If you are working in a ballroom dance school you meet different people from many different backgrounds. The reason people want to ballroom dance varies by individual. Everybody wants to have fun, that is for sure, but its people’s goals that are actually amazing. This brings me to a very interesting story about how Ballroom dancing helped another athlete to improve their skills. For example, one of my students, Patricia Becker, a Professional Grand Pix Dressage Riding Champion who’s working towards making the Olympic team for 2012.
Patricia came to take dance lessons while training with her horses in Wellington. At first it was no more than a hobby for Patricia, but she then realized what potential advantage the dance lessons have for her Dressage discipline. Patricia is working with one of our top instructors, Vladimir Velev. Vladimir has been dancing for 25 years and has achieved many top results, among them Austrian National Latin Champion in 2005 and Fred Astaire National Latin Champion in 2006. Together with his partner Gabriella Bodocs, who is also an instructor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Jupiter, they dance at a world class level and are an internationally sought after couple who’s world renown for their unique style and unbelievable athleticism.
One day after a lesson, Patricia mentioned that she would be interested in taking her dancing lesson on her horse. At first we were skeptical since we are dancers, not Dressage riders. But needless to say we were willing to give it a try. I went along with Vladimir and Gabriella as I was very interested in how this would work. Patricia was planning to ride 3 horses over a period of 90 minutes and requested Vladimir work with her on her posture and appearance. I have to say, it was a great lesson to watch. Vladimir started out observing the sport and learning the objectives in Dressage riding. After Vladimir had a good understanding they began working on isolations of the upper body the same way they would work together in a dance lesson. It was proof that if you are a top level competitor in any athletic discipline, there is always a need for an understanding of human movement and coordination. This particular skill is transferrable to other disciplines and athletes can benefit greatly from the technicalities of dancing.
Patricia is now practicing her dancing on a daily basis and has entered in her first competition, The National Cross Country Dance Championships, held in Las Vegas this April. I had a wonderful day out at the horse stable. Between watching Vladimir and Gabriella working with Patricia and the horses, petting horses in the stables, and the highlight of my day, riding around on one of Patricia’s beautiful dressage horses, it was a lovely afternoon.
