I dance for a number of reasons. I began many years ago because it seemed like something my wife and I could do together. We began during a stressful period of our lives as a stress reliever. It was successful although learning to dance can result in some friction between partners. I recall my first teachers saying that they taught dance but they did not do couples counselling.

More recently we began taking private instruction because we wanted to become better dancers. The majority of the first year was spent correcting bad habits developed over the years without instruction. We began to compete in response to our instructor’s encouragement to do so and because he argued that competition would provide goals that might accelerate our improvement. My wife now dances competitively simply because she enjoys doing so and indeed she has improved dramatically as a result. I dance competitively for the same reasons but also because dancing has helped me become more fit and because competition offers endless challenge, which I love.

I’m sure there are many opinions on the differences between social dancing and competition dancing. Although my experience is limited I have some thoughts. Ballroom dance has so many facets without even considering all the other forms of dance, however, it is one of the few forms that is so strongly partner oriented. It was in the nature of this partnership differences first became apparent to me.

My wife and I dance together socially but not competitively. We both take private instruction and some group instruction. Some of the private lessons we take together while others we take individually. The studio we attend is small but we are able to socialize with the other students. We frequently attend dances nearby with other students from the studio. We both dance because we love to do so. I can’t imagine my life today without dance.