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Letter from Boston
Ballroom Dance Competition
By MASAKO YAMADA
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社交ダンス競技会
あのビクターが社交ダンスの名手だなんて! おとなしくて目立たない物理学科のビクターが社交ダンスの大会に出ると聞いて、雅子さんは興味津々、さっそく大会を見に行きました。そこでみた彼はまるで別人のよう。ダンス衣装に身を包み、ラテンのリズムに合わせて熱く踊る姿に雅子さんはすっかり魅了されてしまいました。
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I was talking with one of my colleagues about the salsa lessons that we've
been taking, when another colleague who had overheard us chimed in, "Did
you know that Victor dances in national competitions? He's practically a
professional."
The only thing I knew about Victor was that he's a senior graduate student
in my department. He's an extremely quiet guy whom I've seen walking
around the halls every once in a while. I would never have imagined him to
be an avid ballroom dancer — especially in the passionate international
Latin dances — but I realized how wrong I was when I went to see him compete
in a local ballroom competition.
I was intrigued by the idea that Victor had
an after-hours life that was completely separate from his graduate school
life. Part of the reason I wanted to see him in the competition was so that I
could spy on this alternate identity. It reminded me of the Japanese movie
"Shall We Dance?" That movie was funny because it highlighted the large gap
between the salaryman lifestyle and that of the competitive ballroom dancing
world.
Victor and his partner went to the final round in the open (highest) level for
all of their dances. They have two coaches — one choreographs, and the other
teaches the moves — and their dances had a very professional edge. Their
moves seemed much more dramatic than those of the other dancers. Perhaps this
wasn't for the best, however, since many couples with less fancy moves beat
them. This didn't matter to me, though. I couldn't take my eyes off them. The
fact that the "dance hall" was just a plain old gymnasium at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) didn't break the spell either.
It was fascinating. The BU ballroom club did extremely well in the
international Latin competition. Many couples from BU participated in the
newcomer, beginner and advanced levels. BU couples took first place in both
the beginner and advanced divisions. Another BU couple took second place in
the advanced division.
In many ways, I found the lower level competition more interesting than the
open level competition. Some of the open level competitors looked like they
were performing difficult, abstract art. The other dancers looked more
graceful to me.
One fun part of watching the competition was comparing the costumes. The women
that I saw at the international Latin competition wore very tight, flashy
dresses. Dresses with large pieces of fabric cut out from the stomach and
back seemed popular. I saw one woman with fake, gold eyelashes and another
with rhinestones glued to her face. One of the dresses had so much fringe
on it that it looked like it could be used as a mop to wash a car. The men
stuck to simple black shirts and tight black slacks and they looked great
accompanying the colorful women. Some of the members of the MIT aikido club
started peeking into the gym after their own practice session was over. It
must have startled them to see these outrageously dressed people
cha-cha-cha-ing around their gym. It certainly was startling to see these
men in traditional uniform standing at the edge of the chaotic gym.
I noticed that the international standard competition was about to begin when
I started seeing women with sleek, pulled-back hair and feathery gowns
appear on the sidelines. The standard dances are considered to be very
classy, but there was still an element of exag
geration to the costumes. One of the women had on a puffy dress with
rainbow-colored feathers. I was interested in watching the feathered dancers
twirl about, but I had spent more than four hours watching the international
Latin competition, so I decided to call it a day. Amazingly, many of the
international Latin dancers were also planning on dancing in the international
standard division the same day. Some of them were even planning on attending a
ball that evening, and entering the American competition the following day!! I
suppose that is the kind of energy that one needs to be a competitive dancer.
Unfortunately, I'm still in training to be a professional dance watcher.
Shukan ST: April 23, 1999
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