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| Hey I actually watched Burn the Floor all the way through and I actually liked it. It was weird, I could identify some dancers.......like Matthew and Nicole Cutler, Tania Rosovich and Jason Roditis,Jane Lyttleton, to name a few. I like the music and The last number is fabulous......well any of the Latin numbers are really, just very theatirical like you said Joy, but yeah I would have loved to see one big Latin comp or festival. Sarah |
| ...that a look which is so absolutely *not* the style in the rest of the dance world (or the rest of the world for that matter) has such a tight hold on ballroom. I danced five years with a ballet company-- and studied all over the place, all my life-- and I can say that no one, but no one, tans like this. I'm so confused by it. I'm also somewhat unused to the gallons of make-up and the bleachy hair everywhere... I'm thinking, Tanya Harding... The competition sport aspect of ballroom does bring to mind iceskating. Although there was a lot of competition involved in the ballet world, prizes are not awarded... only spaces given. (In a company, or a school, etc.) I'm really reeling from what I've learned about dancesport recently. I was first attracted to ballroom by a show I saw, called Burn the Floor, not by seeing a competition. Here's something, though: except the dancers who looked *actually* ethnic, I didn't see any of those dark tans we're talking about. (On Burn the Floor.) Weren't those some of the top dancers in the world? They didn't look anything like the competitors I've seen. Clue me in, please!  |
| I also am a fairly pale guy, I do not tan and competition is also my goal but I do know that competitions have a lot of politics involved. If you don't look the part, you're not gonna win. Not only do you and your partner have to look good together, you have to be the kind of person the dancers would want to strive to look like so there are a lot of politics in that field and while I can't speak from personal experience on if someone who is more fair skinned can win or not (i've personally have never asked so I wouldn't know) I say go for it anyway! You never know, times change.... people change... and dancing skills are forever. ~LB You Haven't Truly Made It Until Your Head Is On A Pez Dispenser |
| With tan, like makeup, you're better off doing a good subtle job than a bad extreme job. Flying brown sweat just isn't attractive. That said, ballroom competition is somewhat theatrical in nature. Whatever the look; dress color and cut, tanning level, hair color, and makeup style should complement the whole package and not be used in isolation. They set the stage for your choreography. There seems to be more latitude given on pigment in standard and smooth. I've seen some competitors play up pale skin with pastel colors to great effect. Very aristocratically British. Light dresses against black tuxedos really show shapes and lines. Of course it goes without saying that if your look differs greatly, the quality of your dancing must be up to the extra scrutiny you'll receive!  |
| Thanks Jonathan, Melissa, Harmony... I appreciate the advice. I guess that with self-tanners and a little bit of sun, I can achieve a light-to-medium tan. The point about the competitions using "hotel light" makes a lot of sense... Straight overhead flourescent lighting is awful. And any theatrical lights being used are probably just hot-white, to make the stones sparkle, like you said. (White lights: also not so great on skin.) Yeah, I'm used to being lit softly for ballet. Even when I've been in *harsh* lighting, like blue for instance, it was meant to make everything look cold, pale. But that would be the look they were going for. I'd be wearing white and looking spooky-- like a wili-- (Gisele) Not wearing hot pink or neon green (like in competitions) and looking anemic. Makes sense. Thanks a lot, everybody. I really appreciate it. ~Joy |
| I agree that the show was extremely theatrical. And it wasn't that aspect of it that I liked so much, it was the dancing. Since seeing that show, I have seen competitions and have been much more inspired by the dancing, and my interest has grown. Burn the Floor is quite a loud show. It was the first thing I saw, however. And I *was* under the impression that those dancers were some of the champion ballroom dancers in the world. I thought quite a lot of them came from Australia. Anyway, I think that's what I heard on a "making-of" or "behind-the-scenes" thing on PBS. Whatever our impressions of the show... but that's not what I'm talking about anyway. The point: they were not so super tan. Does anyone know who these dancers are? Whether or not they are successful, i.e. championship dancers? I'd be interested to know, since I'm trying to find examples of dancers with their natural skin tones. Thanks! |
| Originally posted by Keh Gough: I own a copy of "Burn the Floor". I don't believe this show represents anything of ballroom dancing nor having top ballroom dancers in the world in it. This is the point I'm wondering about... who were those dancers? |
| Sarah-- Yeah, Burn the Floor isn't traditional ballroom. It's absolutely about entertainment. I did find it very fun. But then, ballet and modern are performing arts and I'm used to the idea of dance for show and entertainment, not technique-only and not always by-the-book, depending on the choreography. It's like in ice skating-- when the skaters get a chance to do a free skate or a show, they often do some really different things that they would never do in competition, in front of a judge (i.e. wild stuff, crowd-pleasing). Since I am interested in competition, of course I'm primarily interested in watching competitive events. But I didn't mean to sound like I was disparaging Burn the Floor, because I really liked it. As far as who those dancers actually were, they were billed as being championship ballroom and latin dancers from around the world, and I don't think the producers were lying. We just don't know their names. If I owned a copy, I'd look in the credits. As for the tanners: I'm new to self-tanning so maybe someone else can answer your questions about protan and superbraun (sp?). I'm interested to know, too. ~Joy |
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