slow.  Since I don’t have any visuals to share (I’m not a rule breaker and would not dream of videotaping the Congress when we were asked not to), I will just note that to my eye the arrival on a bent leg for Bob and Julia was significantly less than all the others that danced in the Rhythm section.

Since they didn't dance much together, a trip down memory lane!

Bill Sparks

Bill Sparks presented his lecture next assisted by two couples demonstrating while he spoke (I’m sorry I didn’t catch either of their names).  I’m going to try and present my notes as clearly as possible but I have to be upfront in saying this was probably my least favorite lecture of the day.  First, it was just not as easy to follow as the others, particularly following Bob and Julia whose lecture was so well organized.  Second, the information was almost too academic and at times too forced, I couldn’t decide whether I was going to be tested at the end or asked to buy something.  I can only speak for myself of course but the room seemed a little more uncomfortable throughout this lecture, you probably could have heard a pin drop throughout the entire thing (quite the change from the cheering and laughing of the other lectures).

The content of the lecture was focused on “Structured Actional Movement” or the “SAM” method.  Bill noted he believed SAM to be the most valuable technique available for Rhythm today because for any movement to have benefit it needs structure and there is too much overblending of leg & hip movement in Rhythm today.  SAM addresses the brain of dancers which allows them to train in a way that just looking and feeling doesn’t.  Well as I’ve said my brain couldn’t process all this quickly enough (even with the demonstrations) so my notes are a bit hazy. 

The lecture was to focus on the four distinct features of the SAM method but the actual listing of the features was not clear.  From my notes the discussion included indigenous action (catching weight in the knee, hip, ball of the foot) and the different kinds of hip lift (foot driven, knee driven, vertical rotation) but the end of the lecture was too rushed for me to get anything out of it (to say trying to fit everything into 25 minutes was ambitious is an understatement).

The way the demonstrations were set up was somewhat helpful, with each of the four dancers demonstrating different aspects simultaneously so the audience could compare but more could have been done with this.  Also it was a bit disconcerting at the beginning when Bob mentioned that he started with the dancers a little while back knowing they wouldn’t have improvement in the routes they were taking; they needed the SAM structure to improve.  It made me wonder how all the other dancers that had performed up to that point had improved without/before the development of the SAM method.  The whole lecture definitely had my brain hurting and wishing for the end of the day so I could try and sort my thoughts.

Taliat Tarsinov

Just when I thought I couldn’t take in anymore, Taliat’s lecture swept the room, finishing the day with a breath of fresh air.  He started by describing his transition to Rhythm, a process he said wasn’t easy but ended with love.  From that point on, I was also in love and it was only aided along by the stunning performances by assistants and champions Jose Decamps and Joanna Zacharewicz.

My favorite part of this lecture was Taliat’s discussion of how bad choreography is hurting the Rhythm style.  He addressed the Rumba, Swing, and Bolero in turn pointing out the wrong choices that were made and emphasizing what he felt was most important about each of the dances.  For the Rumba, Taliat was emphatic that it was one of the most beautiful dances, it just isn’t done correctly.  Choreography should focus on being mostly stationary and creating vibrant motions in small spaces instead of movement around the floor.  Jose and Joanna did an absolutely stunning demonstration of what Taliat was talking about keeping the dance mostly stationary and with steps circling each other instead of making grand patterns across the floor.  I was certainly sold! :)

For the Swing, Taliat noted the lack of general swing action as well as bringing the follow in and releasing her out and for the Bolero he noted that the dance needed to be grounded.  Once again Jose and Joanna demonstrated beautifully and in the end got an enthusiastic standing O for their performances. 

As a side note, Taliat mentioned an article he had previously written entitled “Lyrics and Physics of Ballroom Dancing” (I think), and if anyone knows where I could find it I’d love to know!

Competition video of some of the steps demonstrated

The Wrap Up

As with the Smooth session, the Rhythm session ended with some Q&A.  There were some interesting questions but I have to say the feel good feeling of the morning was not present with this panel.  Some of the questions were left mostly unanswered due to confusion with the questions and some of the questions were even met with hostility.  I can really only remember one because it was the most shocking experience of the day for me.

The question was something like “Do the panel members (other than Bill Sparks) use or teach the SAM method?”  To me this seemed like a fair question and I would have loved to hear how the panel members addressed it, particularly Bob, Julia, Cher, and Taliat who are not current competitors.  However, before any of the panelists got a chance to answer, Sam Sodano shouted from the audience that he didn’t think that was a fair question.  What ensued was a confusing exchange between Sam and the MC John DePalma which ended with Sam standing and giving a small speech about how he didn’t think anyone else should have to answer about using his technique since it was his and everyone teaches their own thing.  This seemed incredibly strange when part of the point of the SAM method is to unify the technique in Rhythm dancing.  I’m not really sure why he felt he needed to respond to the question in that way but it really came across as a heavy handed attempt to stifle the panelists (whether or not they intended to say anything positive or negative).  It was made all the more confusing considering he was not on the panel but giving his speech from the audience. 

As I previously mentioned, I definitely learned a lot at this event but the end of the Rhythm session left me not only shocked but frustrated.  The one question that may have cleared up some of my confusion after Bill Sparks’ lecture wasn’t allowed through and I was certainly very glad I hadn’t submitted any questions of my own since they weren’t all treated with the respect they deserved. All in all it seemed like maybe this year everyone was trying too hard to find consensus and eliminate any discussion of controversy.

I hate to end on a negative note since I really would encourage anyone to attend the event.  But I do think it’s fair to say that as a whole the Smooth session ran more smoothly and congenially than Rhythm, which had a few super awkward and condescending moments. 

Still thanks must go out to Edward Simon, Sam Sodano, and the NYDF for organizing such a great panel of speakers.  Seeing all the love and effort put in to the American styles by these top professionals is truly inspiring.