What was the hardest dance to learn for you?

Me, probably the argentine tango.

Luv, Kisses and Cookies,
~*Bri*~

I have always been taught NOT to rise in VW. There is foot rise because of the foot work, but if you use body rise, you'll not only "pop", but lose linear energy. It's ok to rise a little as a result of the foot rise, but if you think about it you'll rise too much. Most of the height change is absorbed in the knees and ankles.

I can't agree with Twnkltoz comments about no rise in VW. Rising is not 'popping'. Down on beat 1 with a long powerful step - start rising on 2 and complete rise on 3. The video in the 'learning centre' shows this perfectly. It would be very unnatural to dance with no rise.

International foxtrot is indeed a very difficult dance to completely master - though it's not too difficult to reach a reasonably good standard. My teacher said we could spend 5 years on the feather step alone if we wanted to!! And all the discussion on timing options indicate that interpretation is the name of the game with foxtrot.

Taking a philosophical stand for a moment - wouldn't it be sad if dances could be mastered after - say - 10 years? I take solace from the fact that even John McEnroe has tennis lessons.

I'm surprised no one has said international foxtrot. That's often the hardest dance to learn, not so much in the sense of figures (because some are simple), but dancing it well can be extremely difficult. Leading lady's heel turns is one of the hardest things to lead, I think, and still gives me trouble after years of dancing. (OK, I don't practice tons either, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's hard to do.) I'm not sure exactly what factors people are considering when picking a dance that's hardest to learn, but international foxtrot really ought to be up there -- it's very difficult to dance well even when you know what you're doing.

If I had to pick something else, I'd say hustle because the way everyone around here dances it is with a 3 beat pattern. The musician in me has serious problems trying to dance a 3 count pattern to 4 beat music, so I've never really been able to learn hustle because of that. Yeah, some stuff takes 6 counts instead of four, but that's not hard (not for me anyway) because you can still at least match up every 2 beats and you're always starting on either a 1 or a 3. With 3 count hustle though, if you start on 1, then next starts on 4, then 3, then 2, then back to 1. I know plenty of people dance it like that, but to me it just really doesn't fit the music and that makes it too hard for me to learn.

So my votes would be first for international foxtrot because it's so difficult to dance well and second for hustle because dancing 3 count patterns to music that's in 4 is just confusing.

P.S. -- mademoiselle, you don't get dizzy in Viennese waltz if you dance it properly. While there is a lot of rotation, the main motion is actually linear, down line of dance. I agree it's not exactly a piece of cake, but I don't think it's quite as hard as people initially think it is. Oh, changing directions fairly often will also help because as you sort of wind up in one direction, changing turns will help you unwind again.

--
James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall

Viennese Waltz is definitely my nemesis, but I think Samba is just as hard...the action is very complex and difficult, and it's pretty fast. I just like it so much that I don't mind!

I guess the two dances I'm having most trouble with is Viennese Waltz and Quickstep. Viennese Waltz gives me more heartaches than Quickstep.

I don't find the steps and patterns in Salsa hard to learn, but I do feel it's the hardest one in which to stay in rhythm with your partner.

"Dancing is a contact sport; football is a hitting sport" - Vince Lombardi

Both so fast that it takes a lot of practice to get the footwork right, because you don't have time to think.

I was interested to see the comments about the viennese Waltz. I have a suggestion:
Practise to slow waltz music (i.e. 30 bars per minute instead of the normal 60). This will be difficult at first, but it will give you time to think about foot placements etc, and more importantly, it will dramatically improve your balance for 'real' viennese waltzing.
The best single tip i can give is to make sure that on beat 1 you soften the knee and take a long powerful step. this allows you to rise up on beats 2 and 3 and somehow makes the whole dance less rushed and more flowing

definetely international foxtrott. I think it's very difficult to reach a reasonably good standard, but i guess that depends on your definition of it.
Also, maybe it's just because if you do it wrongly it feels bad, whereas other dances can feel ok even when you do them badly...

As for vienniese, it's difficult, but I think most people (including me) have most difficulties with it because they're scared of it. Fright alwyas means tension, and then you're screwed... :P