We recently came across an old video from SnowBall Classic in 2003 featuring the SnowBall IDSF Open champions performing a demo of Freestyle.
Freestyle is a popular approach to ballroom dancing in Europe in which couples switch through a variety of dance styles while dancing to music that doesn’t necessarily fit into any specific category. They might go from Tango to Slow Foxtrot to Waltz or even Cha Cha.
It requires a lot of skill to do this well. Not only must both partners have a great technical understanding of all the dance styles but they need to exhibit great musicality to make this work. The lead needs to be very clear when he switches dance genres. Even more importantly, the lady needs to be able to immediately respond to those changes, even changing her interpretation of the character of each dance.
In this demo featuring Danish champions Brian Eriksen and Marianne Eihilt, you can see how she instantly recognizes when he switches to Tango and both partners take on the characteristics of that dance so fluidly it looks like a rehearsed change to the audience. But they are dancing to music they may never have even heard before. At the end of the demo, MC James Fraser asked the other showcase couples to take to the floor and continue dancing Freestyle to a new piece of music. It’s very enjoyable to watch, and represents an exceptional level of skill and sophistication reflecting all the things that make ballroom dancing so beautiful.
Take a look and be inspired.
