Why Partner Dancing Ruins Your Dance Life.

There has been quite a lot of writing about the health benefits of partner dancing: they say that it is good for both your mind and body and that it even makes you smarter. Yet another reason to start partner dancing! But I must warn those who are not yet part of us addicts: it ruins the rest of your dancing life!

What, why?! To put it simply: after you get into partner dancing, it is the only way to get the most dance pleasure out of. Suddenly, dancing alone gets boring. Are you one of those who loves dancing in the clubs? After starting partner dancing, you dance one song and start glancing around in hopes of finding another partner dancer to dance with. Maybe you're one of those who loves going to solo dancing classes? Well, we partner dancers go to those classes too, but just to improve or add something to our partner dancing.

I can dance the whole night through - seriously, from evening until the very morning - if it is partner dancing. The only thing that can stop me going is either the end of the party or unbearable pain in my feet after dancing so much. It is impossible to get bored, provided that you have many great dancers to share the dances with. I see it this way: every dance is an adventure. It might be amazing, it might be horrible, but the point is that you never know what is going to happen. It is out of your control. Even if you wanted or planned it to be something, it can turn out to be something totally different. You might feel tired and lazy but after the dance feel super energetic and very alive. Or you might be very excited about the dance and end up disappointed. Or anything in between, over or under. But that is the beauty of it. You never know, you just have to dance it through and take what you get.

Now when I dance alone, there is no such a big adventure. Everything is in my control and I can make the dance just the way I want to. No surprises, no secrets to be revealed. No way I can dance the whole night, I hardly manage couple of songs before I find myself bored! That is because I know there is something better, or to put it another way, that there is something essential missing. 

Let me reveal you something: the secret ingredient of the whole adventure is a dance connection with your partner. I'm not talking about the technical dance connection that they teach in classes but something that goes deeper: a physical, energetic, spiritual and emotional connection with another human being in that very moment. That is the one that is never the same, even if the dance steps were. The connection can be deeper, lighter, stronger or weaker, and it is always different even with the same person. Nevertheless, is is always there, developing and changing constantly. And that is not all: by connecting to your dance partner, you connect to yourself in a way that can't be done alone. If you open yourself, there is a world of millions of discoveries waiting for you, just by getting into the dance floor with someone.

I truly admire talented solo dancers. Every dancer is a solo dancer: it is you who have to make the work to grow your skills, develop your technique and connect with the music. But since I've experienced the better, I regard solo dancing is missing the secret ingredient that makes dancing the big adventure I want it to be. 

Here is the final warning: it is the knowledge of the secret ingredient that ruins the rest of your dance life. But that is the very same ingredient that makes you the most addicted to partner dancing. So, it is up to you: do you have the courage to give it a try?