1,2,3...Cha, Cha, Cha.

“Life’s a dance, you learn as you go, sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don’t worry about what you don’t know…life’s a dance and you learn as you go.”-J.M.M.

There are so many different types and ways of dancing. In the competitive world, dancers must master their technique, presentation and choreography. If you think about it, life and dance have a lot of similarities and are practically identical.

In February of this year, I took it upon myself to take a few dance lessons from professional dancer Eric Romero. He’s a San Antonio native and is well traveled throughout the world doing professional ballroom dancing.
One of the first lessons he taught me were through words;

“There are 4 P's in dance; posture, performance, poise and perfection.”

“Posture starts from your core to your head. It is a reflection of your spirit. When you dance you must exert the characteristics of each in the dance which most often must express passion, joy, elegance and anger.”

Performance is taking on the character of the dance.

Poise is sustaining the characteristic throughout routine.

Perfection requires proper leg actions, foot action, arm styling and then comes the combination of putting it all together.

I have never been one to acknowledge true composition in my steps while I dance; I go to the beat and let my body feel the music. When Eric was my teacher, I was automatically deemed the follower. I had to let go and trust my leader. In my nature I like to lead but in this case I had no idea what I was doing as far as the Cha-Cha or Rumba goes. Within my first hour, I picked up the steps pretty fast. I was impressed.

When an unexpected turn comes my way in life I get a little frightened and hesitant to follow through and trust my instincts to guide me. With one foot in front of the other it may take a few times to GET IT…but eventually I get it and CAN get through it. That’s what happened when I was introduced to the all infamous turns in dance. I was excited to do them, because to me that’s what makes the dance most beautiful. Once it came time to turn, I questioned it half way through and would stop. Question every position and step. Once I was instructed to follow through and trust the push and pull, I finally let go and completed the turns. I think whenever we each have to turn some type of corner; some can be easier than others. Certain turns just require a certain amount of confidence to accomplish it.

“I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living.... In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being. A satisfaction of spirit… One becomes in some area an athlete of God.” ~Martha Graham, c.1953

They say practice makes perfect and we all know nothing is perfect in life. But when we learn from our mistakes, we can practice to not make them again considering the consequences we may suffer. Considering dance, you can perfect your technique through the mistakes you make. Take a look in the mirror, and practice, practice, practice. There are times when you say to yourself “I will never do that again!” then a few months later, there you are again doing the same thing. That’s when you can remind yourself…even if it’s an entirely different situation practice can be applied. Just, it requires proper ACTION.

I believe that in all forms of experience.

At the end of the day, the four P’s can be applied in all directions. I think it’s just up to each individual to create their own path, poise, perfection and passion.

You are never alone when you dance… unless it’s when you’re alone in your car