I'll be watching America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS for the next several weeks. I have found this particular event, from Columbus, Ohio to be so enjoyable to watch.
However, I want to make sure of something so I can watch it with a more knowledgeable eye. In watching the American Smooth competition, it is always interesting to watch the couples break their hold in the routines as part of the choreography.
So my question is, when the International Standard portion of the event takes place, will the dancers remain connected in dance hold throughout the entire routines? There would be heavy marks against them if they did not, correct? Or what about a throw-out move in a waltz? Would that be considered breaking the connection? There has to be room for fluid turns and connections with one-hand holds? Yes? No?
Any thoughts on what to watch for, or the very basic and subtle differences in the styles, would be much appreciated. It will make the program that much more fun to watch.

Under the given circumstances -- " show " style-- it will not be out of place-- Its not a comp.( in the B/room genre ) It should -- however-- not be nearly as frequent as that of the Amer. style which is its hallmark .

Its kinda difficult to determine what the rules are--- if they are that strict-- then play the CORRECT music !

In Standard, the couple remains in dance hold the entire time. They have the options of regular hold, promenade, fallaway, and outside partner, of course, but nothing that separates the frame. That's fundamental to the style; no couple would even think about breaking hold. It may look less flashy than Smooth, but the beauty of it is in how the two dancers move as one.

Good observation on one of the difference between American smooth and Int. Stadard dheun. As this is a show performance I would expect to see open work in the beginning of the routines as well as the end, however the body of the routines will most likely stay in contact, if they follow the same format of other Ballroom dance shows.

dheun.In the International Style of Ballroom dancing there is no breaking of hold, There never has and never will be. A Throwaway Oversway in the in the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango and Quickstep, the hips are in contact. To seperate would be a major fault.
Whilst I have your attention by their record the greatest American Smooth exponents ever, long before they knew that style were winning internationaly in Modern and Latin. Toni with a former partner had also won events in Australian New Voge, which is another style and one where part of the dances do break hold.

The greatest ever ?--have coached and worked with many from the late fifties -- and they did not ALL do the Intern style ( it wasnt even taught and actually discouraged in many schools ! )

Todays crop have taken it on board because of demand .

Not going back to the 50's. This was more like only about five years when after winning Professionally for four years in succession they retired undefeated.

Not dis agreeing with the current competitors-- most do dabble in other styles, mainly to boost their earning capacity

( I had to do it, and went way beyond learning only the amer. style in more indigenous dances, after dancing nothing but the then" English" style for nearly 20 yrs )

Serendipity, thanks for that explanation on the throwaway and oversway. I was wondering, however, in the International Standard there has to be some type of underarm turn on the Waltz, correct? Or no?
If so ... if the lady were to pass under the man's left arm, on 4-5-6, and they fully reconnect, other than man's left-hand to woman's right hand, on 10-11-12 in a 12-count step, would that be OK?
Or is the hip-to-hip connection the key element?
I'm really just asking from the standpoint of watching the pros on TV, rather than trying to master something myself. I think I have mentioned before that our studio doesn't delve into International style too much, though I wish it would. Maybe it is a style that appeals to those of us who are a little more serious about dancing; not because one style is better than the other, but more from the standpoint of wanting to learn more on a regular basis.

You'll never see the International style dancers breaking hold or contact, even briefly. Some with less ability may accidentally lose body contact here or there, but it's never on purpose for the sake of executing something in open position such as an underarm turn; Such things are not allowed. The exception is showdance, where all is allowed including lifts.

Still, even in showdance division, you will see a difference between American and International style dancers. Both are rooted in the same fundamental technique, but American style tends to showcase open work to a much greater extent. The current trend in American style is perhaps 10 to 15% closed work, usually for no more than a bar or two at a time. And even then, many dancers will opt for non-traditional holds. One of the key defining characteristics of modern American smooth is "connections", i.e. weaving and transitioning between various positions and holds. To stay in closed hold for extended periods of time, while not against the rules, is not typical of the style. One would begin to wonder why the couple isn't entered in the Int'l style division instead.

By contrast, when Int'l couples do showdance, they do tend to spend a lot of time in closed hold with contact. It's more typical to dance long closed groups, saving the open work for intros, endings, and the occasional interlude. The connections to and from closed position are not usually as slick, but the closed work itself is far more interesting and technically demanding.

If you're watching a competition in America such as the Ohio Star Ball, these differences may be somewhat less apparent since our crop of Int'l dancers may be influenced by their American style colleagues. But the differences will certainly be enough to notice at any rate.

As an aside, I mostly agree with Terence about dabbling in other styles primarily for the purpose of boosting earning capacity. American smooth dancers, however, may be the exception to this. Our style draws heavily on skills acquired by dancing other styles. Any American style dancer who doesn't have a solid background in Standard will not make it very far in the competition circuit. So for us, learning Standard is more of a requirement than a luxury. And with current trends the way they are, the same is true of Latin to some extent. Melissa and I were some of the better technical standard dancers in our group of smooth competitors. But our marks improved considerably when we switched to a Latin coach for a year.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com