How much of the dancing on DWTS is true to the dance (ie Tango, Mambo, Viennese Waltz)?

Question

And how much is choreography/flare? My wife wants to take dance lessons and I'm afraid that what we see on TV is not what will be taught at a dance studio. No two (same) dances appear to be the same.

Answer 1

It's very highly choreographed, and in the normal course of events it'll be years before you and your wife do anything approaching what you see on the show, but then you're looking at people like Tony Dovolani, who is twice (or more?) world-champion in American Rhythm (the group of dances including swing, mambo, bolero, cha cha and rumba). On the other hand, the elements are largely recognizable, common and easily reachable for amateurs.
And I strongly suspect Gorme is right: it's doubtful if any of the celebrities can dance at all after the season's over and they aren't paired with top pro's.

Answer 2

Remember the judge Len Goodman telling Alec Mazo and his star partner once upon a time "I like to see flowers and I like to see the lawn. Your dancing was all flowewrs and no lawn."

DWTS non-professionals have weak basic foundation simply because it takes years to develop. On that foundation, they put a rather fancy building with a heavy roof. I don't mean to be bashful, they simply don't have an option to spend a year or two on training or to dance basic steps on national TV. I'm not trying to take away the fact that they really do work hard. The dancing looks so good on TV partly because half of the couple is a top notch professional, partly because the choreography is designed to work well for the partnership.

So yes, a lot of that dancing is "flashy trash". Maybe 30% of the basic dance is still there. They dance advanced choreography that is normally danced in your 3rd - 6th year of competitive ballroom training. Some of it is never danced, as some of the moves are not allowed in ballroom as Caryanna (sp?) pointed out many times. You are more likely to learn the same exact stuff if you take "theater arts" ballroom classes. But those are usually private classes, that is, instructor is working with only one person/couple, that would be you. That's very expensive and not very effective if you don't have any training. If you go to ballroom classes you will have a lot of fun even if you don't learn the DWTS moves.

Answer 3

All of what you see on "Dancing with the Stars" is choreography. They do alot of tricks that makes the dance look good for their celebrity.

As far as the actual ballroom dance goes, sometimes, if you watch very carefully, they will do some basics for that dance. However, given the short time the celebrities have to memorize the choreography, there is not much time available for them to learn the actual technique. When the season is over, none of the celebrities will be able to do any of what they learned without their professional partner.

When your wife takes the dance lessons at the studio, what she will learn will not be so flashy. If she likes the flashiness, she can ask the instructor to structure the instructions with the goal of performing in front of an audience. It will be at least a year before she will be ready for that.

Answer 4

All the dances on DWTS are choreographed by the professional dancer in each couple. These pros have all been dancing for years and have many accolades to their name. They also occasionally stretch/break the rules of ballroom, hence the harsh remarks from the judges, especially Len.

My feeling is that it would take most couples, starting from scratch, about two good years of dedicated dancing to achieve anything close to DWST. The difference in DWTS is that one half of the couple is a pro!

Most folks learn to dance for social reasons. This is far less pressure and usually more fun to start. Within a few months you have a new confidence on the dance floor. From there, the options are almost limitless.

Just remember, you have to learn to walk before you run, and some folks simply learn quicker than others. And (of course) practise, practise, practise!!!