In 2017 fall I travelled to Netherlands to take part of the 4-day Dutch Zouk Congress Teacher’s Course, where many notable Brazilian zouk instructors shared their knowledge on how to best teach zouk. In one of the workshops, Brenda Carvalho said something that was not directly related to teaching, but what I still remember almost 7 years later, because it blew my mind. It was that “not all dance moves look good on all bodies”. I have been thinking about that a lot lately and it has raised many questions.
If it’s true that not all dance moves look good on all bodies, then does it also mean that not all dance styles look good on all bodies? When I think about it, female top bachata dancers and top ballet dancers tend to have completely different body shapes. Ballet dancers are skinny, sharp and have long arms and legs, while latin dancers have soft curves, especially around their hips.
When immersing ourselves into learning a dance style, most of us have artists we look up to and we want to dance like them. I am wondering then, if you don’t look like your role models at all, will it be more difficult for you to judge how well you’re doing, since it just looks so different? Will it be harder to look at a dance video of yourself and be content with it?
This also leads me to the next question. If you have chosen a dance style that doesn’t necessarily look good on your body type, does it mean you will struggle to get to a professional level?
If you are familiar with Jack and Jill type competitions, that are becoming increasingly popular in zouk and bachata, you know how much luck there is involved to win. Judges may only have 4-10 seconds to look at you and judge your dance based on that. And you have to get lucky with the randomly chosen partner and music that is played. If during those few seconds that the judges look in your direction, you are doing some dance moves that don’t look good on you, from an unflattering angle, you are doomed, aren’t you?
In the book “Atomic Habits” there is a bonus chapter called “The Truth About Talent”. It starts with comparing the Olympic medalists swimmer Michael Phelps and runner El Guerrouj and explaining how their body type has given them an advantage over others in their respective fields. The author then goes on to explain that if you choose a field where you have a natural genetic advantage, you will experience more satisfaction and success, because the odds (genetics) are in your favor.
However if we’re talking about social dances that are supposed to be for everybody – from all ages, all fitness and skill levels, all shapes and sizes, wouldn’t it be great to have diverse artists with all skin colors and all body types? To inspire more people to join the dance community and show that it’s possible for everyone?
Humans are visual creatures – would it be inspiring and inviting to see someone doing dance moves that don’t look good on them though? For a dancer with an “unconventional” body type for that specific dance style, they would have to then carefully cherry-pick dance moves within that style that fit them, which leads to creating a distinct sub-style, which again brings us to the hypothesis that not all dance styles look good on all bodies.
Perhaps these questions are only relatable for the ambitious dancers who want to reach professional levels. Or maybe it’s only relatable for women, who generally tend to be more (self-)conscious about how they look. The point is that I would personally want to avoid the situation where I am working hard for something I am already destined to fail at. It would be like Michael Phelps training to become a runner instead and getting some results, but not truly fulfilling his potential that swimming would allow.
Many questions and no definite answers. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, if you have any. And does the dance style you chose to master, set you up for success?