American Style or Universal

Frank Stiles, Los Angeles.
"Smooth" is the American version of standard. American includes every dance except the Quickstep. In competition, the main difference between Smooth and Standard is that in Smooth, you may make use of the various open positions present in Latin dancing, or even break apart altogether and do side-by-side or interactive stuff. It is similar to International show dancing, but without the lifts.

"Some people march to a different drummer...
and some people Polka." ~ Los Angeles Times Syndicate

From Wayne Eng in Las Vegas. Same as the one in the zine.
In color mo' bettah!

Since the American smooth has only four dances, one would think that it is slightly simpler, but there is a reason that they left out the Peabody. Of all the styles of Ballroom, the Peabody (similar to the quickstep) is by far the most risky. Not only do dancers fly around the floor at lightning speed like the standard dancers, but they also dance apart with limbs flying in all places, like the Latin dancers.

With these open positions, the couple doesn't have the maneuverability that a standard dancer has, and so floorcraft is a much bigger challenge.

"Light My Fire" by The Doors

The character of the dances is portrayed differently. American Tango varies stylistically, but most couples showcase the theatrical quality by having a more Paso-Dobleish or Argentine Tangoish interpretation than the average standard Tango dancer.

Foxtrot is radically different: The International Foxtrot is slow and elegant, but the American Foxtrot is upbeat and sprightly, looking more like an elderly Fred and Ginger film. They still use the International element, but add to it a jazziness and show dancy quality that is not appropriate (or even feasible) in International Foxtrot.

"Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys

American Viennese Waltz is also very different, but mostly because of the fact that they are not limited to five figures. American style dancers can do anything they would like choreographically, including the open stuff. In spite of that, Viennese choreography tends to stay on the simple side, and American interpretation is very similar to the International version: fast, but graceful and smooth. The regular Waltz is the dance which is most similar in interpretation to the International, but again, with the ability to break apart, it can look different as a whole.
Frank Stiles

Pub's Note: We welcome Richard and Lynn as the first "Good People" in Dancing in the Dark blog. They will not be the last. They will pick the next month's couple. And that couple will pick the next month's couple and so on. We have been a little lax on the proper choosing of these people. They must be contacted ahead of time and it would be much better if they have access to the Internet.

If not we can appreciate them in other ways. So Rome was not built in a day. Congrats to all the reader/dancers and Jimbo Johnson for helping DnD get over the 1000 hit barrier in less than two months. This calls for another Rum & Coke.

"You cannot help people permanently by doing for them
what they could and should do for themselves."