Today’s photos are the last from the Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles – a Salsa formation performed by the Arthur Murray Gaithersburg, Maryland studio. It is appropriate that the last post of the “grungy” set of posters from that event is from this piece. The dancers, just as all the pros, really go all-out for these shows with their costuming. For this formation, though the dancers also applied theatrical makeup to punch up the hardened look to go along with their moves.
Dancing in formation is as challenging as it seems. You are multiplying the number of people that you need to align on the floor, and you need to incorporate them with dance figures. When pulled off well, the different presentation of familiar steps is really fun to watch! The audience that is familiar with many of the basic figures of Salsa had a great time seeing how the group worked figures into this 4-person configuration.
As with all formations, there are also times where the dancers need to move on their own, not connected with a partner. They were able to showcase their individual skills which are not always as obvious when they are dancing with their students. Anyone that has taken lessons will know the feeling when they dance with a pro that it is very different than dancing with a fellow student. Being able to display their technique on their own worked really well in formation. With all the colors, the painted faces, and the grungy clothing, it was really fun to play with these images.
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