From: troyer@ips.id.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: Restricted syllabus
Gatewayed-From: ballroom@athena.mit.edu
Reply-To: troyer@ips.id.ethz.ch
Organization: None
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 19:30:22 GMT
Keywords: ballroom, mailing list

The last few messages by Turtle and Mark have stated precisely the advantages
of a restricted syllabus for beginners and the use of these basic figures
in improving one's own dancing. Usually when we have lessons with
visiting coaches we want to work on some basic principle. For example
we want to improve our leg actions, our posture and hold, etc..
We work on these topics in the basic steps first. After that the more
advanced figures are much better as well.

rbrennen@iron.Berkeley.EDU (Reid "Turtle" Alyn Brennen) writes

   I like the part where you say, "Then we go back and employ the
   technique in whatever figure brought the problem to the coach's
   attention."  That is the tough part!

Sure, that takes time. But by first looking at the action in some
basic figures one has learned something that can be applied to many
steps and will improve one's general dancing as well as that particular
figure. It will not solve all the problems with that figure. But I prefer
to learn a basic principle that can be used in a lot of figures to a lot
of hints for just one figure. I believe that we are all of the same
opinion on that.

Now to get back to the original topic of closed syllabus competitions.
Here in Switzerland (and the same holds for Austria and Germany) a beginning
competitive dancer has to compete in the lowest level first and has to
work his way up to the more advanced levels. So everybody has to pay
attention to the restrictions when starting with competitive dancing.
Until now there were some guidelines, just stating which steps were
allowed and which not. But the Swiss Federation (and I think the
German one as well) now want to enforce more restrictive regulations.
In Standard these restrictions do not 

death@alexandria.lcs.mit.edu (Mark A. Sheldon) writes

  Competition entry materials clearly state that
  competitors must obey the ISTD syllabus for chosing figures, alignments,
  and legal precedes and follows.  Thus a Gold Foxtrot dancer may dance a
  reverse wave (a bronze figure) and a back feather (a gold figure), but
  these two may not be danced in combination because of the
  precedes/follows restrictions.  (This was true when I competed in Gold;
  the syllabus may have changed in this case, but the example still
  conveys the sort of restrictions there are.)

These are exactly the restrictions that I find unnecessary. There are a lot
of ways in which basic figures can be combined or varied. And I see
no reason not to allow that particular combination. In fact we danced it
at the time when we competed at lower levels. But now these variations
are not allowed any longer for the dancers at the novice levels.

I am glad that I do not have to compete at closed syllabus levels in Standard
any longer. Just imgaine you dance Standard and are about to collide with
another couple. Sure, for an experienced dancer it is no problem to
dance an out-of-trouble step and continue. But for a beginner it's very hard
and there is just no time to think of the syllabus restriction in such
a situation. What should one do? collide? stop dancing? risk disqualification?
I believe that the people who invented these restrictions did not think
about such a situation.

I have just started competing in Latin and that sensitized me to this problem,
that beginning Standard dancers have to face now. In Latin I have to stick
with the closed figures at the Latin comps. But all the 10-dance comps
are open syllabus events and there I can dance whatever I like. 

Matthias

--
Matthias Troyer - troyer@ips.id.ethz.ch