Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute: Our Vision For The Presentation Before The Dance
In our online course with Dancesportlife Academy, we have touched a lot of important subjects in the ballroom dancing world. We shared our vision starting from personal posture to couple’s hold and going to key principles and choreography. But we also discussed one topic that is not often explained by teachers: the presentation before the dance.
How important is the presentation before the dance?
The answer is: very important!
At the competition, before we start the dance we need to introduce ourselves. It’s very important even how we walk onto the dance floor, let alone how we present our partner in the correct place!
So here are a few things that you need to check if you want to have a good presentation on the dance floor.
The walk
First of all, you need to decide on which side, corner or space of the floor you need to start. But be careful: you also need to be flexible to change your spot if there are too many couples in your spot.
How you walk on the floor is one of the most important aspects. You need to take your time so that it doesn’t look like a race for the most wanted space of the floor.
Walk with confidence and show yourself to everyone! Then you select your corner and wait patiently while the MC/Chairman counts the couples.
The invitation
We are ballroom dancers, thus an elegant attitude is a must! The man is wearing a tail suit and the lady is wearing an exquisite dress: we need to invite her in an appropriate way.
The man’s invitation should be in relation to the music. So, if I have a waltz, the invitation will be on the first bar of music. Once the partner arrives, we take our hand position. We should take the hand position in relation to the preparation step, like this will all look very natural and not mechanical.
Everything should blend and be in harmony!
The connection
Be also careful with the space between the man and the lady! If you stand too close, you may end up looking a bit panicked as if you would need each other’s protection.
The connection is very important, as there are many couples that too far away from each other and they look like they don’t even dance together. Furthermore, it will be unclear for the lady how exactly she should be positioned.
The bow at the end of the dance
This is also a very important part, as it the last impression that you leave to the audience and the adjudicators.
We suggest that you bow in the same direction and, if possible, have an underarm turn and then a bow. Never leave your partner alone!
The small details are the ones that make a difference and always remember to take the appreciation of the public and not ask for it!
If you want to have access to all the episodes from our online courses make sure you go to Dancesportlife Academy and check the available packages.
Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute
Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute are one of the most renowned names in ballroom dancing. They have been both World Champions and European Champions and have been dancing for both WDC and WDSF. The couple started dancing together in 2009 and have ended their competitive career in 2014 by winning the World Title at the WDSF PD World Championship.